The Prophecy of the Stones by Flavia Bujor

This is a story within a story. On one level there is a teenage girl in Paris who is dying of some undisclosed disease. The rest of the story is the dreams of this dying girl. The dream is about three girls who are given magic stones and destined to save the fantasy world from domination of the council of 12. This part of the story is pretty stereotypical B level fantasy. The girls find out that their parents are not really their parents. They discover that they are the subject of prophecy. They must go on a perilous journey. At first they don't get along, but they gradually become friends. Two of the girls meet dashing young warriors and fall in love at first sight. Their trials teach them to recognize their true gift, and that helps them save the world. It is really cheesy. The thing that kept me going was the side story of the sick girl in the hospital room in Paris. I couldn't really see how the author was going to resolve that. In the end she didn't. She left it hanging without any real resolution. It kind of bewildered me until I realized that the book was a translation from French. Americans expect a certain kind of plot shape from a fantasy book, but in other countries, they are OK with different kind of plot shapes. Still, I feel like I need to go watch a Disney flick so I can get a dose of "happily ever after." (386 p.)