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A review by kadomi
The Poison Eater by Shanna Germain
4.0
4 to 4.5 stars. I genuinely loved this, but think people who have never had any contact with the Ninth World setting of Numenera will have their issues with this book.
The first Numenera novel has a kickass protagonist, a queer woman of color, and there's a lovely f/f romance in the story. The protagonist is Talia, who has flown from the vordcha, a nebulous antagonist people who abduct or trade in humans to put lots of tech into their bodies. For what purpose never becomes clear. Talia has fled from them, freeing a sort of half-mech dog called Khee to come with her. In the city of Enthait, she is now the Poison Eater. The Poison Eater is next in line to the throne but has to survive eating 10 poisons first that give her visions about threats to Enthait. Only that Talia doesn't get any such visions. But she wants to push through with it and survive all poisons, to stop the vordcha.
The ending was super-abrupt, but all in all, the novel pushed all my buttons with what I love about Numenera. Its never-ending weirdness, the mix of sci-fi and fantasy, and more diversity than I am used to from your average tabletop RPG setting. If you like Numenera already, read this book. If you don't, maybe try playing the game first to see if it gels.
The first Numenera novel has a kickass protagonist, a queer woman of color, and there's a lovely f/f romance in the story. The protagonist is Talia, who has flown from the vordcha, a nebulous antagonist people who abduct or trade in humans to put lots of tech into their bodies. For what purpose never becomes clear. Talia has fled from them, freeing a sort of half-mech dog called Khee to come with her. In the city of Enthait, she is now the Poison Eater. The Poison Eater is next in line to the throne but has to survive eating 10 poisons first that give her visions about threats to Enthait. Only that Talia doesn't get any such visions. But she wants to push through with it and survive all poisons, to stop the vordcha.
The ending was super-abrupt, but all in all, the novel pushed all my buttons with what I love about Numenera. Its never-ending weirdness, the mix of sci-fi and fantasy, and more diversity than I am used to from your average tabletop RPG setting. If you like Numenera already, read this book. If you don't, maybe try playing the game first to see if it gels.