A review by cyrille6k
Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

2.0

This is a tough book to review because there is a lot to like here and a lot to dislike. The concept behind the book is great, and I loved watching the puzzle pieces unfold, guessing who was who, seeing their powers in action, taking note of the symbolism with the Tarot Cards and what the REAL story was going to be. 

The first chapter is intriguing, but then we're subjected to many boring pages of life before the Flash. The apocalyptic event mentioned on the back of the book and in the first chapter doesn't happen until page 105 roundabouts. That's 100 pages of Evie going to school, arguing with Jackson, having visions, thinking she's crazy, etc. Basically, the book could have started on page 100, because we really didn't need all that backstory before getting to the exciting stuff. The first chapter has us RIGHT there with a crazed man named Arthur who has just “trapped” our main female lead and has drugged her and is in a sadistic crutch of adding her to his collection. This is nearly forgotten as it is NOT mentioned again for quite a while and then never at all until the ending- plus we don’t even learn how she got there to begin with. (And then the plot twist that was here as well? Pretty uncalled for to have her get the upper hand AND we finally get the details we should’ve gotten from her grandmother given to us too.)

Unfortunately, the book suffers from weak, or downright repulsive, characters. Evie is pretty bland and pathetic for most of the book, and I wish that she'd had some useful skill or something. That she could actually access and use consistently. Only to turn sour and into the “thing” she was fighting to become the whole time. 

But the worst character was the love interest Jackson. I'm not sure I have ever disliked a love interest in a book so much. He drinks whiskey constantly. He beats people to pulps with his fists (for fun.) He's horrible to the autistic kid. (Which, by the way, can we stop using mental health and disabilities as fodder to simply push a story forward? It’s not necessary to have when you’ve already got a magic/paranormal system that’s plaguing these kids without the added stigma which is then only used to be abused basically.)  And with Evie he acts like a horny stalker, treats her like a possession, verbally abuses her, and pressures her to have sex with him throughout the entire book. An actual quote from Jackson: "Hell, Evie, you're probably the last girl on earth for me. Would it KILL you to put out?" (And this boy spoke such poor English most the time- which with the way things were set up was absolutely a racial and financial jab. This kid grew up ‘across the swamp’ in derelict, falling apart mobile homes. And didn’t get the ‘best education’ either. He used “Me” and “You” a lot like a toddler would and out of place in many instances. But then he is able to easily articulate these hateful sentences and speak fluently in jackass.) 

I will not be reading more of this series- the idea was cool but the first book performance was a disappointment.