Thursday, December 6, 2012

Poison Princess

Review Time! The Poison Princess is the first book in The Arcana Chronicles by Kresley Cole, the best selling author the Immortals After Dark series. This is a 2012 YA Debut which was how the novel initially caught my eye ( that and the gorgeous cover!). You can purchase a copy of the book from Fishpond | The Nile | Booktopia | Bookworld. Thanks to Simon and Schuster for the review copy!

(Goodreads) She could save the world—or destroy it.

Sixteen year old Evangeline “Evie” Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future—and they’re still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.

But she can’t do either alone.

With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can’t totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?

Who can Evie trust?

As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side….

The Short Story? - Story started out a little slowly and cliched but when things picked up, they really PICKED UP. Interesting concept of combining legends of the tarot cards with a post apocalyptic zombie tale. When the characters moved past the initial stereotypical personalities and developed as individuals, they became absolutely brilliant. The Poison Princess is a novel that takes time to ease in but overall very enjoyable and unique! I really enjoyed it!

The Long Story? - This is one of those books that you either love or hate. I've read a lot of raving reviews about it and a lot of DNF recounts and I can see where both sides are coming from because for a while I thought I was going to put the book down as well but I pushed through and I was rewarded with a phenomenal ending. I'm not going to lie, the start was really boring, really cliched and I didn't have a lot of respect for either Jackson or Evie but as the novel progressed the plot picked up, the became less shallow and more structured. There is a lot going on in the book and at the start, I had a hard time wrapping my head around it. It's a interesting concept but it's so complex to read this novel, you really need maximum concentration. The writing was pretty good and the ending was just mind-blowing. I can already see that book two is going to be better than book one so push through because it's definitely going to be worth it!

The characters started out a little too cliched. The rich cheerleader with the amazing boyfriend, good grades and everyone in her pocket meets the poor bad boy from the wrong side of town who also happens to be super good looking and a womanizer. I'm not one to shun books for being cliched but this is a little too far cliched so I was a little iffy about the characterisation. However once the story progressed and the characters started to develop, they started to grow on me. The further we got into the book, the more Evie started to develop and by the end she really was quite a badass. Jack, isn't your typical bad boy. For one, he is actually a BAD BOY meaning he is a jerk and he probably WOULD burn your house down and that was refreshing. The two of them have a strange relationship but there is no denying the chemistry between the two.

The Poison Princess is definitely one of those books that you either love or hate or love and hate. It's not the best book but I still think it's worth a read. While the start was a little boring, the ending was spectacular and I have no doubt that book 2 will be even more awesome! If you're looking for something different, give Poison Princess a go!

What's It Worth? - Squeeze Into the Budget/ Hand Over the Paycheck

Badass Bookie xx

3 comments:

  1. Oooooh, Badass, you liked?
    I... mmm... with a review like this I wonder if it's worth giving it another try. I just couldn't get past that DRAGGING start. I've been in a bit of a reading slump, so it was probably even worse but... I COULD TOTALLY GIVE THIS ANOTHER GO.

    If YOU love it. I TRUST YOU, B! ♥

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  2. This book was so unique and weird but boy did I love it. Bring on book 2 I say!!! Great review!

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  3. I'm on of the people that wished I'd stop reading while I was ahead, I did not like it at all. But each to their own, I guess!

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