Title: Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles #1)
Author: Kresley Cole
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: October 2, 2o12
Genre: Young Adult // Dystopian // Romance
Format: Physical Copy
Source: Library
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 (goodreads).
Poison Princess is a fast paced dystopian novel with a touch of magic and maniacal serial killers. So clearly I had to check this one out!
Plot: In most dystopian novels, you start in the dystopian world and the narrators explains to you how the world got to such a tragic state. Not in Poison Princess. Here are accompany Evie as she goes from normal high school kid to one of the handful of human beings alive within 24 hours. I definitely liked the direction this story was going in, it involved tarot cards and I had quite a bit of an obsession with card reading a few years ago (mostly because their designs are always so pretty, I wonder if Kresely has created any Poison Princess inspired tarot cards...). My one complaint is that there wasn't any resolution in the first novel, instead it felt like an extended prologue. We had a realization, but it only promised further expansion in the sequel. But I guess that's how authors get you!
Characters: Evie is an interesting character. She's the popular girl at school but she is by no means the Queen B. She's sweet but a bit annoying towards the beginning, it's interesting to see her toughen up in this new world where women are used as currency and food is scarce. Also I'm going to have a very unpopular opinion. I don't like Jackson. Sorry guys. I know he's the token bad boy but I didn't find any of his qualities attractive, nor did I think he and Evie were a good fit for each other. I also felt like some of the secondary characters weren't well developed and didn't really care for them, I'll have to keep reading to see if my attitude changes.
World Building: Kresley's Post-Flash world is disturbingly realistic. We have insight to terrible paranormal creatures and power hungry militia. I could perfectly picture every aspect of her world and it brought tingles down my spine!
Short N Sweet: Poison Princess is a creative dystopian tale that blends in some magic elements flawlessly. I only wish I loved the characters as much as I loved Kresley Cole's world.
Labels: 3 stars, book review, kresley cole, poison princess, review, simon and schuster
