Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
(Book #1 of The Arcana Chronicles series)
Rating: 🍁🍁
Overall: I finished reading this book last night, and the first words out of my mouth were "Well, that was some seriously messed up shit." Well-written, but messed up.
The Good Stuff:
1) The premise of this book is fascinating. I love the idea of the Arcana manifesting in a disparate group of teenagers. I love the post-apocalyptic setting for their struggle. The reveal at the end that the Arcana are eventually all going to have to kill each other until only one remains is reminiscent of Highlander and adds to the tension, taking the story line up a notch. All that to say that there's lots of potential in this story.
2) What a great hook for the story! The arrival of our protagonist at the home of Arthur the psychopath works well as a narrative device, and the conclusion really sets the stage for where the rest of the series is going.
The Not-So-Good Stuff:
1) Try as I might, I could not bring myself to like Evie. What a whining, spoiled brat. Yes, she's had some struggles, but she just comes across as stupid and reactionary. Someone needs to teach her a little self-respect when it comes to dealing with boys, for one thing. If you have to promise sex to your boyfriend to get him to stick around, maybe you might be better off without him. Just a thought.
2) Where do I start with Jackson? He's had a rough life. I get that. And he seems to want to take care of Evie - presumably because he cares for her in some capacity, though that's never made clear. But that caring appears to come from a place of possession. Evie is HIS, because he WANTS her. Not loves her, not needs her, not because she means anything to him as a person. She makes him hard, ergo she is his and he will eventually have his way with her. Period. He actually says at one point that she should be "putting out" for him because of all he's done for her. Seriously? Seriously?! This is not a healthy relationship, though no mention is made of that.
3) The first half of the novel drags us through a whole lot of unnecessary teen drama. We're introduced to a pile of characters that have no impact on the rest of the story at all. In fact, you could probably skip the first 100 pages or so and read the rest without really missing much.
4) Why is everyone in the post-apocalyptic world evil? Are there no decent people around? It seems a little far fetched that not one single person would be willing to help others.
5) So, we spend a huge amount of time exploring the pre-apocalypse teen drama, but almost none exploring the post-apocalyptic world. Why are people turning into zombies? How is it that the oceans are gone, but some water sources survived? Where on earth did the militia come from? I have so many questions.
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