Review: Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
Series: The Arcana Chronicles #1
Publisher: Simon & Schuster FYR
First published: October 2nd, 2012
Source: Received from UK publisher
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 369

Goodreads Summary:

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….

I'd recommend this for an older audience (16+).

My Rating: 4.5 / 5

First thoughts:

Mysterious, compelling and with a positively frustrating love story, Poison Princess is impossible to forget and keeps its readers on their toes all the time. With more than one twist in the storyline and characters that you can love and hate at the same time, this novel ensured that I'll be reading its sequel as soon as possible, hoping to find out more about the mysteries Kresley Cole weaved into this paranormal post-apocalyptic story.

More detailed:

How do you describe a book that has taken you by surprise completely? What can you say about a novel that you wanted to read, but didn't expect to be so special? Because that's exactly how I'd describe Poison Princess - special.

We get to follow Evie on her quest to find answers to her questions about who - or even what - she truly is and if her destiny is somehow connected to a greater good, or evil. As a main character and narrator I liked her a lot and found it easy to understand her motivations and reactions to certain situations and characters.

Her love interest, the swoon-worthy Jackson Deveaux is definitely a different type of bad boy. He's not as easily turned into a good guy like some other "bad" love interests in the YA world, but still shows his weaknesses from time to time. I definitely would have preferred to find out more about his past and his demons, but except for a few hints, Poison Princess solely concentrated on Evie's destiny.

And what a destiny that is. The paranormal aspect of Tarot that is used in Poison Princess is, at least to me, unique in YA and I've devoured the lore and mystery Kresley Cole created. Along with the post-apocalyptic setting, readers are thrust into a completely different world that's still familiar enough to create a subtle fear of having to endure similar things.

All in all, Poison Princess turned out to be a wonderful and addicting read and I can't wait to see where Kresley Cole will take this story. Even though it can be a bit confusing at times, I fell in love with the lore, but am still trying to mend my slightly broken heart after an ending that will have you crave the second book of the Arcana Chronicles.

Buy this book:

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Have you read Poison Princess? If yes, what did you think about it?

If no, do you plan to read it?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Carina