From the Bookshelf of BL33 Book of the Month Clup…

Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles, #1)

Kresley Cole

Start date: February 1, 2014

Finish date: February 28, 2014

Discussion: February Book: Poison Princess

Why we're reading this: Continuing on with the theme of books that you've probably wanted to read but have only gathered dust, I'…more
[close] Continuing on with the theme of books that you've probably wanted to read but have only gathered dust, I've seen a lot of people pick this up but never open it, so here's your chance! At the end of the month we'll have a vote for the next book, so stay tuned.

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February Book: Poison Princess

Week four
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last updated Feb 22, 2014 12:16PM

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last updated Feb 15, 2014 10:14PM

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Jul 29, 2013 Sam rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014-bom-1, 2014

It’s got a gorgeous cover, so there’s something going for it, at least.

That sounded really harsh, and I hate being mean when I know someone puts a lot of work into something and is extremely proud of it… but I feel like there was absolutely no heart in this book. I felt like the author just slapped stuff together because she wanted a bestselling YA novel she knew she could achieve. The characters are boring and stereotypical, the world used up and, while being a depressing dystopian world filled It’s got a gorgeous cover, so there’s something going for it, at least.

That sounded really harsh, and I hate being mean when I know someone puts a lot of work into something and is extremely proud of it… but I feel like there was absolutely no heart in this book. I felt like the author just slapped stuff together because she wanted a bestselling YA novel she knew she could achieve. The characters are boring and stereotypical, the world used up and, while being a depressing dystopian world filled with horrors, seemingly easy to survive, compared to other ones. Let’s break it down:

Plot- I knew who the bad guy was the second it was mentioned. There isn’t really a “bad guy” I should say, but the figure haunting Evie’s dreams is who I’m talking about. It was obvious with a capital O. And the matters of sex. The whole book tries to be steamy, but it’s not really. There was very little chemistry between Jack and Evie, even less between him and Selena. Plus, Evie’s pretty much worried about who to give her V-Card away to, and it was rather uncomfortable reading that when the world was ending around her.

Characters- Boring and barely there. Evie is that girl I would hate in school. Very popular, super smart, and a “friend” to everyone. What little perfect world does she live in that that can all happen? I can see by the end why characterizing her so extremely (it’s a case of telling rather than showing, btw) is important, but I also feel like it was totally unrealistic. And annoying, because no one can be that perfect. And her major character flaw? She might be crazy. Come on, we know she’s not. It’s the oldest trick in the book. So really, she’s not crazy, she’s just a super important person. She’s not a mean person, though. Not bratty or whiny, which was nice and comfortable reading about, but also totally unrealistic. Who doesn’t complain when the world just ended? No one’s that perfect. Then there’s Jack. His accent- Cajun- really got on my nerves. I couldn’t pinpoint it through the writing. It sounded a little like he just had a lisp or something because he didn’t say every word with an accent, really. Just a few, most particularly, “goan” instead of “going” and “doan” instead of “doing”. It didn’t work and it was very frustrating. When there’s a character with an accent I like it to fly off the page so I can hear it. He’s also supposed to be really Catholic, but he never really acts that way.

World- Dystopia is all the rage, and while it’s not my favorite genre (I prefer fantasy), I can appreciate a well written one. At first I thought it might be a pretty cool world. Bag men, militia’s, cannibals, slavers, etc. They’ve been seen before, but I’ve never really seen them together. Guess what? I still didn’t. They kept saying all these things existed, but, I don’t really believe it until I “see” it, and we never “see” half of them. So, it wasn’t just a plain world, where they were somehow managing to survive, but it was a really boring one, too.

The Good- Tarot cards! I love tarot cards, I think they’re so pretty and fun, which is part of the reason I was attracted to this story. That portion of it didn’t let me down. Each tarot had its own personality and alliance and I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED that aspect of the story.

So overall, I’m giving this a three star rating. I may read the next book. I may not. Really, it depends on whether my library has it or not. So, we’ll see. ...more

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Jan 26, 2014 Eap6787 rated it it was amazing

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