Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Apr 28, 2020 Wealie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 0-purchased, 0-series-read, challenge-read, read-in-2020, mng-read, 0-kindle, 0-audible, 1st-of-series, listened, frustrating

2 stars - Unappealing protagonist couple, displays of toxic masculinity and a romance side plot entirely too dependant upon unnecessary miscommunication that detracts from a well written and interesting post-apocalyptic urban fantasy setting and beginning of a tantalising wider story arc.

I wanted to like this book, in theory I should have, I enjoy urban fantasy and post-apocalyptic story lines, I've enjoyed Kresley Cole's other work. Though I'm not a massive fan of YA fiction - primarily because 2 stars - Unappealing protagonist couple, displays of toxic masculinity and a romance side plot entirely too dependant upon unnecessary miscommunication that detracts from a well written and interesting post-apocalyptic urban fantasy setting and beginning of a tantalising wider story arc.

I wanted to like this book, in theory I should have, I enjoy urban fantasy and post-apocalyptic story lines, I've enjoyed Kresley Cole's other work. Though I'm not a massive fan of YA fiction - primarily because so much of is it is anti-feminist wrapped up in 'faux feminist' trappings. I was saddened to find this book fell into the very trap I despise and the relationship between the protagonist and her love interest detracted me entirely from everything I would have enjoyed about the book otherwise.

Before the apocalypse Evangeline is a rich girl, seemingly with it all, but she has many secrets. Fresh out of a psychiatric ward she is having strange apocalyptic visions. Jackson is a bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks in the bayou with an almost preternatural sense of self preservation and survival skills. Obviously attracted to each other the pair are like oil and water. Both hold secrets and biases that lead to miscommunication and a love/hate interaction between them. Both characters show negative personality traits that don't endear me to them, but I hoped that at least once the apocalypse hits they might grow on me.....I was wrong....

Once the apocalypse hits Evangeline comes into some freaky powers and when Jackson comes to find her they make an uneasy truce and he promises to lead her to her Grandmother in North Carolina. Unfortunately both characters spend most of the novel griping at each other, baiting each other and failing to show any real trust or growth, even after they go through difficult experiences that should engender more trust and understanding. The author is content to focus more on the sexual nature of their growing attraction rather than any emotional depth and there are a number of uncomfortable scenes of toxic masculinity from Jackson.

Even with all her powers Evangeline comes across as the wilting woman, a burden to be carried by Jackson and seems resigned to her fate - to say that she's annoying is an understatement. Evangeline's stock attitude is to cry, clam up or walk away when dealing with Jackson or wait in fear for him to deal with any problems that arise. Whilst I understand this is the first novel in a series, it's a difficult pill to swallow when for 90% of the novel your protagonist is a whining, useless burden who shows little to no growth or acceptance. (view spoiler)

Based on reading the synopses of the next few books I'm pretty comfortable with stating I won't be reading the rest of the books especially given there's another trope I hate (view spoiler) that I try to avoid at all costs and although a lot of people rate the books highly they seem to dislike Evangeline a lot. I've never understood how you can rate a book highly when you dislike the protagonist so much.

So if you don't mind Twilight style YA with all its faux feminism and toxic masculinity tropes then you'll probably be able to enjoy this book. It's well written with a clever universe and there's some interesting world building. It's a shame the central protagonist and her love interest are so troublesome that they detract from all that is good about the book. ...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Nicole rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, favorites-2012, books-for-big-book-challenge, book-i-own, ya, paranormal-fiction, dystopia-fiction, zombies, books-that-i-love

Author:Kresley Cole
Narrated by Emma Galvin andKeith Nobbs
Length: 12hr and 36 min
Published 2012
I received this book from Simon and Schuster Audio via Audiobook Jukebox.

Poison Princess is the first book in the Arcana Chronicles, and is a new YA series by Kresley Cole. I have to say that I really loved this book for so many reasons. But the main reason is because the subject matter is totally different from any other YA series that I read. The characters in this series are based on the Major Arcan ...more

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Jun 01, 2016 Cat rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own

Holy crap! I snagged this book cause it was cheap and I love the authors other stories but I wasn't really expecting much. Not sure why exactly cause man was I wrong! I didn't want to put it down. Completely riveting and heart wrenching. Brought tears to my eyes and then really did make me cry later. Such an amazing story and I love Evie and Jack so much. I immediately ordered the next two and had to read the snippet from the next book to see if Jack found her. I actually want to immediately re- ...more

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