Poison Princess Review

Title: Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles #1)
Author: Kresley Cole
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date: October 2nd 2012
Source: ARC for review
Rating: 4.5



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…

Review:

Imagine if all the Major Arcana in the Tarot cards were actual teens that had special abilities connecting to their card. Now throw in a gruesome apocalyptic setting with mutated zombie like humans and a super hot boy who rides a motorcycle named Jackson. Sounds awesome right? Well the good news is, is Poison Princess is an amazing thrill ride of a book with a new and exciting take on the apocalypse.

Poison Princess started off a bit on the slow side, but as the story progressed things started to pick up a fair amount and I ended up falling in love with this book. Now that I go back and think about it after reading , I think that I love it more than when I was actually reading it. I just needed time to digest it.  I loved how the author used Tarot cards in a whole new way that I would never have thought of using them.

I totally fell in love with Jackson while reading, he's the ultimate bad boy, who's amazing on the eyes and rides a motorcycle. He may come off as a jerk, but I think readers will see why he is the way he is and the nicer side of him while reading.

The writing was very well done and descriptive, and at some parts very visual and gory. Which is something I personally really enjoy. Evie is a rather weak character to begin with, but as she embraces her unusual powers she grows as a person. The powers that some of the characters have in Poison Princess are really neat, I can't wait to see what they do with them in the sequel.

I loved the romance for the most part, I just got a bit annoyed with the tension between Jackson and Evie. Usually though relationships in books that start off with tension end up to be the best. There were some steaming scenes I'm sure many will enjoy.

Poison Princess is a post-apocalyptic books that should not be missed. Kresley Cole takes a some what over used setting and flips it around to make it fresh again. It's jammed packed with a steamy romance, zombies, and super awesome powers connected to Tarot cards. This book is sure to be a hit in the YA genre. You will definitely be looking forward to continuing the series.