Poison

I loved this book but I was also majorly creeped out by it. The idea of being manipulated by a writer of the story..ugh. But it was very well written and very imaginative. There was a creepy fairytale mood which persisted through the tale and the main character, Poison was interesting and I grew to really admire her. Great read.

In The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray, Wooding proved that he is a master of mood, with settings and sense of place so darkly disturbing that readers turn on lights before sitting down with his book. Poison continues that masterful trend while also improving character description and plot structure.

Poison will say no if anyone says yes. Poison chose her name to spite her stepmother. “’You’ll never do as I tell you! Never! You’ll never be as a good girl should. Always full of questions, never accepting things as they are. Always full of spite for me! You’ll never make your father happy, never marry a strong young man. You’re poison to this family, poison!’
And so she became.” (p.3).

So when the Pharie Lord kidnaps Azalea, her show more sister, everyone considers it to be “the way of things.” Obviously Poison decides to journey to the pharie realm to reclaim her sister. Along the way she has encounters with several memorable characters including the wraith-catcher, Lamprey, and, my favorite, the bone witch and her hounds.

In true pharie fashion, the Pharie Lord will not simply hand Azalea back to Poison until Poison completes a quest—and a whole new set of characters and dangers beset her. The fate of humans rest in her hands. Once again she meets several horribly creepy characters. The description of Asinastra, the spider woman is among my favorites:

The woman was on the ceiling. Her emaciated fingers and toes clutched the stone and held up there as easily as if she was crawling along the floor. … But the veil had slipped, and Poison could see her eyes now: black, blank pearls, like the eyes of the changeling Poison had left back in Gull. She felt the terrible weight of that gaze, and it froze her in place.
The woman dropped, suddenly releasing herself and plummeting down towards Poison. Poison’s instincts cried out, telling her to throw herself aside or at least put her hands up in front of her face. But nothing moved. Her muscles seemed empty of life. The woman landed lightly on her fingertips and toes, foursquare over the prone body of Poison, her face inches from Poison’s own, her swollen belly pressing into Poison’s. The marsh girl trembled in terror, but she could not tear herself away from those black, empty eyes, could not break the contact that paralysed her. (pp. 155-156)

Deceit and deception abound. Poison is not the perfect savior. Mistakes are made. The concept of time is twisted in this pharie land, which makes the end a part of the beginning—something readers will have to read to understand. The back cover of the galley states, “Poison is a gripping and malevolent tale from master storyteller Chris Wooding.” I could not agree more. This is another book that works well for a very large audience, including this 51-year-old teen show less

It took me a little bit to get into this book but I ended up really liking it. It's not what I would usual go for and I'm glad that I gave it a try. The first chapters were kind of slow to me but once it picked up I couldn't put the book down.

Chris Wooding is one of the finest writers of fantastical young people's literature working today: The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray is another excellent book of his, but it's this one, Poison, that is my current favourite. In this story, Poison isn't a thing, it's a person – the book's moody, irrepressible heroine, so named by her strait-laced parents. But when Poison's younger sister is snatched away in the night by phaeries, it's Poison who leaves home to rescue her, plunging herself – and the reader – into a wild adventure that is as bracingly terrifying as anything in the stories of the Grimm brothers. The chapter called 'Spiders' still makes my arm-hairs stand up whenever I think about it. Superb.

This was a surprisingly good book. I have never read a book by Chris Wooding before, and although I had to slog through the first chapter, the book really picked up pace from that point on.

Poison lives in a swamp with her step-mother, father and baby sister. Poison is an outcast, she can never understand why the people of the swamp village put up with living the way they do, she can't understand why someone doesn't change things. When Poison's sister is stolen by the Phaeries it is the last straw. Poison leaves the village with the local wraith-catcher determined to get her sister back.

This book starts out as a wonderfully Gothic and classic Brothers Grimm-like story. These is not your Disney fairy tale but the dark and scary fairy tale show more that stays true to a Grimm fairy tale. Initially you think this book is just a very well written story about a girl on a quest to save her sister. As the story progresses it ends up being about so much more. There is much more at stake than Poison's sister. Poison quickly finds out that reality is not what it seems; and deeper questions come up as to who weaves the stories that are a person's life.

This was a delightful book. The details are magnificent and the story is very creative. The plot weaves irony in and out of the story and you will say "huh, wow that was clever." Poison is a strong character and the side characters are also intriguing. Wooding has developed an interesting world where humans are on the bottom of the food chain, except in one aspect.

This is not a book for the faint at heart. Although it is appropriate for preteens and young adults; it is a creepy and scary book. I would put the creepiness right up there with Joseph Delauney's Spook's Apprentice series. This is a wonderful young adult horror though.

I also have the book The Storm Thief by Wooding and I am very much looking forward to reading that book. I am definitely going to look into acquiring more of Wooding's books. He is a great storyteller. I don't think I have gotten such delight out of a fairy tale since I read Ironside by Holly Black. Although this tale is set in a different world; the characters are just as engrossing. show less

There's much to love about this novel. It sucks you in and makes you think, especially at the end with all its questions of free will versus predestination and what it means to truly make choices. The fact that the characters have to rely on wit rather than magic is appealing, especially in a magical world, and while the setting Wooding creates has plenty of blacks and whites, there's plenty of grey seeping through the cracks, especially where Poison is concerned.

It's a book I'd easily recommend to anyone who enjoys YA fiction, particularly those interested in epic fantasy with a female lead (and epic fantasy that doesn't have to be a door-stopper). Wooding has definitely earned a place on my "will-read-more-of" list, so it'll be fun to show more see what else he's done.

For a full review, which DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS, please click here: http://calico-reaction.livejournal.com/53443.html show less

Another horror story, but set in a fantasy world. It follows the adventures of a stubborn girl trying to save her sister from the elves, outwitting monsters both hideous and beautiful along the way. The plot is familiar, but the twists and turns are satisfyingly unusual and delightful, in a morbid sense. This novel was very accurately described as a dark fairytale for teens.