Arcana Chronicles (1) - Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
Imagine you have hallucinations of the end of the world and the life afterward... And imagine, what you see, comes true. Poison Princess ( in German Poison Princess, in French Princesse Véneuse) by Kresley Cole! I heard it as an audiobook (unabridged). Age 16 to bloody death (girls). Originally published 2012.
Evie Greene is desperate – if her mother finds out, how bad off she really is, she’ll send her back to Child’s Last Chance in a heartbeat – the nuthouse just spent her summer in. Because the popular, fashion-loving cheerleader hallucinates of an apocalypse and controls everything that roots and blooms… but when her vision of the bagman and the black sun in the sky comes true, when nearly everything alive just… dies, Evie’s world truly breaks apart. Why is all of that happening? Why is she stalked by two people called “Death” and “Devil”, why does she see this crazed kid and hears these calls in her head? Can she trust the Cajun Jack, who promises to bring her to her grandmother in exchange for plants? And, most importantly, does Evie really have to kill them all?
This book is absolutely great! It's thrilling to read and gives you goosebumps, the characters are vividly layered, the story's innovative and tense. The basic concept alone is fascinating! A tarot deck come to life, and the players have to kill each other until only one survives – who then is immortal until the next catastrophe occurs and the next round begins? You really have to have a colorful imagination to dream up that! And it's very well executed.
But the characters are the most fascinating.
Evie is actually a typical teenager – if you just look at her personality. She thinks that appearances and popularity are very important and does nearly everything to make sure that she sticks to the status quo. She has a boyfriend she doesn't love but looks good with and a past she buries. But she's not a self-centered antagonist. She's caring, loving and loyal to her friends, like Mel. The two of them don't quite fit together because Evie's far more harmonic and Mel's not at all diplomatic. But Evie loves her nevertheless, no matter what Mel does.
What's most fascinating is that Evie thinks of herself as insane. She was in a nuthouse and doesn't take herself seriously. She's constantly afraid someone finds out… and, well, this is far more vivid than the “I'm crazy” attitude of Em in Hourglass. This is far… darker, more potent. More frightening, in a way.
No wonder, if you look at her nightmares of the Red Witch and her drawings… I love how these ideas were executed – what stuff you can do with plants! If you hear that someone can control plants, you might think that it's a lame superpower. But look around you. The trees outside your window, the grass, the bushes, the flowers, maybe even the plotted plants on your desk. Then, ask yourself where poison comes from. And now imagine that a single person has all the powers that can be liked to plants. Evie's immune to poison and drugs, and when she's in Empress mode, she has nails like thorns with which she can induce these poisons and drugs into anyone she touches. She… well, she has other quite cool attributes, but that's enough for now.
And all the parallels between Evie and the Red Witch… two opposites of the same coin.
Let's move on to Jackson Devoe, the human of the adventure group. At least I think so.
He's interesting. His life is very, very different from Evie's, and he actually insults her most of the time. Nevertheless, the two can't get away from each other. And he also has another side to him. He's hardened by his past and buries his feelings inside him, but he still helps others and does good things for them. He's intelligent and a survivalist, he keeps his promises and, well, he has a bunch of other good qualities which Evie has problems to see. It's ironic that the two of them are so drawn to each other because they have nothing in common – except for the fact that they have their own pasts to run from. They aren't good at talking to each other, so their “friendship” is actually a very shaky alliance based on fascination, necessity and hurt feelings. Well. Their relation to each other is quite interesting – and a little explosive.
Spoiler:
I so get why Evie left him, in the end. She's a good person and only tries to protect everyone, even though he can't see that
Okay. To the next character: Matthew – The Fool. He. Is. Gorgeous! And creepy. Actually more creepy than gorgeous. He acts like a boy, but he's psychic. He sees and knows everything that has happened and will happen – I do not envy him for this. He's like a little brother to Evie, but quite frustrating because he refuses to explain the things. I like him. He's got something.
The Moon is the literal bringer of doubt. I like how Evie nearly explodes every time she even thinks about her.
I can't make anything of the magician yet, but he seems something else as well.
But the Alchemist… Ooooookay, that guy's creepy. He's a psychopath! Which leads me to another aspect: The style of the book.
The first chapter is not from Evie's PoV, but from someone who encounters her. She tells him her story, but every once in a while, there's a chapter from his PoV again. These chapters certainly make sure that the HORROR tonus of this book is written with capital letters… but it also makes everything really tense.
In brief:
I give stars for style, for content, for ideas, for characters, and for the Arcana-idea.
Sequel: