Review: Poison by Bridget Zinn

 

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.

But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart . . . misses.

Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Let me just put this out there: I absolutely adored Poison, it was fun, adorable, fast-paced and gripping, the heroine was intelligent and strong and the sidekick is so uber cute! There is romance in there, but it's more in the background which is different to most of the books I read. I honestly can't say anything bad about this book.

Seriously, that paragraph up there sums it up. I could end this review right now. 

But I won't, I'll just write a few more paragraphs gushing about how much I loved this book and how I'd like to recommend it to everyone. No, I'll try and write something informative and review-y, after all, I am a reviewer so I should like... review now, right?

This book has a kind of middle-grade feel, it was very fun and animated and the story and characters will definitely appeal to younger kids, it is marketed as a YA book but I'd recommend it to girls of about twelve and up as well. I'm not actually that sure whether the appeal will stretch to people much older than me, I'm nearly twenty but I am a lover of all things fantasy and fairytale like which is probably why I enjoyed it that much.

Bridget Zinn's writing is absolutely amazing, I was gripped, even when the book wasn't all that fast-paced for the most part. The characters seemed to come right off the page and I loved each and every one of them, especially Kyra and the Princess Ariana. Fred was this lovable guy that I kind of fell in love with and Rosie was just the darned cutest sidekick ever (everyone loves a good animal sidekick). I would have liked to see a little more happen at certain parts of the book, and Hal could have been a bit more prominent as a character, but I'm actually digging for criticisms now and I seriously can't find much else aside from that.

Overall, Poison was a fantastic fantasy book that I'd recommend for lovers of cute, light fantasy reads and tween girls and well... basically everyone who wants a bit of a light read and some adorableness. This was great.

Book released 12th March 2013 by Disney Hyperion

Book purchased by myself.

Note:

After finishing this book I went to find out more about the author and found that she passed away due to cancer in May 2011, way before this book was published. 

Check out her story here