The Poison Throne

Wow. Just wow. I was sucked in from the first few chapters. First I loved the setting. It’s an interesting blend of fantasy, some paranormal characteristics, and some “real life” qualities. What I mean by that is you have talking cats, ghosts, yet the setting is set someplace in Europe (not really specified). It’s hard to explain, but once you read into the book you get the idea. I thought this was interesting and different. The book may be slow to some. Yet I was so interested in the political intrigue, that the pace was good for me. You won’t find much action or adventure. Instead, there’s lots of politics and a lot of relationship development and character building. Which is fine for me, it’s certainly a different approach towards fantasy (where you would expect a lot of action and fighting). It was at a perfect pace and I could read this without feeling confused, and I got the characters all straightened out and was able to understand what was happening as there’s several different plots branching out. Considering this if the first book in a trilogy, you won’t get many questions answered. That may be frustrating and it may seem as if you really didn’t get much out of the book at all, however I feel that this book was a good starter for a trilogy. It created your questions, made an interesting world for you to get used to, and gave you a set list of characters so you know who is who without getting confused. Besides, what would be the point of a trilogy if all questions were answered in the first book? I absolutely loved the characters in this book. I enjoyed Wynter and her relationship with her father , but her friendships with both Razi and Christopher are also interesting and differ from each other. I found no fault with any of them and liked all of the characters. I even liked King Jonathan despite his issues with Alberon and his mistreatment of Razi. They all had their distinct personalities and qualities and were perfectly “fleshed out” so you don’t have any two dimensional, wooden characters. I can’t say I have a favorite as they’re all well done. Although none of my questions have been answered for this novel (well, the majority of them) I am going to continue reading this trilogy. I absolutely loved this book. This one proved to be one of the best reads I have come across so far for this year. It’s a perfect “first novel in a trilogy” because it establishes everything for the reader so we’re set for the next two books. This book is definitely worth the read.