I was excited to read The Kinder Poison. The blurb made it sound stronger than Red Queen, focused on the strong female angle. I had read Red Queen and found it lacking in depth and coherence. I hoped that this one would give me more hope.
After finishing this book I can say that if you enjoy Red Queen you will enjoy this one for the same reasons. IF you didn’t enjoy Red Queen, then you won’t enjoy this book.
I find it crazy these days that the lack of world building is slipping farther and farther away from the narrative. In this book, you have a very vast world with several countries at war with one another. You hardly hear about these other countries and the war is hardly brought up but apparently it is an issue that seems to be the focus of one of the heirs to the kingdom in their reason for doing the trek across the desert.
The plot seemed to go out the window when you find out that one of the men have instant romantic feelings for the girl, and the other has some sort of love and hate relationship. The girl herself is vapid, uninteresting, and has a power that is – while lame – not very important to the plot. Will it be later? Maybe? I mean, you could literally get rid of her power and this book would literally be unchanged except for a few details.
There were two characters that were interesting: Kasta and his shape-shifter, Maia. They have the best depth and were far more interesting than the supporting characters and the lead female. I’d rather read a book about them.
Like Red Queen, the book’s focus is this strange obsession that both brothers have for the lead who is lacking in depth and originality. Maybe the other books will allow for some better worldbuilding and character development, but not having those in the initial book is a bit of a concern for me. No matter if it is the author’s first book.
After finishing this book I can say that if you enjoy Red Queen you will enjoy this one for the same reasons. IF you didn’t enjoy Red Queen, then you won’t enjoy this book.
I find it crazy these days that the lack of world building is slipping farther and farther away from the narrative. In this book, you have a very vast world with several countries at war with one another. You hardly hear about these other countries and the war is hardly brought up but apparently it is an issue that seems to be the focus of one of the heirs to the kingdom in their reason for doing the trek across the desert.
The plot seemed to go out the window when you find out that one of the men have instant romantic feelings for the girl, and the other has some sort of love and hate relationship. The girl herself is vapid, uninteresting, and has a power that is – while lame – not very important to the plot. Will it be later? Maybe? I mean, you could literally get rid of her power and this book would literally be unchanged except for a few details.
There were two characters that were interesting: Kasta and his shape-shifter, Maia. They have the best depth and were far more interesting than the supporting characters and the lead female. I’d rather read a book about them.
Like Red Queen, the book’s focus is this strange obsession that both brothers have for the lead who is lacking in depth and originality. Maybe the other books will allow for some better worldbuilding and character development, but not having those in the initial book is a bit of a concern for me. No matter if it is the author’s first book.