After reading an excerpt of The Poison Season by Mara Rutherford, I was intrigued. I particularly liked the idea of a sentient forest and a poisonous lake tying into a magic system. Sadly, I found the book to be a bit disappointing.
My main complaint is that the novel was extremely slow. While it did pick up a little towards the end, even the climax of the plot was not very compelling. Likewise, it was only 390 pages, but it felt like it was about 1,000.
Furthermore, I felt let down by the developments throughout the novel. The idea of a malicious, sentient forest was so interesting, and I was really excited about that, but I think that concept was very under-developed and didn’t add much to the story. Similarly, the poisonous lake was again fascinating, but I think the author should have spent more time focusing on these two aspects of the novel to add depth and mystery.
I will say that the characters were complex. Leelo’s relationships with different characters in the novel were dynamic and diverse. I thought Rutherford did a great job of adding a lot of complicated family dynamics, and the friendships in the novel were multi-dimensional as well.
Overall, I think plenty of people will enjoy The Poison Season, it just wasn’t the right book for me.
My main complaint is that the novel was extremely slow. While it did pick up a little towards the end, even the climax of the plot was not very compelling. Likewise, it was only 390 pages, but it felt like it was about 1,000.
Furthermore, I felt let down by the developments throughout the novel. The idea of a malicious, sentient forest was so interesting, and I was really excited about that, but I think that concept was very under-developed and didn’t add much to the story. Similarly, the poisonous lake was again fascinating, but I think the author should have spent more time focusing on these two aspects of the novel to add depth and mystery.
I will say that the characters were complex. Leelo’s relationships with different characters in the novel were dynamic and diverse. I thought Rutherford did a great job of adding a lot of complicated family dynamics, and the friendships in the novel were multi-dimensional as well.
Overall, I think plenty of people will enjoy The Poison Season, it just wasn’t the right book for me.