Poison's Kiss & Poison's cage

Title: Poison's kiss & Poison's cage

Author: Breeana Shields

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: 10th of January 2017 & 16th of January 2018

Pages: 304 + 336

Format: eARC via Netgalley

Order your copies here & here.

*I wanna thank Random House Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This doesn't effect in any way on my opinion on book*

 

Poison's kiss duology are all about Marinda. Marinda is vishakanya: she kills with a kiss. That's what she has been all her life and even though she didn't like it,she always did what she was said to do. But when one day Gopal,her boos,says that her next target is a boy she likes,everything changes...

 

Marinda has kissed dozens of boys. They all die afterward. It's a miserable life, but being a visha kanya, a poison maiden, is what she was created to do. Marinda serves the Raja by dispatching his enemies with only her lips as a weapon.

Until now, the men she was ordered to kiss have been strangers, enemies of the kingdom. Then she receives orders to kiss Deven, a boy she knows too well to be convinced he needs to die. She begins to question who she's really working for. And that is a thread that, once pulled, will unravel more than she can afford to lose.(source:goodreads.com)

I was thinking for a long time should I do two reviews or one,but considering that all I would write in review of Poison's cage would be a spoiler,I decided to do a review of a duology.
First thing I must say: OH MY GOD. This duology BLEW my mind. There is not a thing I didn't like about this duology. Everything was so perfect. Even that this is a duology and not a too-long trilogy - that's for a respect!

 

 The writting style of this duology is so magical and enthralling. It get's you sucked in the story from a page one! I enjoyed every word of this duology and oh my - plot twists were unpredictable and they were amazing! Plot twists made my heart go racing so many times I thought I'll get a heart attack. But that's what I appreciate in a good book.

Considering that this a book about mythology,it did so well with characters. Usually,characters in this kinds of books are just good or just bad. But not in this one. We see that people are usually both. Marinda is not a good person all the time. Neither is Mani,Ilya or Deven. All of them did some bad things and even though they felt bad for it,that doesn't erase that. And I really loved that aspect of the story. It's refreshing to have some characters who are not just pure heroes.

I loved how we can see the progress of characters through duology. We see how Marinda became a bad ass from a girl she was - just doing what she's told. And to see that progress,to witness such a change in a character was pure joy. I loved Marinda from the page one,but I loved her even more in Poison's cage. In Poison's cage she showed us how a girl can fight with her fear and how she can win.

Also,we got to see how Ilya changed through time. In Poison's cage we have a dual POVs,and Ilya is a second POV. That added to the story  A LOT. We got to see how Ilya was feeling and how everything looking from hers perspective. And to be honest,her chapters usually broke my heart. To see how much she suffers and in how much pain she is... it was just overwhelming.

I’m not a bad person. At least that’s what I tell myself over and over as I wend my way through the marketplace, past the vendors selling spiced meats and bright fabric, incense and rare birds.

 

I loved mythology in this book. I never read a book about Indian myths,and so this was so good! All the parts of mythology that got entwined in this story added so much. Everything was explained and everything was just right. Nothing felt forced and that's what I really liked about this book. NOTHING felt forced in this book. Everything felt so natural and a spot on! Even minor characters had a progress through books. And that's so rare to see in books. Also,I don't want to spoil anything,but little snakes in second book - so cute!

The romance in this book was also a spot on. It was a love on first sight,which I usually hate (reason I can't read Every day by David Levithan) but somehow,it didn't bother me at all in these books. Even though she fell in love with him immediately,it felt real to me. And how he treated Marinda... that's what every girl should have.

Overall,this is a book I will forever recommend to anyone! Even though you don't usually read a book about mythology - you have to read it. These books are not just about mythology. It's about love,forgiveness and about friendship. It's about bonds between people,and how sometimes family is not only in blood. It's sometimes a lot more. And how even though bad things happened to us,we will just be stronger because of it if we have someone to hold us. This book will make you cry and it will broke your heart,but it will also show to you that sometimes if you just believe in yourself you can do anything.

Rating: 5 ladybugs

About author

Breeana Shields is the author of the recently released young adult fantasy, POISION'S KISS (Random House BFYR) and its forthcoming sequel, POISON'S CAGE (Random House BFYR, Spring 2018).
When she’s not writing, Breeana loves reading, playing board games and spending time with her husband, three children and an extremely spoiled miniature poodle. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where it drizzles, rains or pours nine months of the year, but then transforms into paradise during the other three. She’s willing to make the trade-off. You can find Breeana on twitter & instagram.

 


*credits for picture go to iceybooks.com.