This Book Will Poison Your Mind
I really enjoyed the book we read this month for our teen fantasy book group: Poison, by Chris Wooding. The main character is a 16-year-old girl so contrary she selected "Poison" as her moniker on her naming day in response to a rant by her stepmother:You'll never do as I tell you! Never! You'll never be as a good girl should. Always full of questions, never accepting things as they are. Always full of spite for me! You'll never make your father happy, never marry a strong young man. You're poison to this family, poison!After her young sister is stolen and a changeling left in her place, Poison decides the only thing to do is leave her swamp village for the first time in her life in an attempt to get Azalea back. The adventure leads to a confrontation with the Phaerie King and beyond. Not only is it an entertaining tale, it gets quite philosophical about the nature of stories and of existence itself.
I marked this quote from the book, as it's a good warning: "Cynicism was a one-way path, and once taken the way back was forever lost."
They are entirely different books, but I think I liked one of Woodings other books even better. Where Poison tends to be a bit cerebral and philosophical, The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray was more atmospheric and haunting. I recommend both.
posted by Degolar @ 8:45 PM
3 Comments:
This is a legitimate question/comment:
It seems to me that lines like this - "You'll never do as I tell you! Never! You'll never be as a good girl should. Always full of questions, never accepting things as they are. Always full of spite for me! You'll never make your father happy, never marry a strong young man. You're poison to this family, poison!" are extremely formulaic in YA literature these days. I get the impression that anyone with the discipline to sit at a keyboard for 45 minutes could crank out a popular piece of YA fiction.
Yes and no. There are certain elements--in this case teen angst and the desire to feel wanted/loved--that are perhaps cliche. And someone familiar with the genre can throw something together. But there's a difference between doing that and doing it well (isn't that the case with all genre writing, after all?). But, trust me, there's nothing formulaic about either of these two books by Wooding as they are both quite original. And if you don't trust me, give them a try.
I'll take your word for it since you are way more familiar with the genre than I am.
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