Review: Poison by Bridget Zinn

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on April 23, 2013 | 23 Comments


Review: Poison by Bridget ZinnPoison by Bridget Zinn
Published by Disney Hyperion (3.12.2013)
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover, 288 pages
Source: I own it
Buy on Amazon


2 Stars

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.

But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart . . . misses.

Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she’s certainly no damsel-in-distress—she’s the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

My thoughts

I had been reeeaaally looking forward to this one. In fact, it was one of my most anticipated spring releases. And after seeing many gushing reviews from friends and blogs I follow, I was sure I’d love it. I’m sad to say that I was highly disappointed. It probably also didn’t help that I had just read it after an amazing book (Eternity Cure). Either way, my expectations were just set far too high.

My first issue: The prose. It was very sophomoric, and felt more like Middle Grade than Young Adult. Because I didn’t care for the writing style (and also because it was in 3rd person), I couldn’t connect to anything at all. I didn’t give a crap about the characters or the story. It’s not that this book was bad, but for me it was just meh. I probably won’t remember anything about it in a week.

My next issue: Instalove. Yep. This was where it started to really annoy me. It became so cliche that I seriously thought about DNFing it. And cheesy:

It wasn’t just his stunning features, or the tight muscles across his stomach she glimpsed when his shirt rode up. She knew better than to get mixed up with good-looking men, and he was undeniably that. But he was so much more. When he wasn’t being completely infuriating (and sometimes even when he was), he radiated joy like a beam of light. She caught just a tiny bit of warmth when she was with him.

Okay, maybe that wouldn’t have been quite so bad if I wasn’t already annoyed with the book. But my BFF was over and I read this out loud to her in my ‘cheesy romance narrator’ voice, and we were both getting a good laugh at the book’s expense.

Then, THEN, enter love triangle. Like it couldn’t get any worse. I do have to say, it didn’t last. Thankfully. But still! I was like UGH, are you kidding me right now?!
I do admit that a revelation at the end did surprise me, but I feel like it didn’t really make sense. Wouldn’t there have been some clue about that in the beginning other than ‘I don’t talk to my parents?’ It came out of nowhere and wasn’t exactly logical. Also, Kyra’s reaction to her mother was just plain ridiculous. Kyra treated her like she was evil and out to get her. Sure, she was a bit strict, but come on. It’s your mother for crying out loud! Kyra was just a bit too immature for me.

Even with all the complaints, I still didn’t hate it – probably because the story line was actually good. And I have to grudgingly admit that there were a couple times I giggled. This book could have had great potential, but the delivery was lacking for me. If you could take away the cheesy, cliched romance and add more character growth, I might have really enjoyed this one. But as it was, there was a lot of sighing and eye rolling going on, and it irritated me too much in the beginning to give it a higher rating.

Would I recommend it? Only to a much younger audience.

Overall Assessment

Plot: 3.5/5
Writing style: 1/5
Originality: 3.5/5
Characters: 1/5
World-building: 2/5
Pace: 3/5
Cover: 5/5
Overall rating: 2/5

Jessi (Geo)

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23 responses to “Review: Poison by Bridget Zinn

  1. LissethTorres

    Sad to hear you didn’t enjoy it as much as me :( But I can see about the writing style it was kinda for a younger YA audience. I didn’t really see a love triangle because it was so short it barely registered but i didn’t like it much either. Yeah i thought it was strange to act that way towards your mom too, I don’t think i could hold a poisoned needle to the woman who birthed me O_O

    I really didn’t notice the flaws in the book when I read it, since i was in a deathbed in Peru and just wanted to read something funny and easy :P But great review Jessi <3'ed hearing your thoughts :)

    • I know!! Haha. It was an easy read, I’m sure most people will love it since I’m the black sheep here. Almost all of the ratings on GR were 4 and 5 stars. *sigh*

  2. SADNESSS. This is indeed a sad state to be in. I mean, I know you’re just dying for this book, especially with that adorable pig and all…..[i swear all the teasing genes come from my dad. =] ANYWAY. Boo. This book deserved to be loved by you. And it failed. Ah well. There’s always another book. Like Unbreakable!

    I still hope I like it…but insta-love you say…? Ick.
    <333 The Natorest of Nator Twins.
    Inky

    PS. I'm still freaking out over Prodigy. It's also kinda awesome that it's the first one I've had signed to Inky. Meep!

    • Adorable pig. -___-
      Unbreakable shall make up for the failness!

      [And I thought about having her sign Hannah, but I went with Inky anyway ^.^]

      I LUFF YEW NATOR TWIN =]

    • Yeah =/ Definitely still try it though, many people have adored this book so I’m kinda the black sheep here! Who knows, you might fall in the love category too :)

  3. I don’t really mind MG books, so I don’t think that is going to bother me as much as it bothered you. I’m not so fond of the whole insta-love AND love-triangle, but I’m willing to try this one out. I’ve been so excited from the moment I saw the cover and the blurb.. I’m sorry to hear it was disappointing for you!

  4. Nikki Wang

    POOPOOP. SO SAD YOU DIDN’T LOVE IT LIKE I DID D: I read it like an MG novel so the instalove and immaturity didn’t bother me :P It’s really innocent for YA!

  5. Ah BUM. Poison looked like a really cute read ;( Thpugh I’ll still probably try it out as I LUV MG books. The only thing that’s making me hesitate is the MC and insta-love. Both are very POO.

    Well written review, Jessi! It’s sad to see you not like this.

  6. Oh no I’m sorry you didn’t like this one as much as a lot of other people had! I gave it four stars, but I can see where your issues of isntalove and the writing style and the characters would annoy you! I think I had the same issue with all of Kyra’s huge secrets because they kept getting randomly thrown in.

    But then again, I consider myself a much younger audience so that also may be it :) Fantastic review, Jessi! Hopefully the next few books you read will be EPICALLY AMAZING!

    PS—I want to hear your cheesy narrator voice. JUST SAYING.

    • Yeah, this is really geared for a 10-16 yr audience, not 25…*sigh* I feel like I’ll never be too old for YA, but it just should have been labeled MG in my opinion. I hope so too! I’m reading Unbreakable now, so I’m sure that one will make up for it ;)

      (And sometime I’ll have to record it for you baha!)

  7. Aww man!!! :( What a huge bummer! I haven’t read this book yet but I thought it sounded soooo cute! And the cover? Squee! I have read a lot of mixed reviews (some great, some meh) and I’m so sorry to hear that you fell on the ‘meh’ side of things! Especially because you were looking forward to it so much!

    I’m a little afraid to read it now…

  8. That quote!
    “She caught just a tiny bit of warmth when she was with him.” That’s so cheesy, it’s the same as saying he makes you feel all warm and gooey inside.
    And noo, why add a love triangle?! That’s the easiest way to ruin a book for anyone. Add some instalove and I want to run far, far away.
    It’s too bad though, I was hoping I’ll enjoy this one because the summary sounds so awesome. I’ll put Poison near the bottom of my TBR list now.

    • Right?! The love triangle WAS very short-lived, I’ll give it that. Still give it a try for sure, maybe you’ll enjoy it! I’m the minority here, sadly…

  9. Molli Moran

    Awwww, too bad you didn’t like it, Jessi! This is a good read for a lower YA/MG audience, agreed, because it was light fantasy, but yet I really enjoyed it. I didn’t think there was any insta-love, and I loved the quirky narration and how awesome Kyra was. But I hope you’ll find something else you love soon!

  10. Agreed that the ending was kinda bleh, but I liked the rest of it more than you did, lol. :P Which is kind of surprising, because most of the things you had a problem with would be things I’d have a problem with, too? But for some reason I didn’t. idk! Maybe I was just in a really good mood or something. I thought it was cute and light-hearted and a bit silly.

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