A review by hellobookbird
To Poison a King by S.G. Prince

5.0

 

A blessing, they called me when they needed me. A witch, they called me when they did not.

Selene is the youngest daughter in a gifted line of healers, born to serve as the king's royal physician. Yet when Selene's mother Persaphe embroils her in a plot to kill the king, Selene finds herself poisoning the very man she is sworn to protect. But the poison doesn’t work, and the king doesn’t die. Rather, he awakes from his coma paralyzed, aware of the attempt on his life, and furious.

With the palace in a state of upheaval and everyone hunting the king's poisoner, Persaphe flees, leaving Selene the task of rehabilitating the man she aimed to kill, all while hiding her true role in his demise. The more their relationship develops into unlikely friends…the more her secret weighs on her, as does her growing fear that Persaphe—having failed to kill him once—might return to try again.

Who would we be without our scars? Who would we become without our pasts?

What an AMAZING read. I had asked a friend group for recommendations on books I call "teas and tinctures." Since this was on Kindle Unlimited and sounded up my ally, this was the first to try. Immediately after finishing it, I bought it for keepsies.

I cannot properly convey how much I absolutely loved both Selene's and Elias' personal growths...the slow burn development from resentment to neutrality to interest to more...the raw despair and burning desire in equal measure...the mind behind the potions...the experimental failures before the successes...the mental health and physical limitations...AND THAT ENDING! MY. GOD. THAT ENDING.

Prince is a master at taking complicated characters and weaving such an intriguing tapestry of events, feelings, thoughts, and personal growth together. This was the slow burn fantasy with a pinch of romance that I needed. While only the first novel I've read by Prince, it will certainly not be the last.

"What if the moral is that sometimes, everything we desire already stands before us, if only we are wise enough to see it?"

Recommended for everyone that loves deep character development and them herb witch vibes.