A review by angeliqueazul
The Poison Diaries, by The Duchess of Northumberland, Maryrose Wood
3.0
The Poison Diaries is a light and quick read. It is hard to actually rate this book because even though the ideas are interesting, the story is rather rough. In the first part nothing really happens except that Weed shows up and nevertheless, Maryrose Wood does not manage to build up round characters on these many pages! Jessamine is the only one we get to know a little better but the decisions she makes are so contradicting that I just could not stop questioning her as a character. Another issue is trust: Weed and Jessamine know each other so little, they hardly ever tell each other what they are thinking and feeling, so that when it comes to trusting each other in the second part I thought it would be much harder for the both of them. Well, it was not really and that is one of quite a few 'loose ends' the second part offers. Weed and Jessamine's burning love for each other and J's father suddenly being the absolute evil - sorry but that was just too unrealistic!
I liked the whole idea with the poisons and the plants and Weed as an idea of a person - you could really make something out of that. The whole idea with the poison prince was something I did not really understand. On the one hand, what power does he actually have and on the other, he and his plants with their three (or four) tasks for Weed turned the YA fantasy book into some kind of parable with a meaning for life-attempt, which made the book as a whole even more confusing.
In the end I felt more sorry for all the animals and people that had to die just to save Jessamine (who is not really worth it in my opinion) than for the two lovers that are seperated forever (or so it seems). Where cruel death is concerned, Wood actually has a talent to make you shiver. Other than that the language was very simple. Conclusion: An enjoyable read - but not worth buying, keeping or thinking about it much.
I liked the whole idea with the poisons and the plants and Weed as an idea of a person - you could really make something out of that. The whole idea with the poison prince was something I did not really understand. On the one hand, what power does he actually have and on the other, he and his plants with their three (or four) tasks for Weed turned the YA fantasy book into some kind of parable with a meaning for life-attempt, which made the book as a whole even more confusing.
In the end I felt more sorry for all the animals and people that had to die just to save Jessamine (who is not really worth it in my opinion) than for the two lovers that are seperated forever (or so it seems). Where cruel death is concerned, Wood actually has a talent to make you shiver. Other than that the language was very simple. Conclusion: An enjoyable read - but not worth buying, keeping or thinking about it much.