Poison Princess & Endless Knight by Kresley Cole: a double book review
Originally I wasn't going to write a book review for either of these. Poison Princess was enjoyable, sure, but I just never made time to sit down and vocalize my thoughts about it until now. Having finished its sequel and planning to, cautiously, progress with this series, I must get a few things out. This will contain spoilers and sass, so I'm warning readers ahead of time.
Let's talk about PP, the first book in the Arcana Chronicles.
Poison Princess Review:
My initial thoughts were pretty positive. I liked the unreliable nature of Evie as a protagonist, I liked the psychological aspects of this book and the relationship she had with her mother. I even kinda liked her boyfriend, because even if he was about as intriguing as a paper bag, he was a nice paper bag.
But holy mac and cheese, Jackson was so not my cup of tea.
After every review in favor of this book proclaiming how hot and schmexy he was and how great he was, I didn't get that vibe. He was kind of a tool. And because of his central role in the plot, it knocked a star off for me.
As for the apocalypse, I dug the idea. It was much more unique than other versions of the end of the world I've seen. The bagmen were cool, the militias were cool, the whole thing was cool. Evie's power development was fantastic, and even despite some more irritating parts of the plot, like excessive teen angst, I was enthralled.
Now, there's one thing that really put me off.
If you look past all the drama that tends to come with YA books, I could not accept one scene in particular. When a main character and her hunk of man meat get together, you're supposed to be excited for them and rooting for them to get in onnnnn, or something like that. But when Evie, due to a lack of concise communication, doesn't want to bump the uglies with Jack, he gets pissed off at her for not wanting to have sex with him.
This was my reaction:
No man is entitled to having sex with a woman. Hell, no human being is entitled to sex with another person. Consent is key. Enthusiasm equals orgasm. Under no circumstances should it be okay for a male character, who many woman young and old will adore and potentially use as a standard for real life, to get angry with a woman for not wanting to have sex with him. That is so not okay. That is beyond not okay. It shouldn't have made it into print.
Now that my rant is out of the way, we can talk about the showdown at the end of the book. I was on the fence about continuing the series, but the climax involving Evie killing Arthur and coming into her powers was definitely enough to keep me reading. I decided to give the series another chance, because at the end of the day, it was entertaining, even if it wasn't amazing like I wanted it to be.
Endless Knight Review:
This might be a little juvenile, but the title made me cringe. I couldn't help it. It just sounds really dumb.
The book picks up with decent amounts of action and peril, and I dug it. Even in the quieter moments, I wasn't bored enough to put the book down. I liked that at least Evie and Jackson talked it out, and admittedly he was starting to grow on me a bit. I liked Finn and Matthew, and I still liked Evie. The book was still entertaining and I genuinely wanted to keep reading.
After Evie ends up with Death, I got a little less enthralled. I still wanted to read and figure out what happened next, but many aspects of the time spent with him were so boring and purposeless. She stopped making attempts to escape, which was plain annoying, but the thing that really got me was the way Cole tried to make us love Death.
The problem here is that Death is a douche.
He's a killer, with every intention of hurting those close to her. He's jealous and possessive for no reason. And on top of all of that, it's okay that he's hot and cold and actually crazy af because he's attractive.
Evie becomes an idiot around him. Even though she's supposedly trying to deceive him so she can kill him, it seems she genuinely is falling for him. Of all people. Are you kidding??
On top of all this BS, she doesn't even kill him when she gets the chance. Really? It's obvious Cole only kept him around for drama's sake, and it was completely unneeded. This love triangle is dumb, and after finding out more about Jackson's lies, I don't want either of them to end up with her. I'm team Selena, she and Evie can be a great LGBT couple or something.
Speaking of Selena, when are we gonna get some decent female friendships? This girl on girl hate has to stop.
Even if you put all of my other issues with this book, the thing happened again!!!!
WHEN WILL THESE GUYS LEARN???
When Death and Evie are gonna go at it, she wants to slow down and asks him if he has a condom because she doesn't want to get pregnant and doesn't want to have sex without one. He doesn't, but he still tries to pressure her and tell her that it's fine if she gets knocked up. That is not consent.
And then he gets pissy when she reveals part of her doesn't feel comfortable because she still has feelings for Jackson. While frustrating for Death because they'd been hot and heavy just minutes before, it's still her right to say no. That should always be respected. It was not.
I'm not okay with this trend of leading men feeling like they're entitled to going at it with Evie. Her consent is her right (a right which, thankfully, Jackson respected earlier in this sequel. It was part of what made me warm up to him). If it happens again, I won't read the next book in the series. I can't handle this utter disrespect for women and consent.
This book became problematic and dull real quick. And yet, it was like watching an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians in that even though it was utterly awful, it was entertaining. Like a trainwreck, you can't tear your eyes from it. Truth be told, I still kind of want to know what happens. But if this series continues to be on a downward spiral, I won't be as forgiving in the future.
Anyway, these were my thoughts and feelings, hope you enjoyed.
Let's talk about PP, the first book in the Arcana Chronicles.
Poison Princess Review:
My initial thoughts were pretty positive. I liked the unreliable nature of Evie as a protagonist, I liked the psychological aspects of this book and the relationship she had with her mother. I even kinda liked her boyfriend, because even if he was about as intriguing as a paper bag, he was a nice paper bag.
But holy mac and cheese, Jackson was so not my cup of tea.
After every review in favor of this book proclaiming how hot and schmexy he was and how great he was, I didn't get that vibe. He was kind of a tool. And because of his central role in the plot, it knocked a star off for me.
As for the apocalypse, I dug the idea. It was much more unique than other versions of the end of the world I've seen. The bagmen were cool, the militias were cool, the whole thing was cool. Evie's power development was fantastic, and even despite some more irritating parts of the plot, like excessive teen angst, I was enthralled.
Now, there's one thing that really put me off.
If you look past all the drama that tends to come with YA books, I could not accept one scene in particular. When a main character and her hunk of man meat get together, you're supposed to be excited for them and rooting for them to get in onnnnn, or something like that. But when Evie, due to a lack of concise communication, doesn't want to bump the uglies with Jack, he gets pissed off at her for not wanting to have sex with him.
This was my reaction:
No man is entitled to having sex with a woman. Hell, no human being is entitled to sex with another person. Consent is key. Enthusiasm equals orgasm. Under no circumstances should it be okay for a male character, who many woman young and old will adore and potentially use as a standard for real life, to get angry with a woman for not wanting to have sex with him. That is so not okay. That is beyond not okay. It shouldn't have made it into print.
Now that my rant is out of the way, we can talk about the showdown at the end of the book. I was on the fence about continuing the series, but the climax involving Evie killing Arthur and coming into her powers was definitely enough to keep me reading. I decided to give the series another chance, because at the end of the day, it was entertaining, even if it wasn't amazing like I wanted it to be.
Endless Knight Review:
This might be a little juvenile, but the title made me cringe. I couldn't help it. It just sounds really dumb.
The book picks up with decent amounts of action and peril, and I dug it. Even in the quieter moments, I wasn't bored enough to put the book down. I liked that at least Evie and Jackson talked it out, and admittedly he was starting to grow on me a bit. I liked Finn and Matthew, and I still liked Evie. The book was still entertaining and I genuinely wanted to keep reading.
After Evie ends up with Death, I got a little less enthralled. I still wanted to read and figure out what happened next, but many aspects of the time spent with him were so boring and purposeless. She stopped making attempts to escape, which was plain annoying, but the thing that really got me was the way Cole tried to make us love Death.
The problem here is that Death is a douche.
He's a killer, with every intention of hurting those close to her. He's jealous and possessive for no reason. And on top of all of that, it's okay that he's hot and cold and actually crazy af because he's attractive.
Evie becomes an idiot around him. Even though she's supposedly trying to deceive him so she can kill him, it seems she genuinely is falling for him. Of all people. Are you kidding??
On top of all this BS, she doesn't even kill him when she gets the chance. Really? It's obvious Cole only kept him around for drama's sake, and it was completely unneeded. This love triangle is dumb, and after finding out more about Jackson's lies, I don't want either of them to end up with her. I'm team Selena, she and Evie can be a great LGBT couple or something.
Speaking of Selena, when are we gonna get some decent female friendships? This girl on girl hate has to stop.
Even if you put all of my other issues with this book, the thing happened again!!!!
WHEN WILL THESE GUYS LEARN???
When Death and Evie are gonna go at it, she wants to slow down and asks him if he has a condom because she doesn't want to get pregnant and doesn't want to have sex without one. He doesn't, but he still tries to pressure her and tell her that it's fine if she gets knocked up. That is not consent.
And then he gets pissy when she reveals part of her doesn't feel comfortable because she still has feelings for Jackson. While frustrating for Death because they'd been hot and heavy just minutes before, it's still her right to say no. That should always be respected. It was not.
I'm not okay with this trend of leading men feeling like they're entitled to going at it with Evie. Her consent is her right (a right which, thankfully, Jackson respected earlier in this sequel. It was part of what made me warm up to him). If it happens again, I won't read the next book in the series. I can't handle this utter disrespect for women and consent.
This book became problematic and dull real quick. And yet, it was like watching an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians in that even though it was utterly awful, it was entertaining. Like a trainwreck, you can't tear your eyes from it. Truth be told, I still kind of want to know what happens. But if this series continues to be on a downward spiral, I won't be as forgiving in the future.
Anyway, these were my thoughts and feelings, hope you enjoyed.
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