Review: Poison’s Kiss, Breeana Shields
Both based on its genre and on its own merits, Breeana Shields’ Poison’s Kiss is an enjoyable read. Here’s what we like and don’t like about it.
Poison’s Kiss had me intrigued from the word go, if only because it’s a story about a teenage assassin who doesn’t want to be an assassin. Okay, that’s perhaps not the most original story — you could have a lot of fun tracing the literary incarnations of the “dangerous woman who doesn’t want to be dangerous”. What does make Poison’s Kiss, Breeana Shields’ first novel, stand out is the amount of research that went into it.
Here’s the general breakdown: Marinda is a killer, with the particular talent of being able to murder with a kiss. Of course, visha kanya — poison damsels or maidens — are made, not born, and someone took some serious effort to make her this way. On one hand, she doesn’t want to kill her latest target. On the other, if she fails to comply, her brother dies. What’s a poison maiden to do?
On the strengths of its well-researched plot as well as an intriguing main character, yours truly gives Poison’s Kiss 4/5 stars. Let’s break that down.
The Good
The novel takes plenty of nods from Indian mythology. Visha kanya, for example, are real mythological figures, though that may sound like an oxymoron. So too are half of the animal deities of the kingdom, which include a naga as well as the Garuda. Shields also acknowledges that she changed the traditional gender of the Garuda. (Honestly, I would have loved a list of some of the reading she did for researching this project.) Poison’s Kiss does have a slightly different take on the naga as well for story purposes, but all in all, it feels like actual effort went into understanding how the mythology works in order to reimagine it for the purposes of the novel.
This is also a really, really quick read, and I generally mean that in the best way possible. The twists and turns keep a reader moving through the prose and wanting to know more, though yours truly saw one twist coming from approximately a mile away. I wouldn’t dare spoil it, but it’s there. However, once you get a few pages in, you’ll likely find yourself hooked.
Marinda herself is also an interesting lead character. She certainly has her moments where she has doubts, but she actually goes through some growth, which is nice to see. Her relationship with her brother doesn’t diminish in importance throughout the novel, either.
The Not-So-Good
Poison’s Kiss is a quick read. Generally, that’s a strength in terms of capacity to absorb the reader, but it’s also a weakness here. Things develop very quickly between Deven and Marinda, at least in terms of feelings on her end, and it feels almost too fast. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I would have liked a few more pages here and there to flesh out more of the world and the character development as a whole. Fortunately, the novel leaves us with a pretty clear hook for a sequel, and hopefully Shields will take more time to expand the mythology of Sundari and let us see a little more into Deven’s mind as well.
The Recommendation
A fan of mythological fantasy will find a lot to enjoy here in Poison’s Kiss, and your standard YA enthusiast will also like it as well, based on its well-researched and engrossing plot. Give this one a read over a weekend or two, but don’t be surprised if you end up knocking it out in an afternoon.
Next: 12 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books We Want to Read This Year
You can find Poison’s Kiss at your book retailer of choice.