ARC REVIEW: A FIERCE AND SUBTLE POISON
In this stunning debut, legends collide with reality when a boy is swept into the magical, dangerous world of a girl filled with poison.
Everyone knows the legends about the cursed girl--Isabel, the one the senoras whisper about. They say she has green skin and grass for hair, and she feeds on the poisonous plants that fill her family’s Caribbean island garden. Some say she can grant wishes; some say her touch can kill.
Seventeen-year-old Lucas lives on the mainland most of the year but spends summers with his hotel-developer father in Puerto Rico. He’s grown up hearing stories about the cursed girl, and he wants to believe in Isabel and her magic. When letters from Isabel begin mysteriously appearing in his room the same day his new girlfriend disappears, Lucas turns to Isabel for answers--and finds himself lured into her strange and enchanted world. But time is running out for the girl filled with poison, and the more entangled Lucas becomes with Isabel, the less certain he is of escaping with his own life.
A Fierce and Subtle Poison beautifully blends magical realism with a page-turning mystery and a dark, starcrossed romance--all delivered in lush, urgent prose.
Title: A FIERCE AND SUBTLE POISON
Author: Samantha Mabry
Source: eARC via the Publisher:
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Publication Date: April 12, 2016
Rating: 3.5/5
I was a little underwhelmed by this one but it was still a good book. I guess I thought from the description that there would be a bit more magic and a little less introspection. It was almost as if the book couldn't decide if it wanted to fully be magical realism or not. I think I was anticipating more magic or at least have it be integrated into the world a bit more. I thought that there just wasn't enough. But let's break it down.
