Poison

Written by Chris Wooding

Narrated by Virginia Leishman

ALA Best Book for Teens recipient Chris Wooding delivers "a twisted fairytale fantasy"(Wooding) sprinkled with marvelous characters and seasoned with incredible plot twists. In the rotting stilt-village of Gull just above the foul-smelling Black Swamp, 16-year-old Poison vows to rescue her kidnapped sister from the phaeries. A wise friend reluctantly provides the money, directions, and ancient lore necessary for her journey. Poison soon encounters the treacherous phaerie lord, the terrifying bone witch, and the deceptive spider queen. But when her reality is completely upended, Poison questions whether she can save anyone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781470357580

Chris Wooding

Chris Wooding is a full time, award-winning novelist, a YA novelist, and a professional script writer for film and TV. He has travelled extensively, plays bass and guitar (and has recorded several albums) and his novels have been published all over the world. He has penned the Braided Path trilogy, a standalone novel (The Fade) and the Tales of the Ketty Jay series for Gollancz, all of which were critical and commercial successes. Chris Wooding lives in Kent, and you can learn more at www.chriswooding.com.

Reviews for Poison

[udontno · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you like a book with an unexpexted twist in the end then you will love this one! (Can't say any more or I will give it away!)

[agentbookworm · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Poison is quite possibly the holy bible for writers. The story itself is pretty gripping but it's almost as if the book has segmented itself into two seperate things, the story, and the end. It set my mind reeling at the sheer magnitude of the idea that Mr. Wooding managed to carry across in print.You know your writing is good when the characters don't need you to finish the story anymore.The title is pure genius and could not have possibly been anything else.One of my all time favourites, second only to one. If you don't read this book before you die...well, I'm sorry for your loss.

[techimi · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Poison's life in the Black Marshses leaves her wishing for change. With her mother's death, life became a constant struggle with a stepmother who can't stand her, and a father who can't see his own family's struggle. She views herself as little more than the problem, and so it was she chose her name.When her sister Azalea is exchanged with a Changeling, suddenly the stories Poison has read all her life become real. With the help of Fleet, the only person in the marshes to understand her, Poison sets off to get her sister back.So begins a journey from the realm of man to the realm of phaerie, from certainty to illusion, from youth to...Along the way, unlikely friendships are formed and enemies are earned, and the many mysteries Poison has always puzzled over slowly unravel into an even more mystifying reality.

[lizard_698959 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

So not my cup of tea. The writing was not bad but it was written for an age group of I'd say 8-12. The writing is more along the lines of a classic fairy tale and not really a great one. The books was really very predictable.

[maryphillips_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm using this for a mother/daughter book discussion. I like the main character. She's not the sweet, fairy tale princess or the good, loving daughter of traditional fairy tales. Lots of violence and adventure in this book. No sex at all. I'm using it for a joint summer book discussion of several grade levels and I think this will appeal across several grades.

[df1a_christier · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Poison is a twisted fairytale fantasy about one girl’s journey to reclaim her stolen infant sister. To do so she has to enter a world where humans are the lowest form of vermin, where a murderous pantheon of demigods plot and scheme to overthrow one another, and where someone is planning to do away with humankind altogether. But not before everything she knows as reality is turned upside down. It was not as good as I thought it would be. It was too slow.

[rubbah_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

a very dark fairytale, in which Poisons baby sister is swapped for a changeling. She then embarks on a journey to save her sister from the phaeries in a twisted world of witches and spider goddesses and forgotten stories, only to discover a huge secret that changes her whole life.

[ninjabluedemon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely loved it! The cover(the purple face one) is awesome and thrills me when I see it. The story is so strange, like a perverse fairy tail. Of course that is probably what a phaerie tail is. I recommend this to ones who do not mind weird fairy tails that have been warped into slightly scary and yet exciting tales of magic, danger and a quest for a lost sister. In the end though, even that quest changes a bit, until it becomes something much bigger, something that will decide the fate of all the Realms. Check it out, it rules!

[mesmericrevelation · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Poison is one of my favorite books. It's so unique and imaginative, well written and it has a lot of action. I read this in 2008, and I still think about it almost every single day. I will definitely be reading this one again. It blew me away!

[jazminderr-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my all time favourites. Creepy fairytale with a strong minded rebellious strongheaded protagonist.

[othersam · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Chris Wooding is one of the finest writers of fantastical young people's literature working today: The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray is another excellent book of his, but it's this one, Poison, that is my current favourite. In this story, Poison isn't a thing, it's a person – the book's moody, irrepressible heroine, so named by her strait-laced parents. But when Poison's younger sister is snatched away in the night by phaeries, it's Poison who leaves home to rescue her, plunging herself – and the reader – into a wild adventure that is as bracingly terrifying as anything in the stories of the Grimm brothers. The chapter called 'Spiders' still makes my arm-hairs stand up whenever I think about it. Superb.

[krau0098 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a surprisingly good book. I have never read a book by Chris Wooding before, and although I had to slog through the first chapter, the book really picked up pace from that point on.Poison lives in a swamp with her step-mother, father and baby sister. Poison is an outcast, she can never understand why the people of the swamp village put up with living the way they do, she can't understand why someone doesn't change things. When Poison's sister is stolen by the Phaeries it is the last straw. Poison leaves the village with the local wraith-catcher determined to get her sister back.This book starts out as a wonderfully Gothic and classic Brothers Grimm-like story. These is not your Disney fairy tale but the dark and scary fairy tale that stays true to a Grimm fairy tale. Initially you think this book is just a very well written story about a girl on a quest to save her sister. As the story progresses it ends up being about so much more. There is much more at stake than Poison's sister. Poison quickly finds out that reality is not what it seems; and deeper questions come up as to who weaves the stories that are a person's life.This was a delightful book. The details are magnificent and the story is very creative. The plot weaves irony in and out of the story and you will say "huh, wow that was clever." Poison is a strong character and the side characters are also intriguing. Wooding has developed an interesting world where humans are on the bottom of the food chain, except in one aspect.This is not a book for the faint at heart. Although it is appropriate for preteens and young adults; it is a creepy and scary book. I would put the creepiness right up there with Joseph Delauney's Spook's Apprentice series. This is a wonderful young adult horror though.I also have the book The Storm Thief by Wooding and I am very much looking forward to reading that book. I am definitely going to look into acquiring more of Wooding's books. He is a great storyteller. I don't think I have gotten such delight out of a fairy tale since I read Ironside by Holly Black. Although this tale is set in a different world; the characters are just as engrossing.

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Poison is determined to get back her sister who has been stolen by the Scarecrow, a creature right from a fairy tale. Poison faces a number of challenges to get to the faerie world to try to make a deal to get her sister back. She picks up a number of interesting and loyal companions along the way. Poison is a tough, resourceful character who I wanted to succeed despite all the odds she faces.

[edspicer_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray, Wooding proved that he is a master of mood, with settings and sense of place so darkly disturbing that readers turn on lights before sitting down with his book. Poison continues that masterful trend while also improving character description and plot structure. Poison will say no if anyone says yes. Poison chose her name to spite her stepmother. “’You’ll never do as I tell you! Never! You’ll never be as a good girl should. Always full of questions, never accepting things as they are. Always full of spite for me! You’ll never make your father happy, never marry a strong young man. You’re poison to this family, poison!’And so she became.” (p.3).So when the Pharie Lord kidnaps Azalea, her sister, everyone considers it to be “the way of things.” Obviously Poison decides to journey to the pharie realm to reclaim her sister. Along the way she has encounters with several memorable characters including the wraith-catcher, Lamprey, and, my favorite, the bone witch and her hounds. In true pharie fashion, the Pharie Lord will not simply hand Azalea back to Poison until Poison completes a quest—and a whole new set of characters and dangers beset her. The fate of humans rest in her hands. Once again she meets several horribly creepy characters. The description of Asinastra, the spider woman is among my favorites:The woman was on the ceiling. Her emaciated fingers and toes clutched the stone and held up there as easily as if she was crawling along the floor. … But the veil had slipped, and Poison could see her eyes now: black, blank pearls, like the eyes of the changeling Poison had left back in Gull. She felt the terrible weight of that gaze, and it froze her in place.The woman dropped, suddenly releasing herself and plummeting down towards Poison. Poison’s instincts cried out, telling her to throw herself aside or at least put her hands up in front of her face. But nothing moved. Her muscles seemed empty of life. The woman landed lightly on her fingertips and toes, foursquare over the prone body of Poison, her face inches from Poison’s own, her swollen belly pressing into Poison’s. The marsh girl trembled in terror, but she could not tear herself away from those black, empty eyes, could not break the contact that paralysed her. (pp. 155-156)Deceit and deception abound. Poison is not the perfect savior. Mistakes are made. The concept of time is twisted in this pharie land, which makes the end a part of the beginning—something readers will have to read to understand. The back cover of the galley states, “Poison is a gripping and malevolent tale from master storyteller Chris Wooding.” I could not agree more. This is another book that works well for a very large audience, including this 51-year-old teen

[McKenna Horman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book in my English class in Middle school and have loved it ever since. Chris Wooding is a master story teller with just the right mix of horror/fantasy for me. So many hints and details are place throughout the book that it makes for such a great re-read.

[insomniel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another horror story, but set in a fantasy world. It follows the adventures of a stubborn girl trying to save her sister from the elves, outwitting monsters both hideous and beautiful along the way. The plot is familiar, but the twists and turns are satisfyingly unusual and delightful, in a morbid sense. This novel was very accurately described as a dark fairytale for teens.