Jennifer Donnelly does it again. After her fantastic twist on the Cinderella fairytale in Stepsister, the author has taken the story of Snow White and added her usual twists and layer of darkness.
Poisoned begins with Sophie, a beautiful kind Princess, who is due to come of age and inherit her Late fathers crown and kingdom. Her stepmother, the Queen, believes that Sophie is too kind and foolish to rule and orders her huntsman to take Sophie into the woods and cut out her heart. With the help of seven mysterious strangers Sophie survives and thus begins her quest to prove that kindness will prevail over evil.
Poisoned addresses themes including family, friendship, trust and kindness. This is a very dark retelling of a beloved fairytale. As a child I loved the Snow White story and it is amazing to have it told in this fantastic feminist way. The author has an amazing way with words and metaphors, and she has written Poisoned in her signature fantastical way. I found the character of the Queen, who is Sophie's evil stepmother, impressive and she had the most interesting backstory. For this, I loved reading about the Queen throughout the story. However, I was conflicted with how to feel about our heroine, Sophie. I admired her for remaining kind and not giving into her stepmothers pressure to be a stern ruler; but I was disappointed that she was consistently naïve throughout her journey. I found the supporting characters likeable but I wasn't terribly invested in any of them, sadly including the seven men of the woods. I did like Webber though!
With this being a feminist retelling showing the journey and development of the main character, the romantic aspect is not at the forefront of this story. Having said this, I still wasn't invested in whatever romantic interest Sophie did have, as there wasn't any real depth to it. In the original story of Snow White, after hearing that Snow White is alive, the Queen disguises herself to kill Snow White once and for all. I did like in Poisoned that the Queen attempted to kill Sophie multiple times and I liked the truly imaginative ways that she tries to kill her. However it is during these scenes where I felt Sophie was indeed naïve and foolish. It was almost silly how easily the Queen could trick Sophie.
I really enjoyed the first half of the book. However I wasn't as keen on the second half of the book. I started to get confused as to Sophie's location in the kingdom. I wondered about how dreadfully long it took her to leave the Hollow but then how astonishingly quickly it took her and her friends to get back there. Then there were ogres, goblins and other creatures that appeared as if from nowhere. I continued to read through to the end to find out the conclusion to Sophie's story but I did feel that the story had gone on some other tangent. The addition of Death and Fear was a little strange however I do like that at the ending we get a clue from the author that there may be further fairytale retellings.
Overall, Poisoned is a beautifully written, fresh, fairytale retelling. As with her other book, the author leaves you with a very important message, that kindness is in fact a strength and not a weakness. I enjoyed this retelling from Jennifer Donnelly and I would be keen to read more from her in the future. I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of fantasy, feminist heroines and of fairytales.
Poisoned begins with Sophie, a beautiful kind Princess, who is due to come of age and inherit her Late fathers crown and kingdom. Her stepmother, the Queen, believes that Sophie is too kind and foolish to rule and orders her huntsman to take Sophie into the woods and cut out her heart. With the help of seven mysterious strangers Sophie survives and thus begins her quest to prove that kindness will prevail over evil.
Poisoned addresses themes including family, friendship, trust and kindness. This is a very dark retelling of a beloved fairytale. As a child I loved the Snow White story and it is amazing to have it told in this fantastic feminist way. The author has an amazing way with words and metaphors, and she has written Poisoned in her signature fantastical way. I found the character of the Queen, who is Sophie's evil stepmother, impressive and she had the most interesting backstory. For this, I loved reading about the Queen throughout the story. However, I was conflicted with how to feel about our heroine, Sophie. I admired her for remaining kind and not giving into her stepmothers pressure to be a stern ruler; but I was disappointed that she was consistently naïve throughout her journey. I found the supporting characters likeable but I wasn't terribly invested in any of them, sadly including the seven men of the woods. I did like Webber though!
With this being a feminist retelling showing the journey and development of the main character, the romantic aspect is not at the forefront of this story. Having said this, I still wasn't invested in whatever romantic interest Sophie did have, as there wasn't any real depth to it. In the original story of Snow White, after hearing that Snow White is alive, the Queen disguises herself to kill Snow White once and for all. I did like in Poisoned that the Queen attempted to kill Sophie multiple times and I liked the truly imaginative ways that she tries to kill her. However it is during these scenes where I felt Sophie was indeed naïve and foolish. It was almost silly how easily the Queen could trick Sophie.
I really enjoyed the first half of the book. However I wasn't as keen on the second half of the book. I started to get confused as to Sophie's location in the kingdom. I wondered about how dreadfully long it took her to leave the Hollow but then how astonishingly quickly it took her and her friends to get back there. Then there were ogres, goblins and other creatures that appeared as if from nowhere. I continued to read through to the end to find out the conclusion to Sophie's story but I did feel that the story had gone on some other tangent. The addition of Death and Fear was a little strange however I do like that at the ending we get a clue from the author that there may be further fairytale retellings.
Overall, Poisoned is a beautifully written, fresh, fairytale retelling. As with her other book, the author leaves you with a very important message, that kindness is in fact a strength and not a weakness. I enjoyed this retelling from Jennifer Donnelly and I would be keen to read more from her in the future. I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of fantasy, feminist heroines and of fairytales.