The Poison Season

This Poison Season follows Leelo as she discovers the secrets of the island that she has been living on her whole life, Endla. Along the way she meets Jaren, an outsider who the island and islanders do not take too kindly to. As she nurses him back to health she begins to change her views about Endla and the Wandering Forest that has been protecting them since their ancestors. I love the cover and think it is very pretty. The premise of the story and the idea of an isolated society protected by magic seems interesting. The relationships of the characters in this book seemed underdeveloped and they did not feel very connected. The story also moved slow for me and the main action in the book was a little rushed. I enjoyed figuring out the secrets along with Leelo but they did not make very much sense to me. The ending of the book was satisfying to me and I liked hearing about their lives after the fact. Overall it was not my favorite book but it is a nice story and I think others would enjoy it.

I was intrigued with the concept of the wandering forest, the poisoned lake and the Endlans with their magic singing. That and the cover had me really excited to read this book. I am a sucker for a beautiful cover. Despite all that, there ended up being something slightly lacking. Maybe it was because I was not in the mood for young forbidden love between Leelo and Jaren. It seemed too convenient that she should fall for the first outsider she sees. The racism of the Endlans also took away from my joy in the reading of this story. Leelo's aunt Ketty and even Sage had so much poison in them that it repelled me when they were talking. Now, the good. I did enjoy the wandering forest bits. It was cool and creepy with the descriptions of how it changed or how it devoured things sometimes. I kinda wish there had been more about that, especially at the end with what happened to it. Jaren with his sisters was cool and I think I liked him better than Leelo. So it was a fairly good book but had some tropes I was a bit tired of.