- Title: An Affair of Poisons
- Author: Addie Thorley
- Book Form: E-Book
- Pages: 391
- Publisher: Page Street Kids
- Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, YA
- Rating: ★★★.5
– Goodreads
No one looks kindly on the killer of a king.
After unwittingly helping her mother poison King Louis XIV, seventeen-year-old alchemist Mirabelle Monvoisin is forced to see her mother’s Shadow Society in a horrifying new light: they’re not heroes of the people, as they’ve always claimed to be, but murderers. Herself included. Mira tries to ease her guilt by brewing helpful curatives, but her hunger tonics and headache remedies cannot right past wrongs or save the dissenters her mother vows to purge.
Royal bastard Josse de Bourbon is more kitchen boy than fils de France. But when the Shadow Society assassinates the Sun King and half of the royal court, he must become the prince he was never meant to be in order to save his injured sisters and the petulant dauphin. Forced to hide in the sewers beneath the city, Josse’s hope of reclaiming Paris seems impossible―until his path collides with Mirabelle’s.
She’s a deadly poisoner. He’s a bastard prince. They are sworn enemies, yet they form a tenuous pact to unite the commoners and former nobility against the Shadow Society. But can a rebellion built on mistrust ever hope to succeed?
I was so, so excited to read this book. The description was amazing. Then, only on page 1, was this quote:
Today I will kill a man.
– Mirabelle
So I’m like, hell yeah! I’m here for this girl who is so nonchalant about killing. But then, I just couldn’t get into it. I stopped and started this book multiple times throughout the month. It wasn’t that it was bad, it was just … slow.
The action was so slow to build. It took over half the book. But once the action hit, man it hit. Once they started making plans, acting them out, and creating potions for the right reasons, I was here for it! It just took a little too long to get to it.
I loved that it was set in Paris around the time of Versailles. I am in love with that time period in Paris. There was a little French here and there, but not near as much as Enchantee. I loved the premise of this book. A girl making potions for a society who gets caught up in things she doesn’t agree with, so she decides to make a change. Yes, please. It sounds amazing. I just think it took a little too long to get there.
Up until the end, I wasn’t invested in the characters. I didn’t care who lived or died. The last like, 25% though really changed my mind. But that’s a lot of book to get through before you start caring.
If you like old Paris, poisons, and political unrest, give this book a try. Maybe it will suck you in from the beginning. I hope it does, because the ending was great.
Until next time…
Mithah Reads 