A Poison Dark and Drowning by Jessica Cluess

*Warning this post contains spoilers for the first book in the series, A Shadow Bright and Burning*
Series: Kingdom on Fire, #2

Publication:September 19th 2017 by Random House Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Description:
The magicians want her to lead. The sorcerers want her to lie. The demons want her blood. Henrietta wants to save the one she loves. But will his dark magic be her undoing?

Henrietta doesn’t need a prophecy to know that she’s in danger. She came to London to be named the chosen one, the first female sorcerer in centuries, the one who would defeat the bloodthirsty Ancients. Instead, she discovered a city ruled by secrets. And the biggest secret of all: Henrietta is not the chosen one.

Still, she must play the role in order to keep herself and Rook, her best friend and childhood love, safe. But can she truly save him? The poison in Rook’s system is transforming him into something monstrous as he begins to master dark powers of his own.

So when Henrietta finds a clue to the Ancients’ past that could turn the tide of the war, she persuades Blackwood, the mysterious Earl of Sorrow-Fell, to travel up the coast to seek out strange new weapons. And Magnus, the brave, reckless flirt who wants to win back her favour, is assigned to their mission. Together, they will face monsters, meet powerful new allies, and uncover the most devastating weapon of all: the truth.

My Thoughts:

Loved this one, if you read A Shadow Bright and Burning and just thought it was okay give A Poison Dark and Drowning a go it is so much better! I loved book 2 so much, I had such an enjoyable time reading it!

Found it so much easier to fall into than book 1-Plot is so much stronger than book 1, it was addicting and interesting and I wanted to find out what was going to happen and was constantly theorising as I was reading. There was some great twists and action which I loved!

There was a good bit more added to the world but the world building was not as heavy as book 1, I really liked how some of my questions were answered and the descriptions of the monsters were great.

Henrietta was a bit annoying, I was fed up with her because she was lying- a lot. And I still didn't get why she loved Rook- he is so unappealing (the good thing was he didn't have much page time thank god). I was more excited about other characters such as Magnus and Blackwood who got some lovely character development over the course of the book.

There was also a new character introduced, Maria. I love Maria she is so badass and her and Henrietta's friendship was one of my favourite parts of the story. It was developed very slowly but I liked that and am excited to see where it goes in the next book.

The romance plot is such a mess in this book. Henrietta makes it so much more complicated than it needs to be and I was frustrated at her. I did love the friendship she forms with one of the boys though.

I had a lot of fun reading despite being annoyed at Henrietta and I need the next book! I am definitely going to read it around release I am so excited to see where this series goes in the final book!

Thanks for reading,
A:)