People have always told stories about the house at the end of Calle Sol. They say it belongs to a mad scientist whose wife cursed it. They say a green-skinned witch girl lives there. People throw wishes written on paper over the wall around the house, hoping that the witch will grant them. But no one ever goes there, so no one really knows what’s going on. In A Fierce and Subtle Poison, by Samantha Mabry, protagonist Lucas will get closer to figuring out the house’s mysteries than anyone...

 

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.

Lucas lives at least some of the time on the island of Puerto Rico, living in the wealthy powerful shadow of his property developer father. A father who is know to many islanders as “The Conquistador” for his business practices.

 

All his life on the island, he has heard legends of the cursed house and the cursed woman with in – but when he finally meets Isabel he learns her story is more complicated and more tragic than any of the stories he heard as a child.

 

 

 

In some ways, that it’s not exactly our genre per se. Sure there is something utterly unexplained about Isabel and her peculiar curse/biology is definitely unexplained and is hinted at being supernatural (and I doubt if there’s any physical way someone could be that instantly deadly) with its hinted/possibly backstory. But ultimately she could have had her skin replaced by cyanide, or electrified… the actuality of it doesn’t really matter. The story would not be appreciably changed if there was no actual potential supernatural reason and Isabel was simply ill with an actual disease – a potentially contagious one that is both killing her and isolating her. It wouldn’t appreciably change the story and really means that any speculative fiction elements to this book are pretty superfluous. Honestly that’s kind of off putting to me – it’s slightly vexing for the element I most look for in a book to be pretty much an off shoot.

 

I’m not saying that this makes it a bad book. Far from it – it’s an interesting conflict as Isabel seeks connection, fears for her life, is faced with some very terrible and difficult choices which are quite literally involve accepting clearly excusable evil or her own martyrdom. Though in some ways this does make me wish we followed her more than Lucas since she seems to have the more involved and important storyline. Especially since we also centre him and his grief with the disappearance of a girl he barely knew rather than her own family.

 

 

I’m also slightly bemused by the blurb – all about the cursed girl Isabel. Except for most of the book Isabel isn’t only not present in any real way, but she and her cursed house are just kind of footnotes . To say this book is about Isabel is almost like saying To Kill a Mockingbird is about Boo Radley. Ok, Isabel becomes much much much more involved in the book in the last third – but this isn’t her story. It’s how her life affects Lucas and Lucas’s story. And even then it’s not all that big an affect. The blurb bigs up an implied supernatural element that isn’t really there

 

It’s also nice that there’s some inclusion of and development of Taino legends and Puerto Rican culture and legends. I love the mix and exploration, the food, language and clearly different sides of the island. In fact there’s a lot of examination of Lucas and his clumsy navigation of him being in Puerto Rico. We see a lot of excellent challenge of Lucas‘s father’s contempt for the island its culture and its history, seeing only a resource to plunder for money. His whole depiction is an excellent take on White and Class privilege in a majority POC island. And even while Lucasis clearly aware of this and openly angry and at odds with his dad, his development (and his apt nickname of “conquistador”) also shows that he himself also benefits from white privilege. This is important – because his awareness of his privilege and that he’s spoiled and has considerable advantages doesn’t mean it’s no longer relevant nor does it mean he won’t still make mis-steps. It’s an excellent portrayal

 

 

 

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A Fierce and Subtle Poison - Samantha Ma... This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life.

This audiobook didn't really work for me. I really wanted to like. I tried really hard to enjoy it...but it just was not for me. I was really excited about this book from the start since the summary sounds really good and that title. Too bad that it didn't live up to my expectations. I actually thought about just stopping this one a couple of times but I had to spend a couple of days in the car so I pushed myself to continue. I really should have went with my first instinct.

I had a hard time connecting with the story at any level. I went in think that this was be a really unique and interesting piece. A story set in Puerto Rico with a girl filled with poison had all of the makings of a book that would be really exciting. It held my attention for the first part of the story as everything was being set into place but as the story moved forward, I found that I was losing interest. The mystery of the story just didn't feel as exciting as it really should have.

I didn't care for any of the characters. Lucas was a rich boy who was more than a little spoiled. Things seemed to go his way no matter what. Isabel just seemed strange to me. I didn't feel bad for her even though she had lived an isolated life. I really just couldn't get myself to feel anything for any of the characters.

I have to say that I am kind of on the fence regarding the narration. Graham Hamilton will not be making my favorite narrators list for this performance but I don't think that his narration took away from the story. I would have liked to hear a bit more emotion in his voice as he read the story but I thought he did a decent job. I would be willing to listen to this narrator on another work in the future.

I am not going to be recommending this book to others. The characters and plot just really fell flat for me. It was a really imaginative idea that just didn't seem to work out in the end.

I received a review copy of this book from Recorded Books via LibraryThing Early Reviewers program for the purpose of providing an honest review.

Initial Thoughts
I am not really sure what I thought about this one. It started out strong but kind of fizzled out by the end. I thought it was really a bit strange. I did really enjoy the narrator even if the story wasn't really for me.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

I honestly don't quite know what to make of this one. On the one hand, there were lots of things about it I loved - the writing was brilliant, vivid and evocative. The plot was compelling, the mystery was aspect gave an incredible edge to the novel, and the setting and mythology were fantastic. My biggest problem with it was that I just hated the main character, Lucas.

Lucas is the son of a very rich developer dad who's quite happy to tear down beautiful old buildings to make room for new modern hotels. The dad is your typical rich businessman - money focused and doesn't give a crap about the locals. Even when the girl's start going missing and its clear Lucas knows one of them - quite well - the dad is completely indifferent. Where Lucas does make an effort to make friends with some of the local kids, dates the local girls without little thought, immerses himself in the strange mythology he hears about a local legend involving a house on a corner full of strange plants and a witch who lives there who may or may not grant wishes and a mad scientist that once lived there.

But Lucas is also the butt of everyone's anger, when he and his friends get in trouble, he's the one who takes the fall, the police only seem to arrest him. It sounded like, at least to me, a lot of rich white boy problems. Which were more eye roll inducing than anything.

Girls start disappearing, and there's a connection to the strange house and legends surrounding the house. The old ladies of the neighbourhood have plenty of stories to tell to anyone who will listen, warnings about curses, gods and such. Lucas gets quite tangled in trying to solve the mystery and finds himself meeting a strange girl who lives in the house - Isabel. But nothing is what it seems.

There's quite a dark overall tone to the novel, more girls start disappearing and things get more and more twisted, Isabel's world inside the house is strange and she herself has some pretty dark secrets. It's quite twisty turny and the plot is totally unpredictable. The brilliance of the story telling make the novel hard to put down and it was like, I have to know what's going to happen, in spite of the fact I didn't really like any of the characters.

Definitely an author I would read again.

Thank you to Netgalley and Algonquin Young Readers for approving my request to view the title.