January 26, 2018

A Poison Dark & Drowning by Jessica Cluess: A Book Review

Title: A Poison Dark & Drowning (Kingdom On Fire #2)
Author: Jessica Cluess
Publisher: Random House
Publish Date: September 19th 2017
Pages: 432
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

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 favor, is assigned to their mission. Together, they will face monsters, meet powerful new allies, and uncover the most devastating weapon of all: the truth.


This one took me a bit longer to read due to the holidays and all the chaos, but when I was finally able to sit down and give it my full attention, it was completely worth it. 

So this one picks up where we left off in first book. We have about the same amount of romance, if not a little more as revelations come to pass about feelings and you just end up with a love square instead of a triangle. New ships are made or destroyed. And new characters are introduced. As well as discoveries being made about Henrietta’s parents. 

I will not hide my feelings toward Rook. He wasn’t in this book that much, and that was perfectly fine with me. To me he is more of a burden and should just be counted as a friend and not someone that could be a love interest. He seems to hold Henrietta back from a lot of things. I realize that they were childhood friends and probably the only friend each had, but there comes a point where you need to move on from one another. I really think he was used more as bait from the beginning and as you read this book, you will understand my feelings toward that. 

Magnus was one of my favorites in both books. He had proclaimed how he feels towards Henrietta, and I think that if he wasn’t betrothed in the first book we would have seen the relationship bloom a bit more in this one. But as he was and he swore he would not talk about his feelings with her, we see their friendship grow and possible feelings as well. 

Blackwood is my other favorite and he proclaims his feelings toward Henrietta in this book. I think it was just building up to it in the first book, and how Henrietta was so oblivious to his feelings in the first place was beyond me. I’m glad they explored this relationship possibility in this book. And while I secretly hope for them to end up together in the next, I’m afraid that it might be doomed to fail. 

As for discoveries about her parents, you’ll just have to read this to find that out as I don’t want to give too much more away. While we find out about her father in this one we are still trying to figure out her mother and her connection to Sorrow-Fell with her stave. I have some theories about her mother, but will stay tight lipped about it until I read the next book to confirm or deny my theories.








Jessica Cluess is a writer, a graduate of Northwestern University, and an unapologetic nerd. After college, she moved to Los Angeles, where she served coffee to the rich and famous while working on her first novel. When she’s not writing books, she’s an instructor at Writopia Lab, helping kids and teens tell their own stories.Jessica Cluess is a writer, a graduate of Northwestern University, and an unapologetic nerd. After college, she moved to Los Angeles, where she served coffee to the rich and famous while working on her first novel. When she’s not writing books, she’s an instructor at Writopia Lab, helping kids and teens tell their own stories.


Find Jessica: Website | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads 




Disclaimer: *I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own.

**Book info obtained through Goodreads. ***Book Cover Obtained through Goodreads. ****Author photo obtained through author website.

1 comment:

  1. This one sounds like it's right up my alley. I'd never heard of it before now but boy does it ever sound good. I'm going to see if my library has the first book in the series.

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