History Literature / POIson

** BiggerBad: [[spoiler:Scriddle.]]

** [[spoiler: AuthorExistenceFailure: An in-universe example. Because Poison inherited the Hierophant's powers, Scriddle's attempt to kill her results in the entire world beginning to fall apart.]]

* PurpleEyes: Poison has them.
** [[spoiler:SupernaturalIsPurple: They probably signify her abilities as the next Hierophant.]]

* EvilStepmother: Snapdragon to Poison, but slightly justified in that Poison is equally antagonistic to her. Not only does she feel like Snapdragon is trying to replace her birth mother, but she's doing it in a way that Poison absolutely can't stand - just sitting around and tolerating life in the swamp, when it's clear that she wants (and could be) something more.

* [[spoiler:[[MissedHimByThatMuch Missed Her By That Much]]: Just as Poison and Bram enter Shieldtown, they meet a young girl going the other way. At the end of the book, Poison discovers that the girl was actually Azalea, who had been aged up and sent back home by the phaeries.]]

* DoesThisREmindYouOfAnything: A teenage girl leaves home to rescue her younger sibling from a ruler of a magical kingdom. Can anyone say ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}''?

* BigSisterInstinct: the initial trigger for the plot. Poison spent the majority of the novel trying to rescue her little sister. She later develops this for Peppercorn.

* CreativeSterility: Which is why phaeries can't become the Hierophant, and why HumansAreSpecial.

* FantasticRacism: Most of the otherworldly creatures are indifferent towards humans, with the exception of Aelthar and his phaeries. It's quickly made clear that, should his plans succeed, his first course of action will be to completely wipe them out.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Scriddle, the Phaerie Lord's secretary, is half-human and half-phaerie. [[spoiler: The whole reason that Aelthar has been abducting children is for this purpose, as only someone with human blood can take the Hierophant's throne.]]

* RealityWritingBook: Type 3. The Hierophant and his Antiquarians take down the stories of various mortals, although what they write isn't visible to mortal eyes until it's been finished, and it can be changed or even stopped entirely by important events. Unlike other examples of this trope, they don't follow the people through their entire lives - Poison at one point comes across the tale of a war hero who fought against the phaeries; it ends on a "to be continued" note rather than his actual death, because the latter wouldn't be as interesting. One person can also have multiple books depending on the tone of the story (coming of age, romance, etc).

* [[spoiler:MissedHimByThatMuch: Just as Poison and Bram enter Shieldtown, they meet a young girl going the other way. At the end of the book, Poison discovers that the girl was actually Azalea, who had been aged up and sent back home by the phaeries.]]

A dark young adult fantasy novel by Chris Wooding, author of the BrokenSky series and TheHauntingOfAlaizabelCray. It revolves around Poison, a restless and cynic young girl living in the dismal swamps of Gull. While she doesn't fit in with the other children or get along with her new stepmother, at least she has her little sister, Azalea...at least until TheFairFolk spirit the baby away on Poison's birthday, leaving a changeling in its place. With the help of an eccentric old storyteller, Poison leaves both her home and the mortal world in a quest to rescue Azalea from the Phaerie Lord, making allies and enemies along the way.

* YouCantFightFate: You can try, but the results won't be pretty. [[spoiler: Poison learns firsthand when her refusal to stop the Phaerie Lord results in everyone first getting horrifically ill and then beginning to fade out of existence.]]

* MeaningfulRename: Children in the swamps are allowed to pick a name for themselves at a certain age. While she was born Foxglove, Poison chose her new name specifically to spite Snapdragon, who had said that she'd always be poison to the family.

* BubblegloopSwamp: Gull, where EverythingIsTryingToKillYou (almost half of the population doesn't make it out of childhood).

* YouCantFightFate: You can try, but the results won't be pretty.

* RewritingReality: The Hierophant. Phaeries don't ''choose'' to follow their rules, they ''have'' to.

** [[spoiler:SupernaturalIsPurple: They probably signify her abilities as the next Hierophant.]]

* CreativeSterility

* MeaningfulRename: Children in the swamps are allowed to pick a name for themselves at a certain age. While she was born Foxglove, Poison chose her new name specifically to spite Snapdragon, who had said that she'd always be poison to the family.

* AndManGrewProud: Humans have been forced to live in the swamps and mountains after constant warfare divided them, making them weak to attack by the Phaeries.

->''"Real life is a story, too, only much more complicated."''

Of course, that isn't even the half of it. Upon arriving in the world of the Phaeries, Poison finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy concerning the fate of both realms - one in which she has a much bigger role to play...