The Queen's Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler

King Severn Argentine’s fearsome reputation precedes him: usurper of the throne, killer of rightful heirs, ruthless punisher of traitors. Attempting to depose him, the Duke of Kiskaddon gambles…and loses. Now the duke must atone by handing over his young son, Owen, as the king’s hostage. And should his loyalty falter again, the boy will pay with his life.

Seeking allies and eluding Severn’s spies, Owen learns to survive in the court of Kingfountain. But when new evidence of his father’s betrayal threatens to seal his fate, Owen must win the vengeful king’s favor by proving his worth—through extraordinary means. And only one person can aid his desperate cause: a mysterious woman, dwelling in secrecy, who truly wields power over life, death, and destiny.@goodreads

MY REVIEW:

 

4 STARS 

I got this book free through the kindle first program. I'm doing pretty good at picking winners!



Damn book made me cry, a good cry and sad cry!



Lord Kiskaddon made a mistake when he didn't abide by the King's wishes and he lost his eldest son and had to give over another one of his children as a ward. Lady Eleanor and Lord Kiskaddon decided to send Owen, they had to do this or their whole family would be killed.

Owen is only eight-years-old and he is terrified to say the least. He's so afraid of being away from his family and that he is going to be killed by the King. He finds solace in the kitchen playing with tiles, which seems to be a form of dominoes, and staying out of the way.

Owen makes some friends and enemies in the castle. One of these friends is Ankaretta who is the Queen's Poisoner, she is said to have been killed years ago but alas, she is not dead. She lives in the castle right under their noses. That is the only spoiler I'm giving out about her but lets just say she is so smart and so nice and being a poisoner is not the only thing she is. She starts to train Owen in things he needs to do to win over the King and it's not what you may think.

At one point, one of the king's men brings his granddaughter to be friends with Owen. He is terrified of her at first and wants to run for the hills, she talks up a storm and is scared of nothing. They end up forming a wonderful bond and he can share secrets with Evie and trust her with his life and vise versa. They are such good characters and they made me laugh out loud a few times at their antics.

There is magic in the book as well. There is always magic right?



There are also people in the book that are Fountain-blessed. I'm not going to tell you what that means because you need to read if for yourself. It's really awesome though!



If your thinking this is some high action book.. it is not. The book is about Owen and what all he has to do to try to save his family and figure out his life plan. We find out some things in the book that are not all they seem. The book is just so good, even though I thought it was going to be about something totally different, I loved it just the same. I look forward to more books in the series or trilogy.

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1565460559

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Queens-Poisoner-Kingfountain-Book-ebook/dp/B013UVNZ2K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458780211&sr=8-1&keywords=the+queen%27s+poisoner