Shanna Germain's <em>The Poison Eater</em> took me, delightfully, by surprise.

Talia is a young woman just hoping to live another day. She survived her youthful days in a far city and has come to Enthwait where she has joined the ranks of others vying to become the new Poison Eater - a revered member of the elite society; a protector of the city. But to do this, she must take a dose of a different poison periodically until she has survived them all. The other Poison Eater hopefuls around her die regularly with each new 'feeding'. Talia has no idea if she'll survive and is surprised each new day when she wakes again. The poisons may not kill her, but they do often have a negative effect.

But as Talia nears the end of the list of poisons she is visited by the current Poison Eater, a man who reveals a dark secret about the role of Poison Eater. Talia now faces new choices and decisions that will affect not only her but the entire community as she prepares to take on the role of defender as Poison Eater.

The story is told through Talia's eyes and author Germain gets into her head and makes this story a very personal one. Although an entire community is at stake, how one person comes to make the decisions that she does is what we see and feel. I very much liked this method of story-telling. The greater story comes in to focus so much clearer when we see its effect on an individual who has made sacrifices to get where she is. There is a real power in this story-telling and I really enjoyed getting to know Talia and her journey.

I did not know what "A Numenera Novel" meant. I assumed it to be a forth-coming series by Germain. But I've since learned (after reading the book) that this is based on a role-playing game. Truthfully - had I known this before I started the book I probably wouldn't have bothered. I don't know the game and too often I've found books based on games tend to be a little simple and/or rely on the reader to know about the history established in the game. I don't feel this was the case here.

This was a delightful read. The story was intriguing and the characters were quite real. I definitely want to read more in the Numenera series and I want to read more by Shanna Germaine. And though I consider myself a game-enthusiast, this has not made me interested in playing the game.

Looking for a good book? <em>The Poison Eater</em> by Shanna Germaine is a well-told science fiction story of survival and lies and the making of a life that pulls a reader in. It is based on a role-playing game.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Stopped reading at 15% --since this is such a small amount, I will not be writing a review for this work.

cover boner status! the story is compelling and always kept me engaged!

The Poison Eater is a novel set in the Numenera universe. This one is by Shanna Germain, who is the co-creator of the award-winning Numenera RPG world. Her short stories, essays, poems, novellas and more have appeared in hundreds of books and publications, and The Poison Eater is a strong addition to that catalogue.



Talia is the latest Poison Eater. The newest one in a long line. A line of people who are relied upon to poison themselves in order to inform the city of Enthait about what dangers are coming.



No one knows anything about Talia, she appears to have just shown up in the city one day. She refuses to talk about her past, and for good reason. Talia was captured by the vordcha, horrifying creatures who are both organic and mech. They slaughtered all of Talia's warrior sisters, and "enhanced" Talia before she escaped them. She still has nightmares about them, and bears the scars from what they did.



In one of her poison induced dreams, Talia sees them coming. The protectors of the city are sent out to try to stop the horde, and Talia is frightened that the woman she loves will not return. While she waits and frets, Talia does her best to uncover plots, learn more about the last poison eater, and discover where she fits in Enthait.



The Poison Eater is part Sci-Fi, part Fantasy, part Dystopian fiction. It's tough for me to categorize, but it falls solidly into those categories. It was a fairly fast read, there were spots that I had a difficult time trying to muddle out, but those were dreams and flashbacks from Talia, and as such were probably supposed to be disjointed and confusing. It didn't distract from the story, but rather added to it, showing the growing fear and anxiety Talia feels.



I'd recommend this for readers over 16ish. There's a fair bit of violence, and the themes of that may be disturbing to young readers. But for fans of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Dystopia, and books built on the structure from a RPG, this is a great read. I didn't know about the RPG before reading the novel, but if I had, it would have prompted me to pick it up sooner. All in all, a nice solid read. Entertaining, creepy, and wrought with emotions.

The book was a touch jumbled for my tastes. It was written okay but not fantastically easy to read along with.

I liked this book ok. I didn't know it was from a role-playing game before reading it, but now I kind of understand a few things better. The writing was good, with a strong world building and very detailed descriptions of the city. The plot was interesting and I liked the general atmosphere of the story. My main problem with the book is that it took 80% of it for any substantial action to happen, and throughout those first 80% parts the heroine spent most of the time wallowing into her guilt, self-doubting and procrastinating about telling "lies", being a lie and shit. The lead character would be even more interesting if the pace of the story had been a bit more tight. That got annoying pretty fast, especially when I figured out way before her most of the "mysteries" Talia was spending the whole book wondering about (why Burrin was acting like he did, why Khee was suddenly silent...). I ended up being way more intrigued by and interested in some of the secondary characters like Burrin than her. I would have rather read a story about him and Seild and Khee with Talia being secondary than the contrary.

I was a little surprised by this one. I didn't exactly know it was a fiction line of a tabletop game till I was about half way through, and that was only due to curiosity. The only real flaw of the book (keep reading) for me drove me a little nutty and I was googling for some extra information when I found out about Numenera. It honestly reads surprisingly easy. I tend to find tie in novels and fiction lines for games rely a lot readers having previous knowledge. This didn't. It tells a story that any reader unfamiliar with the world can recognize and enjoy, of redemption and self forgiveness and finding home.
It gives us a very obvious Fantasy/SF cross world, and though it doesn't hold our hand, it explains what we need to know about what and does so beautifully. The descriptions here were so rich and vivid I felt like I was walking and breathing in the streets with Talia. The description that really hooked me was that of her companion's hair decorations, little touches such as tucking one gem back into place in a moment. It just created a lovely image in my head. The marketplace, and even her small room, I can still recall them easily. I can almost smell the marketplace it was so well described.
The characters were also dealt a lovely dose of this. Each one was well built and had something to them that made them stand out. It helped that it was for the most part a small cast but it was a small cast that had some depth to them. Even having finished this a few weeks ago (as I try to let my books stew before reviewing them now) I still recall descriptions and attitudes. I really hope to see more of them in more books! I'll also add that I believe almost the entire cast, if not the entire cast were PoC (see cover) so totally a win for bringing those characters to fantasy and so strongly!
The only real problem I had (that had me googling as stated above) was some of the descriptions of the world from Talia's past. That can be explained easily if you actually pay attention to the blurb and just look at the Numenera website. It did for me, after that I was able to correct place and picture it in the world.
Besides this, I say try this one! Even if you don't play the game (though it looks very neat) this one is a rich and vivid read. Mad props to Angry Robot as well for a sexy as hell cover!