''Poison Tree'' is a 2012 young adult fiction novel by American author

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Amelia Holt Atwater-Rhodes (born April 16, 1984), known professionally as Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, is an American author of fantasy and young adult literature and a Language Arts/Literature teacher at Learning Prep School in West Newton, MA. She wa ...

and is her thirteenth novel. The book was published on July 10, 2012 and is the eighth novel in the

Den of Shadows ''Den of Shadows'', is a set of fantasy novels written by American author, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. The novels follow an interconnected group of supernatural creatures, such as vampires, ghosts, and shapeshifters. It is the predecessor of Atwater-Rho ...

series. The novel's title is derived from a

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

entitled "

A Poison Tree "A Poison Tree" is a poem written by William Blake, published in 1794 as part of his ''Songs of Experience'' collection. It describes the narrator's repressed feelings of anger towards an individual, emotions which eventually lead to murder. The ...

", which is featured at the beginning of the novel. Atwater-Rhodes stated that ''Poison Tree'' was originally titled ''Tiger Rise'', that she had initially filmed it as a movie with her friends, and that the book took her a long time to write.

Summary

Sarik and Alysia both have pasts that they want to escape and ties to the supernatural world. Sarik is capable of

shapeshifting In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, Magic (paranormal), sorcery, Incantation, ...

into a tiger, while Alysia once worked as an Onyx mercenary- a profession that causes trouble to follow her wherever she goes. Upon her arrival at SingleEarth Haven Number Four, Sarik's vampiric lover Jason is attacked by a suspicious Onyx bounty hunter and the Haven is dragged into the middle of a disaster. With a bounty on her head for anyone that can capture her, both Sarik and Alysia must decide what price they will pay to save Haven Number Four even as it turns into a warfield around them.

Reception

Reception for ''Poison Tree'' has been mostly positive, with the book garnering positive reviews from

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

and Teenreads.

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

cited that the book was "Complicated, but suspenseful".

References

{{Den of Shadows 2012 American novels American vampire novels Novels by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Nyeusigrube Den of Shadows Delacorte Press books