Review : Venom by Fiona Paul

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Venom (Secrets of the Eternal Rose #1)
Author : Fiona Paul
Publisher : Philomel
Publication Date : October 30th 2012
Goodreads - The Book Depository

Cassandra Caravello is one of Renaissance Venice’s lucky elite: with elegant gowns, sparkling jewels, her own lady’s maid, and a wealthy fiancé, she has everything a girl could desire. Yet ever since her parents’ death, Cassandra has felt trapped, alone in a city of water, where the dark and labyrinthine canals whisper of escape.

When Cass stumbles upon a murdered woman—practically in her own backyard—she’s drawn into a dangerous world of courtesans, killers, and secret societies. Soon, she finds herself falling for Falco, a mysterious artist with a mischievous grin... and a spectacular skill for trouble. Can Cassandra find the murderer, before he finds her? And will she stay true to her fiancé, or succumb to her uncontrollable feelings for Falco?

Beauty, love, romance, and mystery weave together in a stunning novel that’s as seductive and surprising as the city of Venice itself.


Personal Thoughts

Renaissance Venice, Grand Canal,charming artists, gondoliers, courtesans and murder. These themes along with the enticing cover just beg for Venom to be read. I went into the book hoping to be blown away and itching to get to the next book. While that didn't exactly happen, I still thought Venom was an entertaining read.

An aristocrat, Cass is to marry Luca, her childhood friend who's studying in France. But Cass knows deep down that she doesn't want to marry. All her life, she has felt trapped and she wants an escape. When Cass comes across the murdered body of a young woman in a graveyard behind her aunt's home, she obtains that escape. Soon, she's sucked in into the world of courtesans, murderers and secret societies. Along with Falco, a mysterious artist, who literally bumped into her earlier, she decides to find the murderer before it's too late for her.

I thought that Cass was an interesting character. Living in the era of Renaissance Venice, Cass felt restrained due to all of societies rules for women. She was unlike any other young girl in Venice, not wanting marriage, instead craving for freedom. She possessed a spark to her that gave her a somewhat rebellious streak. Having a turbulent personality, Cass was the kind of girl who wasn't afraid to jump into risky and life-threatening situations. The fact that she could walk around in a graveyard, observe dead bodies and chase killers without losing her composure showed how fearless she was. On certain occasions though, I didn't see her decisions, which were supposed to make her appear even bolder, as courageous, but instead thought of them as incredibly brainless since it seemed that she was trying to dig her own grave. Her uncanny ability to jump into conclusions without really reflecting first was also really annoying. Even though I thought that she was an interesting character, Cass was not a particularly memorable one. Falco, the love interest, was flirtatious and charming. He had the whole mysterious boy going on for a long part of the book and after some time I was bored by the so-called enigma that cloaked him because his secret was crystal clear to me from the very beginning. I still thought of him as an entertaining character though because of his dialogues. Luca, Cass's fiancee, wasn't a character that I really appreciate because he was dull as dishwater. However, some of the secondary characters were well crafted and I found myself enjoying them.

With the backdrop of Renaissance Venice, Venom was absolutely fantastic in it's portrayal of the ancient city. The setting was definitely my favorite part of the book, because Fiona Paul did a great job at vividly describing the scenes involving the Grand Canal, the dresses and accessories, the courtesans and life in Venice, in general. I found myself being completely soaked in the beauty of Venice, as though I was witnessing it all in front of my eyes. The book's blurb is a little misleading when it mentions secret societies. That part of the book was only briefly mentioned once towards the end of the book and was not explored extensively enough. I also felt like the reader is left with too many unanswered questions at the end of the story. At 432 pages, Venom is a quite long book, so I feel like my dissatisfaction due to the lack of answers is understandable. Moreover, I felt like the conclusion to the murder mystery was not as shocking as I wanted it to be. That, along with the snail pace at which the story progressed at times, dampened my enjoyment of Venom. The romance wasn't exceptional, but I didn't have any big issues with it. It was very reminiscent of all other YA books out there. At first, the love triangle that seemed to be present didn't really bother me because it didn't seem so significant as Cass didn't have any feelings for Luca, but towards the end I was disappointed because I'm quite sure that the love triangle will emerge and play a bigger role in the next book. Fiona Paul's writing was what kept me wholly engaged in the book. She is a very promising and talented author and I'm hoping she will prove her talent with improvements in the plot line in the next book.

From my review, it might seem that I didn't enjoy Venom much, but I did. I might not have relished the book, but I did have a nice time reading it. All in all, Venom is not a bad book and The Secrets of the Eternal Rose series has the possibility to be an excellent one with a little work to the main characters and the plot.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 3/5