I wasn’t born lethal. I wasn’t that unlucky. My misfortune came later when my parents decided that they longed for money more than progeny . . . the story of how I became a visha kanya.
Poison’s Kiss, Breeana Shields
This year I’m on the hunt for awesome young adult novels. The type that suck me in on the very first page. Just this week I found a book that absolutely fit the bill: Poison’s Kiss written by author Breeana Shields.
As always, I vow to avoid spoilers as I share why this book was so fascinating to me and definitely worth your time to read . . .
For Me, It Starts with a Great Character
I get tired of reading YA books with selfish, unlikeable protagonists. I recently started a book about a teenage girl who’s orphaned, wretchedly poor, and abused by her sorceress guardian. You would think that background would lead to redeeming qualities . . . Instead the author handed me a vapid, sheltered girl who spends most of her time comparing her extreme good looks to other girls. I didn’t get far before I put the book down.
Then I tried Poison’s Kiss. Right from the beginning, the substance of the main character was immediately apparent. We open on a 17-year-old girl named Marinda in an India-inspired fantasy world. Marinda is a visha kanya—“poison maiden” in ancient Sanskrit—a girl who has ingested poison since birth to become an assassin. She is now so toxic that her kiss is fatal.
Marinda was sold into this horrifying form of human trafficking, so she didn’t choose this life for herself. But instead of embracing her fate as a killer, Marinda hates every moment of it. She’s wracked with guilt and compassion for the men she’s tasked to kill. Even though she knows these men are enemies of the Raja, she still feels the moral and emotional weight of executing them. She’s thought about running away and leaving this all behind many times. But her handlers are the only way for her sick younger brother, Mani, to get the medicine he needs. So she stays a prisoner to save him.
Now that is a teen I want to read about.
The Legend Behind Poison’s Kiss
I had never heard of the original source for Poison’s Kiss, but it’s a tale from ancient Indian folklore. Breeana Shields got the idea for her book while listening to a lecture series on espionage and covert operations, which is where she heard about visha kanya for the first time.
These female assassins first surfaced during the Mauryan Empire (321 BC–185 BC). According to legend, the emperor selected girls born under unfavorable astrology that predicted any husband they married would die. These infants were fed tiny amounts of many different poisons to make them immune to venom, a process known as mithridatism (which is actually possible outside The Princess Bride).
Many of the girls subjected to this process died, but the ones who survived? They became the ideal assassins, able to seduce powerful men and handle the poisons to kill them. Visha kanya were the epitome of the femme fatale, the archetypal fatal woman in fairy tales and ancient lore.
Did Visha Kanya Actually Exist?
It’s hard to say if they were real assassins or just a chilling rumor spread by the emperor. There’s quite a bit of historical material about them though. Aristotle warned Alexander the Great of the “poisonous virgins” before his campaign in India. There’s even theories that Alexander’s mysterious death involved plant-based poison, possibly administered by a visha kanya.
Personally, I think it’s quite possible that young women immune to poisons really did give toxic drinks to unsuspecting political targets. The part of the legend that seems fictitious is visha kanya using sexual intercourse, a kiss, or even a single touch to poison men. But the concept is still fascinating and creepy.
A New Perspective in Poison’s Kiss
Breeana Shields introduces a brand new take on the visha kanya legend by exploring what life would really be like if you were toxic to other people.
Beyond the isolation and abuse Marinda has endured from her handlers, there are other problems she faces as a human weapon. Obviously she can’t get too close to anyone, physically or emotionally. Romantic contact is out of the question, but she also lives in daily fear that her little brother will stray too close to her poisonous lips.
For Marinda, simple gestures like carrying her brother to bed are fraught with anxiety. Kissing Mani’s face or sharing food with him are completely impossible. In her pseudo-Indian culture, the typical greeting of kissing acquaintances on the cheek is another major source of dread. There’s even a part of the book where someone is drowning, and Marinda very nearly gives them mouth-to-mouth before remembering this too is something she can’t do without killing.
Then She Falls in Love
Marinda works quite hard to never get too chummy with anyone who could find out her secrets. She certainly has no intention of getting involved with this guy she just met who’s kind and intelligent and has eyes like melted chocolate. Gotta love it when a guy’s face reminds you of dessert. Somehow he finds a way around all of her defenses . . . right before she receives orders to kill him.
Soon Marinda is embroiled in a complicated dilemma. Does she murder the one person she’s ever had feelings for? A person she knows for a fact isn’t evil? Or does she put Mani at risk by asking too many questions and betraying her captors? These questions send her on a harrowing adventure where she can’t tell the truth to anyone without risking the lives of the two people she loves.
Seriously, Read this Book
Poison’s Kiss had me on the edge of my seat, and the many plot twists are awesome. If you’re looking for a book with danger, romance, and Indian culture so flavorful you can taste it, this is the book for you. I can’t wait to get a hold of the sequel . . . ❧
