Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - The Poisons We Drink

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste

4 reviews

snarkycrafter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I’m not usually a fan of YA. The themes that it deals with (high school-aged themes) and the characters…just don’t intrigue or capture my attention usually. But this novel was really good. The world building and character development is really strong. The magic system was sophisticated, but not difficult to understand.

The characters are extremely complex and nuanced. The struggles and themes that they deal with are relatable regardless of the reader’s age (morality, parent death, family, truth and deception, big life choices, etc.).

Overall, I think this would be a really great pick for people who enjoy fantasy with mature YA characters.

Content Warnings

tatyana_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“Love is a messy thing…”

Venus Stoneheart brews illegal love potions to help her family in a country divided on how to move forward in a world between humans and witchers. Her family business forces her to brew potions that can reunite families or tear people apart. It is a dangerous practice that takes a toll on her mentally and physically and deeply strains her relationship with her mother. She also struggles with the guilt and shame she harbors from a dreadful night that has permanently affected her magic and her relationship with her best friend. Everything changes when Venus’ mother is killed and she is sucked into a world she is ill-prepared for. All of the danger and responsibility she previously felt is multiplied tenfold as she now serves the Grand Witcher. Now she must grieve, navigate a new world of politics and betrayal, and figure out how to avenge her mother.

I really enjoyed this book and was hooked from the start. Once I saw the book was dedicated to Baptiste’s haters I knew I was going to love it. I loved the layers and character dynamics. The plot twists were well done and satisfying to read. Love is a major theme in the book, from self-love to familial love, to love of ideas. Venus’ relationships with her mother, sister, cousin, best friend, and uncle are pivotal to her development and the plot. She is angry and grief-stricken, and trying to do everything on her own as a young 18-year-old who needs to take care of her sister. This makes her rash and closed off at times, but the love and loyalty she has for her family and friends shines brightly. The world building is a major strength. The way the author details the magic system, politics, and local history is excellent. I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Lynette R. Freeman. The narration deeply enriched the atmosphere and characters.

Thank you to the Netgalley, author Bethany Baptiste, and, RB Media for an advanced copy of this book! All opinions are my own.

Content Warnings

storiesatstarfall's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

kimwritesstuff's review

Go to review page

dark inspiring tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book was a little bit of a slow burn for me and took me a few chapters to really get into it. Venus is a tough-as-nails character who brews love potions in order to support her family. Magic has a cost, and being a brewer means there are horrific blowbacks from potions. Every time Venus brews, her potions have effects on her, such as broken bones or burned skin.

Regardless of the blowback, Venus is the main breadwinner of her family. Her mother, Clarissa, sacrificed her magic by breaking a magical vow, and her father is dead. When Clarissa is killed with iron bullets, Venus is sucked further into the underground trade of magic potions. The world is about to burst with humans demanding that witchers be on a public registry, a registry that would allow people to find them and likely kill them. Venus gets roped into a political scheme to poison senators with love potions to sway their opinions.

The story builds its tension beautifully, and while I did find some plot points fairly predictable, this book still had plenty of twists and turns. Venus's little sister Janus can create portals and is determined to follow in her activist father's footsteps. A lot of Venus's motivation is to protect Janus. I thought the push-pull of their relationship was so realistic and well done. I also have a half-sister, and the dichotomy is similar.

Presley's character was easily my favorite character. I thought the expression of their gender fluidity/non-binary expression was well done. Too many people get caught up in the idea of pronouns. Presley didn't have a painful coming out or confrontation. They just were. I enjoyed that the author didn't try to add an additional level of struggle.

I did think that the secondary storylines were a bit hobbled together. We understand Venus's motivation isn't political, but the other characters seem to have no motivation but power. It just didn't flow well. I kept expecting like a villain info dump to better understand the power dynamics and struggles. The issues between humans and witchers also lacked nuance, which sort of made sense when looking at the parallels of racism.

Overall, I thought this was a good read, and I'd read the next in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the ARC.

Content Warnings

More...