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melissawi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
3.0
lylalyn's review against another edition
Too many characters to keep track of while listening as an audiobook. Will try again as an ebook.
hellobookbird's review against another edition
2.0
"She wanted to live in peace, not rest in peace."
Love potions is a dangerous business. Brewing has painful, debilitating side effects, and getting caught means death or a prison sentence. But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark, sentient magic within her.
Then an enemy's iron bullet kills her mother, Venus's life implodes. Keeping her reckless little sister Janus safe is now her responsibility. When the powerful Grand Witcher, the ruthless head of her coven, offers Venus the chance to punish her mother's killer, she has to pay a steep price for revenge. The cost? Brew poisonous potions to enslave D.C.'s most influential politicians.
As Venus crawls deeper into the corrupt underbelly of her city, the line between magic and power blurs, and it's hard to tell who to trust…Herself included.
"Fighting against the system is like going against a house of cards. The deck will always be stacked against you!"
I am so so so so upset that I didn't love this. I waited AGES for it to become available at the library. AGESSS. It was one of my most anticipated. Unfortunately, this one is a DNF @ 45%...longer than I normally go because I was trying to push through.
I love the magic system. It's brutal, it's harsh, and it demands just as much as it gives...something that isn't seen a lot because magic is...well, magic. Supposed to make life sparkly and easy and super badass, right? Except when you're breaking bones because you're brewing a love potion (and love is used quite loosely as it's really a mind controlling potion), it creates a SUPER UNIQUE opportunity to explore why magic users use their magic in the first place. It creates a space to look at the morally grey uses of some of these potions. There is an opportunity to explore A LOT with just the magic itself...like sometimes the right decision ISN'T the easy one.
I'm honestly...not sure what this book is trying to accomplish? And that's part of my problem. There is a ton of rage and dark emotions directed at the oppression they suffer from by just being born as they are. But as the novel continues it turns into...basically flipped circumstances? The oppressed in turn become the oppressors? Except not necessarily because they're being directed and guided by a tyrant who could theoretically be blamed for that. But then the characters are just there as moving pawns? I'm so...confused. I'm feeling all of these hard and heavy emotions and don't have anywhere to put them.
Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe it comes later in the book. I just can't continue to push through to find it.
Love potions is a dangerous business. Brewing has painful, debilitating side effects, and getting caught means death or a prison sentence. But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark, sentient magic within her.
Then an enemy's iron bullet kills her mother, Venus's life implodes. Keeping her reckless little sister Janus safe is now her responsibility. When the powerful Grand Witcher, the ruthless head of her coven, offers Venus the chance to punish her mother's killer, she has to pay a steep price for revenge. The cost? Brew poisonous potions to enslave D.C.'s most influential politicians.
As Venus crawls deeper into the corrupt underbelly of her city, the line between magic and power blurs, and it's hard to tell who to trust…Herself included.
"Fighting against the system is like going against a house of cards. The deck will always be stacked against you!"
I am so so so so upset that I didn't love this. I waited AGES for it to become available at the library. AGESSS. It was one of my most anticipated. Unfortunately, this one is a DNF @ 45%...longer than I normally go because I was trying to push through.
I love the magic system. It's brutal, it's harsh, and it demands just as much as it gives...something that isn't seen a lot because magic is...well, magic. Supposed to make life sparkly and easy and super badass, right? Except when you're breaking bones because you're brewing a love potion (and love is used quite loosely as it's really a mind controlling potion), it creates a SUPER UNIQUE opportunity to explore why magic users use their magic in the first place. It creates a space to look at the morally grey uses of some of these potions. There is an opportunity to explore A LOT with just the magic itself...like sometimes the right decision ISN'T the easy one.
I'm honestly...not sure what this book is trying to accomplish? And that's part of my problem. There is a ton of rage and dark emotions directed at the oppression they suffer from by just being born as they are. But as the novel continues it turns into...basically flipped circumstances? The oppressed in turn become the oppressors? Except not necessarily because they're being directed and guided by a tyrant who could theoretically be blamed for that. But then the characters are just there as moving pawns? I'm so...confused. I'm feeling all of these hard and heavy emotions and don't have anywhere to put them.
Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe it comes later in the book. I just can't continue to push through to find it.
becadreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Thank you Sourcebooks Fire for the early copy of The Poisons We Drink.
Five full stars. It's marketed as a YA novel but I recommend it as a necessary read for all ages. Especially American readers as so much of this story runs parallel to what this country has gone through and is going through currently.
Was it an easy book to read? No, you were scared along with the main characters for their families and loved ones. You felt how tired they were from grief and betrayal. Bethany Baptiste is an incredibly talented author and I can't wait to read whatever she's releasing next.
My favorite things about this book:
A new (to me at least) magic system! I am so burnt out on fae magic but the system of Witchers, brewing and potions was so good. I ate it right up.
I loved the representation of the LGBT+ community in this book and how love was celebrated, no matter how complicated.
I absolutely loved the FMC, Venus. She never gave up even she was knocked down 100 times it seems. (I would have absolutely given up if I faced what she did).
Everyone had a secret. Every single character was hiding something from someone else and that kept me wanting more.
There is a cat!
The cover?! Stunning.
Things I didn't like:
The ending felt a little anticlimactic, however honestly it didn't take much away from the book for me.
Check the trigger warnings for this book, especially if death is hard for you. The author does an amazing job of taking care of the reader at the beginning of the book but there is loss in the story.
Five full stars. It's marketed as a YA novel but I recommend it as a necessary read for all ages. Especially American readers as so much of this story runs parallel to what this country has gone through and is going through currently.
Was it an easy book to read? No, you were scared along with the main characters for their families and loved ones. You felt how tired they were from grief and betrayal. Bethany Baptiste is an incredibly talented author and I can't wait to read whatever she's releasing next.
My favorite things about this book:
A new (to me at least) magic system! I am so burnt out on fae magic but the system of Witchers, brewing and potions was so good. I ate it right up.
I loved the representation of the LGBT+ community in this book and how love was celebrated, no matter how complicated.
I absolutely loved the FMC, Venus. She never gave up even she was knocked down 100 times it seems. (I would have absolutely given up if I faced what she did).
Everyone had a secret. Every single character was hiding something from someone else and that kept me wanting more.
There is a cat!
The cover?! Stunning.
Things I didn't like:
The ending felt a little anticlimactic, however honestly it didn't take much away from the book for me.
Check the trigger warnings for this book, especially if death is hard for you. The author does an amazing job of taking care of the reader at the beginning of the book but there is loss in the story.
spunglass's review against another edition
3.0
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the digital ARC of "The Poisons We Drink" by Bethany Baptiste.
The premise was what drew me into requesting this book... illegal love potions and witchers vs. humans. The magic system in this book was really intriguing, and the internal and external conflicts read almost like a modern socio-political commentary. I also loved that the Roman mythology names Venus and Janus were also appropriate and very fitting for the characters and their abilities. Overall a solid concept, and story.
The one thing that prevents me from rating this higher is the overly lengthy descriptions in the book, and a lot of detail that seemed unnecessary. There were some parts where an entire page was taken up to describe one thing, or there was a lot of unnecessary detail during a conversation between two characters. I understand trying to build the world... but it detracted from the book when I frequently got lost reading, and had to backtrack to remember what I was reading about. Due to this I wasn't necessarily sucked into the book right away like I normally am, it took a bit to get used to the writing style.
I can definitely see this being a book that my students would enjoy though.
3/5
The premise was what drew me into requesting this book... illegal love potions and witchers vs. humans. The magic system in this book was really intriguing, and the internal and external conflicts read almost like a modern socio-political commentary. I also loved that the Roman mythology names Venus and Janus were also appropriate and very fitting for the characters and their abilities. Overall a solid concept, and story.
The one thing that prevents me from rating this higher is the overly lengthy descriptions in the book, and a lot of detail that seemed unnecessary. There were some parts where an entire page was taken up to describe one thing, or there was a lot of unnecessary detail during a conversation between two characters. I understand trying to build the world... but it detracted from the book when I frequently got lost reading, and had to backtrack to remember what I was reading about. Due to this I wasn't necessarily sucked into the book right away like I normally am, it took a bit to get used to the writing style.
I can definitely see this being a book that my students would enjoy though.
3/5
antimonium's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
There was a lot going on in this book. I was listening to it on audio and if I zoned out for even a second I'd end up very confused. The world building was both too much (lots of exposition and telling) and too little (big gaps that should have been filled in). I wish the deviations had been explored more - still not sure what that was all about. The political machinations were very complex and somewhat hard to follow. The final villan reveal and twist didn't have much impact. I appreciate the coverage of many important topics that parallel our own world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Death, Racism, Hate crime, Murder, Police brutality, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death
thebookdragon_taylorsversion's review
challenging
dark
emotional
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
4.0