A review by ecs_etera
Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston

2.0

This one is less a book than a 550-page MadLibs exercise in cramming all the possible "hot topics" in one work. The remarkable thing is that not one compelling or dynamic character resulted from that effort, and there isn't even a very interesting or coherent story. Did the (non-traditional gender identity) person manage to fix (climate change/religious zealotry/demagogues) and also find (their family/love)? Who knows? The author replaced plot and timeline with a thesaurus-full of African-inspired names and phrases and hoped we wouldn't notice. Don't bother, guys. I wish I had DNF this book at 15% when I wanted to, like the wiser reviewers in this section were able. It does not get better.