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A review by womanwill
The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
3.75
This was a magical and political debut YA/NA fantasy from Bethany Baptise that faltered occasionally only by trying to do too much. I loved Baptiste's overall focus on the juxtaposition of human power v magic and how humans wield their fear as power to even control witchers who are full of immense magic.
Baptiste deftly outlined some of the divides of our current society and politics--divisions between those we see as other--and projected them onto a SFF dystopian DC. This backdrop of DC gentrification and proximity to power illuminates her theme that not all monsters are bad--some act out of love against oppressive forces.
The pacing was a bit off at times - driven by Baptiste taking on too much and not spending more time on flushing out characters. I enjoyed the first part of the book as the worldbuilding unraveled, and Baptiste introduced characters, but then the story spun its wheels for a while. I think Baptiste could have threaded some of the political underpinnings earlier in the story. Then, at about 80%, it's pure action until the end. The pacing made parts of the story confusing. Some of the side characters were flat enough that I couldn't remember who they were or what their motivations were. Even Janus's anger at Venus didn't make sense to me at times because we weren't allowed to sink into it as readers.
But overall, I loved the world building, the special Witcher magic, the attention Baptiste put into the brewing and potions, and the setting of a dystopian ish DC where witchers carve out a place of belonging and resistance much like Black people have in the U.S. for centuries.
I can't wait to see what Bethany puts out next and how she settles into her voice as an author.
Baptiste deftly outlined some of the divides of our current society and politics--divisions between those we see as other--and projected them onto a SFF dystopian DC. This backdrop of DC gentrification and proximity to power illuminates her theme that not all monsters are bad--some act out of love against oppressive forces.
The pacing was a bit off at times - driven by Baptiste taking on too much and not spending more time on flushing out characters. I enjoyed the first part of the book as the worldbuilding unraveled, and Baptiste introduced characters, but then the story spun its wheels for a while. I think Baptiste could have threaded some of the political underpinnings earlier in the story. Then, at about 80%, it's pure action until the end. The pacing made parts of the story confusing. Some of the side characters were flat enough that I couldn't remember who they were or what their motivations were. Even Janus's anger at Venus didn't make sense to me at times because we weren't allowed to sink into it as readers.
But overall, I loved the world building, the special Witcher magic, the attention Baptiste put into the brewing and potions, and the setting of a dystopian ish DC where witchers carve out a place of belonging and resistance much like Black people have in the U.S. for centuries.
I can't wait to see what Bethany puts out next and how she settles into her voice as an author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Violence, and Murder