Bethany Baptiste

TW/CW: Sex, violence, self-harm, police violence, hate groups, death, fantasy violence

RATING: 4/5

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

The Poisons We Drink is the story of Venus, a young African American witcher who brews potions for money to support her family. When her mother is murdered, it sends her into freefall as she tries to figure out exactly what happened and how to punish those who did it.

I enjoyed this book. I particularly loved the world-building and the chance to read about a family of witches who aren’t white (as the vast majority of them are). I also liked how this book mirrors and is even an allegory to our current political climate – something which makes it scarier than it should be. This part was done well – it was a poignant addition but not something that drowned out the main story. (Although I don’t think anyone could read this and not at least think about how parallel this world is to the one we live in every day).

I only had a few issues with this book. Firstly, I thought it was too long. There were parts that seemed repetitive and unnecessary – it felt like filler in a book that certainly didn’t need any. Secondly, I thought there was a little too much ‘telling’ instead of ‘showing’ – there were a lot of info dumps in this book. Thirdly, I found the last 10% or so of this book FLEW by and I had some problems following exactly what was happening. So…yeah, I guess my major problem with this book would be the pacing. Some things really dragged while some parts flew by too fast.

I did as a whole enjoy this book, though, and I would definitely recommend it to fans of young adult fantasy (it has one mild sex scene in it, so I think it’s YA).… (més)