Review Detail

THE POISONS WE DRINK was in intriguing YA fantasy about prejudice and oppression. Venus is a Witcher who has been trained to brew potions related to love and all its complexities. The trouble with potion brewing is that this magic has a hefty recoil, which is quite painful and could result in her death. Venus is also hiding a part of her magic that manifests as another being inside of her. She communicates with it and works to suppress it, as it has the potential to be very dangerous.

Venus's mother is more of a boss than family, but she is very close with her sister Janus. As politics are getting trickier and more dangerous, Venus will find herself in the middle of it all, doing anything she can to protect her sister.

What I loved: This was an interesting premise with a compelling character. Venus has a lot on her shoulders between her mother's expectations, the parts of herself/her magic that she fears, and her worries about the growing cruelty towards Witchers that puts herself and notably her sister in mortal danger. She is just beginning to consider herself as someone with future paths, but destiny may have other ideas in mind. The weight of choice vs destiny is something she considers throughout the book, particularly as she ends up in unwanted situations, not of her own making.

Themes around these choices are thought-provoking, but the heaviest themes of the book are around prejudice, its cruelty, and the way politics is used to wield this hate as a weapon. This has clear correlates to current events and brings it home in a new way using this fantasy world for teens. Additionally, themes around family consider the people we choose and those who are chosen for us, with Venus's complicated relationship with her mother evolving as she considers herself and what she has been told as the story continues.

What left me wanting more: There were some small things that are probably personal preference-related. I found the magic system to be particularly confusing/complex, and I needed to reread many sections to feel like I could understand what was going on/what different things related to it meant. I am not totally sure I understand it now either, and it was important to the story. While I was caught up in the story in the beginning, I felt that the middle meandered a bit too much for me, and it felt a bit easy to get lost in the details.

Final verdict: THE POISONS WE DRINK is an overall intriguing YA fantasy that will work well for people who enjoy character-driven stories with complex magic.