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A review by mspilesofpaper
The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste
Did not finish book. Stopped at 22%.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this eArc.
The premise of the book is extremely interesting, and I was so happy to receive the eARC, but I think the DNF is a case of "It's me, not you" because you need to be in a very specific mood to enjoy the book as it's extremely angry. While Venus' anger never feels very deep, her sister's anger is by far more potent. They are angry at each other, at their mother but especially at the society that enforces laws that punish witchers. The book incorporates, among others, the following themes: police violence, racism, child abuse (emotional but also physical in a way due to the nature of brewing), child neglect (as Venus' and her sister are teenagers), a good amount of morality (e.g., giving someone unknowingly a love potion), discrimination, ... -- Overall, it is very angry and I have currently not the energy or the mind space to deal with such an angry setting at the moment.
However, three main issues are the reasons why I DNF'ed the book (the anger of the book is just the cherry on top):
1. The writing style.
It is very immature at times and the author uses extremely short sentences to highlight emotions. It feels choppy and unedited to read sentences that just consist of three or four words. In addition, some word choices were rather poor because they gave me the feeling of "I want to be special by using unique vocabulary" but it just renders it meaningless if it irritates the reader.
2. The pacing.
It is so off. By the time, I abandoned the book, nothing really happened that was relevant to the main plot line as far as I can tell. Yes, there are a few scenes where something happens (e.g., a shady deal for brewing a love potion, brewing the love potion, going to an aurora party) but the only major plot point that happened was the death of Venus' mother. The rest of the 22% are mostly world-building in a way but not to the depth that would excuse the lack of action. I have the feeling that the plot, which is mentioned in the book's summary, starts to happen between 40% - 50%, which is a shame. By the time when I'm 40% - 50% into a book, I want to be in the middle of the plot and not at the start of it.
3. The world-building and magic system.
It is so vague and superficial. While the entire story plays in an alternative version of the USA, I cannot tell you much about the witcher history or the magic system.
The world-building happens mostly through tidbits in the form of texts above each chapter, which I hate as a mechanism to introduce world-building because it never explains enough. The witcher vs. non-witcher conflict feels old and young at the same time as the book refers to events prior Venus' birth but also makes it sound as if the entire conflict is centuries old.
The magic system is just as vague. There are several types of magic mentioned (e.g., brewers, forgers, ...) and sometimes even sub-classes for each magic type (e.g., brewers have to focus on one type of potions) but that's it. By 22%, there was no mention of why iron hurts witchers. There's no explanation why brewers suffer from magical backlash or if witchers of other magic types have their own drawbacks.
To sum it up, it's the typical "them vs. us" story with magic as the dividing line that uses the question "What would you do in the situation?" as Venus will get caught up in a bad situation while she doesn't seem to be a bad character, but it just falls flat due to writing issues, the vague world-building & magic system, and the catastrophic pacing. It's also a very angry and political book but even the incorporation of the fitting themes for the politics fall short. I think it could have been a good book but it needs a few more rounds of editing to make it smoother and more cohesive.
The premise of the book is extremely interesting, and I was so happy to receive the eARC, but I think the DNF is a case of "It's me, not you" because you need to be in a very specific mood to enjoy the book as it's extremely angry. While Venus' anger never feels very deep, her sister's anger is by far more potent. They are angry at each other, at their mother but especially at the society that enforces laws that punish witchers. The book incorporates, among others, the following themes: police violence, racism, child abuse (emotional but also physical in a way due to the nature of brewing), child neglect (as Venus' and her sister are teenagers), a good amount of morality (e.g., giving someone unknowingly a love potion), discrimination, ... -- Overall, it is very angry and I have currently not the energy or the mind space to deal with such an angry setting at the moment.
However, three main issues are the reasons why I DNF'ed the book (the anger of the book is just the cherry on top):
1. The writing style.
It is very immature at times and the author uses extremely short sentences to highlight emotions. It feels choppy and unedited to read sentences that just consist of three or four words. In addition, some word choices were rather poor because they gave me the feeling of "I want to be special by using unique vocabulary" but it just renders it meaningless if it irritates the reader.
2. The pacing.
It is so off. By the time, I abandoned the book, nothing really happened that was relevant to the main plot line as far as I can tell. Yes, there are a few scenes where something happens (e.g., a shady deal for brewing a love potion, brewing the love potion, going to an aurora party) but the only major plot point that happened was the death of Venus' mother. The rest of the 22% are mostly world-building in a way but not to the depth that would excuse the lack of action. I have the feeling that the plot, which is mentioned in the book's summary, starts to happen between 40% - 50%, which is a shame. By the time when I'm 40% - 50% into a book, I want to be in the middle of the plot and not at the start of it.
3. The world-building and magic system.
It is so vague and superficial. While the entire story plays in an alternative version of the USA, I cannot tell you much about the witcher history or the magic system.
The world-building happens mostly through tidbits in the form of texts above each chapter, which I hate as a mechanism to introduce world-building because it never explains enough. The witcher vs. non-witcher conflict feels old and young at the same time as the book refers to events prior Venus' birth but also makes it sound as if the entire conflict is centuries old.
The magic system is just as vague. There are several types of magic mentioned (e.g., brewers, forgers, ...) and sometimes even sub-classes for each magic type (e.g., brewers have to focus on one type of potions) but that's it. By 22%, there was no mention of why iron hurts witchers. There's no explanation why brewers suffer from magical backlash or if witchers of other magic types have their own drawbacks.
To sum it up, it's the typical "them vs. us" story with magic as the dividing line that uses the question "What would you do in the situation?" as Venus will get caught up in a bad situation while she doesn't seem to be a bad character, but it just falls flat due to writing issues, the vague world-building & magic system, and the catastrophic pacing. It's also a very angry and political book but even the incorporation of the fitting themes for the politics fall short. I think it could have been a good book but it needs a few more rounds of editing to make it smoother and more cohesive.