The Poisons We Drink is an incredibly rich debut by Bethany Baptiste. The world-building and magical systems here were beautifully and imaginatively constructed. This magical society and its politics are ruthless, and Venus (our MC), must navigate the world with care, without losing herself to the pull of dark magical power and corruption. It’s a cautionary tale in how easy it is to give in to our darkest urges, while also shining a light on some of society’s most neglected topics, such as racism, mental health, and political corruption. I love morally gray characters and their journeys, so Venus was a very compelling MC to me. She was complex and sometimes frustrating, but I needed to see her carry out her mission throughout the story. The writing vividly painted a magical society that made me want to immerse myself in its world to better understand the magic systems, to live with the characters, and to watch the political machinations of its leadership unfold. The story was action-packed, but also heartfelt and emotional. Highly recommended.

2.5/3 stars

I want to preface this by saying I DNF at 30%.
Let’s start with my likes. I like the characters, they felt like real people. I like the setting. I like how the themes were presented and how they flowed in the words. The magic system did truly seem interesting.

Despite this, I believe this is a book that didn’t like me far more than I didn’t like it.

The story was not engaging to me. The tone of the writing felt juvenile despite the book’s more mature themes. The characters felt real but i couldn’t relate to them which is a odd paradox.

I really wanted to love this but unfortunately it's just not working for me. While the premise sounded good and the beginning is intriguing, the narrative is dragging and isn't really keeping my interest.

holy shit holy. shit. i absolutely adore this. i love my morally grey witches so much.

thank you to netgalley and sourcebooks for the egalley!

This is my first book by this author and it was definitely a heavy one. This book touched on many different topics that I found very interesting to read. It was very well written but very strong content.

A queer witcher with her mother’s death to avenge, all in a political environment that pits humans against witchers. This is part fantasy, part thriller, and 100% badass.

THIS WAS MY FAV READ OF THE YEAR. Wow, so thrilling and yet, full of prose that I got lost in. The world building stood out in a great way and I am so glad I took a chance on it!

thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the arc

3.5 i loved the concept and the magic system was really cool, but there were SO many 'important' characters to keep track of their designation as "son of X character" made it really hard to figure out why any betrayal or gotcha moment had teeth. same with figuring out who had an alliance/oath/promise with whom. on the other hand i enjoyed reading it!

"Bethany Baptiste's 'The Poison We Drink' is a gripping and thought-provoking novel that delves into the complexities of human nature and society's darker undercurrents. Baptiste's writing is both elegant and evocative, drawing readers into a world filled with suspense and moral ambiguity. As the story unfolds, the characters grapple with their own demons while navigating a web of secrets and lies, ultimately leading to a stunning and satisfying conclusion. Through her skillful storytelling, Baptiste sheds light on pressing social issues, challenging readers to confront uncomfortable truths about power, privilege, and the consequences of our actions. 'The Poison We Drink' is a compelling read that will stay with you long after you turn the final page."

Baptiste crafted an alternate world that uses magic to explore themes of racism, classism, sexuality and generational trauma. Venus, still so young but straddled with such responsibility, literally puts her body and life in danger to support her family by brewing love potions. Her younger sister, Janus, wants to follow in her father’s footsteps and lead a revolution to guarantee the rights and freedom of witches, but her youthful overconfidence often puts both sisters in danger, adding to Venus’s stress and sense of responsibility. Adding to that tension is the fraught relationship both girls have with their mother. A mother who is more often terse, controlling, and detached when dealing with her two daughters. This complicated relationship drives much of the story and really packs an emotional punch.

The magical system is well developed and very interesting. I really enjoyed the lore of the brewers and their importance in history. There was just information given to keep the reader invested in the story without being too cumbersome with overly detailed rules. The magic was expertly woven into the story and always felt integral, not at all like it was used for convenience or to fill plot holes.

This is definitely a well paced, emotionally charged, and thought provoking book that will stay with you long after the last page. Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Even though this was a very heavy, at many times violent (Do read the trigger warnings!) book - very much outside of what I usually read - I still liked it. It is refreshing to read bipoc stories in fantasy. It was fast paced most of the time, but I do think it could have been trimmed down a little. It's fairly long for a YA story and in the middle it lulled for a bit.

That being said, I did feel like their was a lot of character development, which I personally prefer over a very deep plot. A number of characters, but I also liked that. It felt like each one really meant something and weren't just throw away.

It did feel more towards the New Adult end of the rating spectrum than Young Adult. (More towards the 15-20 age bracket because of the violence). I hope more books like this emerge and I will definitely read another from this author.

I ended up DNF-ing this book as I was not connecting with the story. The writing fell flat for me, and the cast of characters lacked dimension outside of their "assigned" arcs within the first third of the story. Unfortunately, with being in school and having a lot of papers to stay on top of, this book could not hold my interest when I did have free time to read something non-academic. I stopped reading around the 35% mark, and might be willing to come back to it at a later time, however, with what a read so far, the promise of a twisty ending might not be enough to encourage me to finish this novel.

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste was such a great read exploring the division of humans and witchers as a parallel comparison to the division in our (the reader's) world. It was such an imagintiv and detailed way to explore the complexities of these experiences and "the poison" people are made and conditioned to drink as part of their existence. On top of an amazing story, the cover is beautiful and powerful at the same time. I would definitely recommend this book to others to read. Thank you to Sourcefire Books and Netgalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Fire for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book. Yes, it's an urban fantasy novel, but WOW, is it relevant and so important. This one comes HIGHLY recommended - I was fortunate to receive the ARC from NetGalley, as well as the ALC from Libro.FM, and I'd recommend either!

Synopsis - The US is divided between humans and witchers. Venus is a witcher specializing in brewing illegal potions for her family's business, but brewing is dangerous. Venus's mother is killed by an iron bullet, leaving her in charge of the family's business, and of keeping her little sister out of trouble. The Grand Witcher, head of Venus's coven, approaches Venus with an offer to punish her mother's killer, but in turn, she has to brew five powerful potions to sway the votes of some of D.C's most powerful politicians.

Review - this one had me hooked from the author's note at the beginning of the ARC. It's a very powerful and important story that touches on a LOT of very relevant issues, using the the division between witchers and humans as an allegory for a lot of issues plaguing today's society in America. The characters were captivating from the start, each with such strong personalities that really made you care for them immediately. The dynamic between Venus and IT was so cleverly woven (no spoilers, just read it). The entire plotline is a masterpiece - there's the sense of real danger, the amazingly crafted conflicts and twists... and the magic system is fascinating and intricate, but not so much that it's impossible to follow or keep track of. This is a very well-written book, very timely, and 100% a must-read.

Amazing book! I couldn’t put it down! The different types of my magic that kept appearing throughout the book made me constantly excited to see the next. The book was full of so many different layers to the plot, the society, and the character. As the book unfolded the author left breadcrumbs throughout that I kept remembering and made me want to read the book a second time to see if I missed any! Highly reccomended!

The Poisons We Drink is solid for a debut book.

I had a very hard time with the magic system as I don't think it came across clearly. It felt a bit muddled, and besides Venus' love potions, I felt explanation was lacking.

I also felt that the book could have been more concise. I felt it dragged in spots.

I did like Venus and her character. I liked the fact that everyone felt a bit morally gray. I think everyone has a bit of good and bad in them.

The politics were the great focal point of this story. The community mistrust the Witchers and want laws controlling them.

I really wanted to love this book but I just found the book way too long, and just so angry. I found the main character, Venus to be a very frustrating character. I really wanted to like her an emphasize with her, but her self sabotage and constant selfishness just off putting, despite my attempts to like her. Despite all this, the book was very well written, the world building was amazing! I loved the how Baptiste mixed civil rights and fantasy together which was really cool to explore. The world of Witchers and humans was really interesting and would have loved a more through history of it all.

This story opens in the backdrop of social and political conflict between Witchers and humans, with humans trying to suppress the civil rights of Witchers and how this strife affects Venus and her family directly, despite avoiding politics. I enjoyed reading about ,Witchers and their different skills, with Venus being a brewer which is a skill she learned from her mother, Cassandra, who brews love potions. In the beginning of the book, Cassandra gets murdered, leading to the action in this story when Venus seeks justice. I really enjoyed the twists and turns that this story took, which included a quite a few characters from various backgrounds. I am glad that the book had a happy ending in the end, although it was an unexpected one.

Overall the storytelling and the worldbuilding was strong, but I do think that the unlikable main character and even some side characters made it difficult for it to be a page turner. I would honestly be interested in a prequel to this book given that it explores more of this unique world.

I would also like to give my thanks to NetGalley, and Sourcebooks Fire for giving me the chance to review the book in return for an honest review.

The Poisons We Drink is set in an alternate world where witchers and humans live in conflict. Humans passed laws that keep Witchers from gathering in groups larger than 12. A registration law is up for vote in the Senate. And Witchers are going to use all of their gifts to try to thwart that.
Venus is a Witcher who can create love potions. While that sounds innocent and harmless, it is actually very powerful. Love spells can make people do things they wouldn't do without the spell, like forgive a family member or betray a friend. Venus' mother Clarissa died recently, and she wants to know why, and who the killer was. She wants to keep her sister Janus safe, as well as her friend Presley, so she likes to them both as she finds out more about her mother's death and the machinations of the Grand Witcher.

I like this book, but it has some things that don't make sense, which made it not a 4 star book,. The magical system Baptiste created is a fascinating one, especially the recoil that performing magic creates. But now that works, and why everyone who performs magic isn't dead, is confusing. The end felt rushed as well.

If you like magic, you'll probably enjoy this book, and maybe it will make more sense to you!

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

3.5 Stars.

"The Poisons We Drink" by Bethany Baptiste was on my list of most anticipated releases of 2024 and I am glad to have read an ARC of it. I enjoyed the story and think this is a book that I could very easily recommend.

The magic system Baptise created for this story was well-crafted and a delight to read. I found the drawbacks to being a 'Witcher' in this world, whether it being the possibly deadly recoil of potion brewing or the pain of shapeshifting on your own, to be a great addition to the story as it not only added stakes and tension but it also does a job of reining in the magic so that it is not some all-powerful force Witchers possess.

I found it interesting that Baptiste wrote Witcher Stigma in the place of Racial Stigma, I was actually quite relieved at the fact that I didn't have to see the characters dealing with Racism AS WELL AS the discrimination due to their magic. The way it was handled however still made it obvious that the discrimination of Witchers was a critique and representation of real types of discrimination in the world. I am quite glad with how the characters fought back and took charge of their situations.

The relationships between the characters in this book were written well. The sibling relationships in particular felt very realistic, especially with how they cared for each other while being angry with each other. I found the dynamic between Venus and her mother to be particularly interesting and I love how it was written. I especially loved how even though Venus came to learn about how deeply her mother cared for her, her mother was not absolved of the things her mother did and the way she treated her and her sister Janus.

I do have to say though, while I was interested in the story from the very first page, I found myself just passively taking in the story until about 50% of the book, which is when I really started to love the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

💬:N/A

📖Genres: fiction, fantasy, young adult, LGBT, queer

📚Page Count: 474

🎧Audiobook Length: N/A

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: DNF

TW - <spoiler>Abandonment, Gun violence, Death, Cursing, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, Blood, and Grief</spoiler>

Thank you so much to NETGALLEY and the PUBLISHER for my arc (advanced reader's copy) of this book.

This story is about Venus, a Witcher (a person who controls a type of magic) and her family of Witchers. Venus is a powerful brewer and her and her mother sell illegal potions to people for money. At around 25% of the way through the book someone <spoiler>kills Venus' mother. Eventually Venus is offered a chance at revenge, will she take it?

The pacing in this book felt slow and I had a hard time caring about the characters. The side characters all seemed one dimensional but I'm putting this novel on hold until the audiobook releases, so I can't be for sure. The world building felt very heavy but not in a good way.

The world building was interesting but the way it was delivered felt really clunky. At the beginning of each chapter there was exposition in the form of a newspaper article, an email, or some other source. On top of that at the beginning of every chapter, there was exposition littered throughout the conversations and through the narrator's comments. The information overload became too much.

What I read of this book was just okay, I'm going to DNF for now and then finish it once the audiobook is released.
DNF until later date.