A Drop of Venom by Sajni Patel
Publication Date: January 16, 2024
Summary from NetGalley:
All heroes, monsters, and villains have beginnings. This is mine.
Seventeen-year-old Manisha is no stranger to monsters—she’s been running from them for years, from beasts who roam the jungle to the King’s army, who forced her people, the Naga, to scatter to the ends of the earth. You might think that the Kingdom’s famed holy temples atop the floating mountains, where Manisha is now a priestess, would be safe—but you would be wrong.
Eighteen-year-old Pratyush is a famed Slayer of monsters, one of the King’s most prized warriors and a frequent visitor to the floating temples. For every monster the Slayer kills, years are added to his life. You might think such a powerful warrior could do whatever he wants, but true power lies with the King. Tired after years of fighting, Pratyush wants nothing more than a peaceful, respectable life.
When Pratyush and Manisha meet, each sees in the other the possibility to chart a new path. Unfortunately, the Kingdom’s powerful have other plans. A temple visitor sexually assaults Manisha and pushes her off the mountain into a pit of vipers. A month later, the King sends Pratyush off to kill one last monster (a powerful Nagin who has been turning men to stone) before he’ll consider granting his freedom.
Except Manisha doesn’t die, despite the hundreds of snake bites covering her body and the venom running through her veins. She rises from the pit more powerful than ever before, with heightened senses, armor-like skin, and blood that can turn people to stone. And Pratyush doesn’t know it, but the “monster” he’s been sent to kill is none other than the girl he wants to marry.
Alternating between Manisha’s and Pratyush’s perspectives, Sajni Patel weaves together lush language, high stakes, and page-turning suspense, demanding an answer to the question “What does it mean to be a monster?”
ARC provided by Disney Publishing via NetGalley for an honest review.
Confession:
This is the first book in the Rick Riordan Presents imprint targeted at the YA audience. This is a very dark, very violent retelling of the Medusa myth intertwined with an Indian mythology inspired fantasy world. I liked this story and thought it had an important message to tell, but I also had some issues with it.
Manisha is a very strong main character who encounters difficulties during her adventures. She starts off a little bit meek, but grows into a confident young woman who will protect herself and others from the violence around them. I really liked her relationship with Noni, a giant snake that accompanies her on her journey. It is this relationship that helps her develop into a stronger character.
Pratyush was also a very strong and interesting main character. He has a very strong moral center, which was interesting considering that he killed ‘monsters’ for a living. I liked him alot and felt sorry for him at times as he struggled with his own desires for how he wanted to live his life and how he was treated by the people around him. The relationship between him and Manisha was an interesting one and at times a bit one sided. I did like how they supported each other at the end after they worked through their misunderstandings about each other.
The biggest issue I had with the story was how incredibly violent it was. I know that is part of the message that the author wanted to convey, but there was so much violence that it almost desensitized me to that message by the end of the story. There is a lot of rape and physical abuse of women and even men. There is also a lot of violence occuring to the soldiers from the monsters they are hunting or even trying to avoid. It seemed a bit much for a book targeted at 14 to 18 year olds, especially the younger end of the spectrum. I certainly hope that there are strong warnings associated with this book, as I fear that when people see the Rick Riordan Presents logo they will assume it is a safe book for their child to read.
I also had some issues with the writing style. At times it was written like a high fantasy book should, with lots of descriptive prose and an atmosphere of an ancient culture. But then the characters talked and that dialogue often had a very modern feel to it. It made for very stilted conversations between the characters. The pacing was also off in a lot of places, and the story felt very dragged out.
I am very glad that the Rick Riordan Presents imprint is venturing out into the YA market. I hope that they somehow make it easy to differentiate between the two levels though. Especially if the other books that will be aimed at the YA audience are similar to this one. This is the first book in I think a duology, but I don’t think I will read the next book. There is enough violence in real life, I don’t particularly want so much of it in my fiction.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 