Lauren Lanz's Reviews > A Drop of Venom

A Medusa retelling inspired by Indian mythology; this was so enthralling and also so much darker than expected, considering I only know the surface level Medusa myth.

This was an excellently written story. Patel does a great job articulating Manisha’s emotions through all of her hardships, making me feel for her all throughout her journey. I was initially very invested in Pratyush’s perspective as well, with the foundational chapters of his family history and early palace upbringing really capturing my attention. These two elements in culmination were promising, though some aspects of this story just didn’t mesh well enough for me to love it completely.

By the halfway point, I was becoming more unsure about the timeline of events and general plot. I wasn’t confused to the extent of not being able to follow, but the narrative choice to have “[x] days ago” before each chapter while switching between povs somewhat erratically just didn’t feel like the best choice for this story. Additionally, Pratyush’s pov started to feel less interesting and more ‘in the way’ as Manisha’s journey grew more and more outwardly impactful. I honestly believe this story could have benefit from eliminating his chapters altogether, leaving readers to sit with only Manisha’s voice.

I appreciate all of the heavy topics covered in this book, not having expected a YA fantasy to go into nearly as much detail about the horrors and healing from experiences of sexual assault. Do read the trigger warnings (printed right in the front of the book) before picking this one up, since it can be quite heavy if you’re not expecting what’s to come. This was a pretty great book!