Venom & Vow

Venom & Vow is about two warring countries that are dealing with a big loss. They try to put a stop to the warring but inner power struggles and a still unknown enemy cause a lot of court intrigue.

The best part of this book was the representation. I loved the community the authors built into the world for trans people, and I loved how much a part of the story this community was, not just the background. I appreciated that the two main characters were in different places in figuring out their gender identities, it allowed one to really help the other out. Both of the characters also have disabilities, and one of them is from a Latin-American inspired country.

The biggest problem for me was that I was just so confused most of the time. Not about the world building, which was minimal but cool (I especially loved all the animals). But about why the characters were doing any of the things they were doing. There's one scene where two characters I could have sworn were really close get into a fight to the death and I still couldn't tell you why. This made it really difficult to follow what was happening, and to connect to the characters and their motivations.

I also really struggled with grasping the pacing. In one instance it takes them days to get to a place, in another they go there and back seemingly the same day? But again, I was really confused, so I may have misunderstood?

Most of the book was driven by misunderstandings between the characters with murderous stakes. The major assumptions they kept making was starting to get a little too much, but it did get much better in the second half of the book.

There's also an enemies-to-lovers romance. Their romance could have been developed a bit better but I loved that they were both badasses; Highly skilled at fighting and their specific skills.

Overall rating: 2.8⭐

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Feiwel & Friends and NetGalley for the eARC!