Of Venom and Vengeance by Mikayla Bridge – Book Review

Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5

Genre: New Adult Fantasy Romance

Spice: Medium

Summary:

Inna Pallo is the heir apparent to her family’s semi-legal enterprise where they own a monopoly on distilling magic from the sprites that are native to her home of Ascira. She wasn’t always the heir; that used to be her older sister before she was killed in a kidnapping attempt while trying to save Inna. Inna still has a lot of questions about what happened to her sister, and who initiated the kidnapping, but her mother and uncle refuse to discuss it with her. So, Inna continues to play her role collecting sprites and protecting their secrets while trying to find any information she can on her sister.

Enter Rylan, a shifty thief with a grudge against Inna’s family for killing his. Rylan’s goal is to find and awaken the Serpent King to grant him the power to destroy the Pallo’s. While sneaking into the Pallo residence to find a diary with the key to finding the Serpent King, he’s caught by Inna. But instead of turning the curious thief in, Rylan convinces Inna to form a reluctant alliance to get what they both want: the knowledge they need to achieve vengeance.

Reaction:

Of Venom and Vengeance is set in the same world as Bridge’s first book, Of Flame and Fury, some time after the events of that book. I really enjoyed Of Flame and Fury, so I was excited to pick this one up. There were parts of this book I thought were exciting, and I was interested in learning more about other creatures of Salta. But there were some elements of this book that left me confused or disconnected from what was happening.

It was a little hard to get into this book at the beginning because I was thrown right into the action without having the full background picture of who Inna or Rylan were, and how they fit into this world I already knew a little bit about. Overall, I was confused by the pacing, which seemed choppy to me throughout. I was also thrown off because the quest the characters were building to didn’t start until 3/4ths of the way through the novel, which left a lot of plot points to wrap up in a short time. Therefore, I found the end a bit short and rushed.

I loved the continuation of the setting elements from Of Flame and Fury, but I wanted more from the world building. I struggled to remember which sprite type had which characteristics. Ascira didn’t feel as fleshed out or vibrant as Cendor, and there was little time spent on Dresva to really learn much about it. This book did dive deeper into the historical lore of Salta, and I wanted more of that! I wish I had felt a deeper connection between the characters and the sprites or the serpents the way there was with the phoenix in the first book.

I didn’t really connect to the main characters in this book, which hindered my enjoyment of it. I understood Inna’s motivations from the start, while Rylan was purposely vague. But as the book went on, I couldn’t establish a real connection to either. Both were looking for vengeance in their own way, but it felt removed from them somehow. The revelations and complications with Inna’s family did keep things interesting during the meat of the book. The ending let me down from a character perspective because there wasn’t any conclusive reconciliation or addressing of how Inna felt about her family after what she learned.

I was conflicted about the romance in this book. There were moments I thought were intense and devastating, but others I thought were real and grounded, and each taken as a single moment were great. But the way they were distributed and accumulated heavily towards the end of the book made me doubt there was really love there, or that it was just a mega trauma bond. This book did include a lot of interactions between Inna, Rylan, and Inna’s ex, who still cares about Inna. I thought those interactions were really interesting and that relationship was the one that felt the truest in this book.

There were things I liked about this book and things I didn’t but ultimately, I was expecting this to have the same feel as Of Flame and Fury, and it definitely was more serious in tone. I didn’t connect as much to the characters or the romance while I wanted to dive deeper into the lore of Salta. I will probably read another book by this author in this world if there is one because I do think Salta is a very interesting mix between modern and fantasy, but I didn’t like this one as much as Of Flame and Fury.

Thanks to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and the author for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

What I enjoyed:

·       I loved the historical lore elements in this book. The diaries, the puzzles, and the Serpent King were super interesting, and I think if this had been presented more as a mystery with more of focus on that storyline, I would have loved it.

·       I appreciated Inna’s complicated relationship with her mother. I thought this was a great chance to see that parents are humans with their own hangups too.

What I didn't enjoy:

·       The pacing. So much of the book was devoted to planning their quest and collecting the required elements, but I would have liked more focus on figuring out the hints, or the actual quest itself, which seemed very rushed in the very end of the book.