About the Book
-
Authors:
- Anna-Marie McLemore
- Elliott McLemore
- Genre:
- Fantasy
- Voices:
- Bisexual
- Non-Binary
- Trans Boy
- Trans Non-Binary
Cover Story: Bad Idea
BFF Charm: Roger Murtaugh x2
Talky Talk: Room for Improvement
Bonus Factors: Fantastical Creatures, LGBTQ+ Representation
Relationship Status: Bummer
Cover Story: Bad Idea
This cover is quite accurate to the character of Valencia/Gael, with her thick braid with knives stuck in it. But it just reiterates the concern I had every time the book mentioned her putting multiple knives in her braid. If they’re sharp enough to do damage as weapons, how are they not slicing hair every time they go in or out? There’s never talk of sheathes, just daggers in braids. I winced every time.
The Deal:
Valencia Palafox has a mission: Find the person who cursed the adults of the royal families of Eliana and Adare, whatever it takes. As an attendant of the teenage queen, she is an adept spy and great with disguises, but being Gael Palma is more than just a costume.
Cade McKenna, the bastard son of the Adare queen, must protect his brother—the heir to the throne—at all costs, from pretending to be him in battle to fending off advisors who aren’t what they seem. But he, too, wants to end the curse … and also has very personal secrets to keep.
BFF Charm: Roger Murtaugh x2
I feel terrible getting so fed up with Valencia/Gael and Cade, as they both seem like decent people with a lot riding on their young shoulders—and the added weight of unique gender identities in societies where the man-woman binary is the norm. But I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at their stubbornness and unwillingness to think about situations in ways that went against their own ideas. And their complete lack of communication. Certainly appropriate for YA characters, but they just seemed SO young.
Swoonworthy Scale: 5
Valencia/Gael and Cade are enemies to start, both thinking that the other set the curse upon their families. But they also can’t help but be drawn to each other although neither realizes that it’s more than just animosity until late in the book. Sadly, both the enemistry and the actual chemistry are lacking, and their eventual relationship is more tell than show.
Talky Talk: Room for Improvement
Venom & Vow is a novel told from two distinct POVs, one being Valencia/Gael and the other Cade. I assume that Anna-Marie wrote Valencia/Gael’sand Elliott wrote Cade’s, and each author wove a lot of their own experiences and cultures into the characters and their worldbuilding. (Anna-Marie is bigender and always includes Latinx-inspired elements in their work; Elliott is a trans man.) The characters are strong, and the folklore elements—Adare leaned more Celtic/British where Eliana leaned Latin American—are the kind of magical I’ve come to expect from Anna-Marie.
But the worldbuilding of the novel, the details that flesh out the countries, their cultures, and the literal dimensions of the setting, needed a lot of work. People were traveling from country to country throughout the novel, but there was little explanation around how long it took; the quickness of the book’s plot made it seem like the distance between them was only an hour or so, which in turn made the world feel awkwardly small. Some of the magical elements, too, like the living castle of Adare and the curse at the center of the book’s drama, needed more explanation or to be better woven into the story.
The villain, too, is obvious and one-dimensional. Like an afterthought that the authors felt they “needed” to have, but really did nothing for the plot.
Bonus Factor: Fantastical Creatures
The countries of Eliana and Adare are magical places, with histories rich with folklore elements come to life. Valencia/Gael rides “luminous foxes” whose fur shines in the moonlight and are much larger—and more vicious—than your average fox. The Elianan queen is protected by ancestral spirits of large cats come to life. The Adarian people are often brought to justice by sea monsters.
Bonus Factor: LGBTQ+ Representation
It wouldn’t be an Anna-Marie McLemore novel without truly great LGBTQ+ representation, and Venom & Vow certainly includes a variety of queer folks. Specifically, Valencia/Gael is a bigender individual; sometimes they’re a girl (Valencia) and sometimes they’re a boy (Gael) and both feel equally right. And Cade is a transgender boy who lived for a while in a monastery of like-minded individuals.
Relationship Status: Bummer
I wanted our time together to be special, Book, and while I had a nice time, the chemistry just isn’t there. I wish you all the best in finding your person. See you around the castle, maybe?
Literary Matchmaking
Ashley Poston’s Among the Beasts and Briars is another novel with fantastical beasts and curses.
Aiden Thomas’s Cemetery Boys is another book with great trans representation and folklore elements.
And if you want more of Anna-Marie McLemore’s magical writing, Dark and Deepest Red is a book that feels fantastical while being rooted in reality.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Feiwel and Friends, but got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. Venom & Vow is available now.
