Nicole | nikiashreads's Reviews > Bitter Medicine

There were many points where I wanted to DNF this novel; instead, I buckled down in the hopes that it would improve and meet the expectations I had going into it. Unfortunately, it did not improve.

This novel falls into a familiar ARC category for me: gorgeous cover, intriguing synopsis, and poor story execution. For what I saw on that cover and in that synopsis wasn’t necessarily reflected in the pages of this novel. Rather, this novel wasn’t certain of what it wanted to be. At times, it felt like a fantastical thriller (despite its unexplained world-building); other times, it felt like a romantasy novel. The two main plots did not know who was in charge, which led to odd pacing and disconnect chapters. Was the A-plot supposed to be Luc and Elle’s tackling of the same issue: Elle’s younger brother hunting her down? (Why he wanted to hunt her down is something I still have questions about. That was not made clear in the novel. Never mind the fact that the younger brother plot was resolved between the 20-65% marks.) Or, was the A-plot supposed to be the romance between Luc and Elle? My instincts want to claim the latter as the A-plot, considering the story was bookended with romantic moments. However,, I wouldn’t fully claim this as a romance novel. The relationship between Luc and Elle unfolded with minimal conflict and a lot of attraction; but, without that conflict to test them, it made everything feel too easy and low stakes. Which would be fine if this novel was a cozy-fantasy, but it’s simply not in that genre.

When I reflect back on the world-building, I’m met with one feeling: utter confusion. There were many questions that were simply unanswered as the story went on. What was the Bureau? How was that different from Oberon and Luc’s job? What was a “Fixer,” and why were they needed in this fantasy society? Why is there a ranking system and how does that work? How was Elle an agent—and who was she an agent for?—when she was trying to remain hidden from her family and the world? Why did Tony never change his name from Tony, considering he was “supposed to be dead”? The only element of world-building that made sense was the concept of the laes and how an object could be the source of magical energy. Without that object, a magic-wielded will die; those are the only story stakes that kept me interested in the novel.

In addition to the questions about the world-building, I had numerous questions about the characters as well. I found myself longing for more in-depth backstory for both Elle and Luc. While we received equal amounts of backstory for both characters, I found Luc’s was explained better and with more clarity. Whenever Elle explained hers, I found myself utterly confused. She was the one who almost killed Tony—not her younger brother, as the world believes—but her motivations were never explained. With that being a key subplot to this novel, it was a weakness that the reader didn’t experience clear details about important character information.

Between the two, I found Luc’s point-of-view chapters to be more solidly written. With that being said, both perspective characters lacked internal conflict. I think back to the moment of Luc’s betrayal—how easily he gives up the truth about Tony and Elle’s true identities to Oberon—and how emotionally unaffected he was by needing to make that decision. There was a lack of tension, a lack of cognitive dissonance to make Luc pause and question literally betraying Elle’s trust for the sake of “this is my job and I can’t quit due to an unbreakable vow.” I wanted to see that hesitation, I wanted to see that emotional strain making such a call would make. Even the fallout of that choice was lackluster. Within a page and a half, Elle completely accepted Luc’s decision and they moved on from the situation. Despite the fact that Luc revealing her true identity would put a target on her back and literally put her life in danger. And this was something the novel consistently struggled with: presenting life-and-death situations but brushing them off as no big deal in order to move onto the next plot moment.

This is a smaller note, but I wish this novel had more translations for the Mandarin and French phrases used within it. I am all for using multiple languages in a story, but it felt like I was missing details and conversation pieces because translations were not provided for the other languages.

Overall, this novel was a case of mistaken genre identity. It didn’t feel concrete or clearly set in a given genre, and it struggled to explain important details that make a fantasy novel shine.

Thank you to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

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