It’s good to push your boundaries, and it’s rewarding to find purchase as the terms become familiar. It was a learning experience for me, but an excellent one and honestly the reason I’ve been seeking out POC authors. The prose style of the book is unique and heavily inspired by African traditions.

It’s a warning for us here, now, in the shape of a book. And that’s about as timely as it could possibly be, if I’m honest. It’s about how easy it is to think we’re safe, to ignore the harbingers and omens of disaster in favor of a happier delusion. This is a story about how people have hurt (and continue to hurt) the land in exchange for power, and how that power corrupts. Master of Poisons was a book I purchased as part of my personal goal to read more books by Black authors, and it seemed like a timely choice as well, given its focus on environmental concerns. Meanwhile, a young woman named Awa trains to be a griot and magician in a world that doesn’t want to accept her abilities anymore.

Djola, formerly Master of Poisons to the lord of the Arkhysian Empire and now an exile on a pirate vessel, must do everything he can to find a way back for himself, his land, and his loved ones, so he searches desperately for a powerful magic. It has been damaged and hurt too much, and now it becomes ever more dangerous. Now, with no further ado, let’s chat about Master of Poisons. And because I’ve got a substantial backlog to blitz through, my next couple reviews will be a little shorter than normal. I took a little break over the holidays, while the world was going crazy, but I’m back now.

Master of poisons andrea hairston