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amberinpieces's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
serendipity421's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Alcohol
kaneebli's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Body horror and Gore
marlfox580's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror and Blood
vixenreader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
The last third of the book saved it from transforming into another typical YA troupe, especially with its use of folklore.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Classism
Minor: Cursing
Be aware that there are graphic moments of possession, trading human lives for power, chronic pain, broken limbs, and parasites being removed from body parts.ms_sarah621's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
3.5 - I’m really having trouble rating this one. This seems to be a pretty great conclusion to the duology. The series as a whole doesn’t focus on the tea magic how I thought it would. I feel that I learned more in this book, but this magic could have become so intricate at times. Anyways, I did not expect the horror and unsettling imagery in this book. The Shift, the Shadow Realm, and the reality were all horrifying at times. Please don’t talk to me about the fish with human teeth… I found this imagery exciting to read and horrifying for what was happening to these characters. It really intrigued me as I was reading. The ending felt a little rushed. I kept looking down at the page numbers wondering when they were going to do something before the end, and it came very quick. It could have been some action packed, well described chapters that leaned into that horror element. However, it wrapped up fairly quick. Overall, I think this series is worth checking out. I really enjoyed the writing and the imagery, which kept me wanting to know what would happen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
thepastelnerd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Finally read the second volume of this amazing duology! I don't know why it took me so dang long to read this one; maybe I was worried it wouldn't live up to its predecessor. But it did for the most part! My only complaint is that this second volume is significantly darker than the first, but that honestly was not surprising considering how A Magic Steeped in Poison ended.
The quality of writing remained the same, though. Lin's colorful scenes are full of wonderful imagery and captivating detail. I enjoyed the character development too, although I felt it took a backseat a tiny bit to the action scenes. There were enough twists and turns and magical moments to keep me invested in the story, and I felt the conclusion was rather satisfying. I would love to read more books set in this universe if Lin decides to write them, but if not, I look forward to picking up anything else she writes.
The quality of writing remained the same, though. Lin's colorful scenes are full of wonderful imagery and captivating detail. I enjoyed the character development too, although I felt it took a backseat a tiny bit to the action scenes. There were enough twists and turns and magical moments to keep me invested in the story, and I felt the conclusion was rather satisfying. I would love to read more books set in this universe if Lin decides to write them, but if not, I look forward to picking up anything else she writes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol
sinceraly's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
After I finished A Magic Steeped in Poison, I rushed to my Libby app and rented the ebook version of A Venom Dark and Sweet. I had so much anticipation to what I thought would be an excellent follow up to a very exciting ending with a lot of intrigue set up. Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed by what I got instead.
Like always, we start with the pros:
The world building. A Venom Dark and Sweet carries on the excellent world building as it's predecessor, with the world of Dàxi being something unlike anything I've ever been taken through as a reader. I love how the author makes her own spins on Chinese legends, and how the book has a sort of myth-become-real vibe. It makes you, as the reader, really want to pay attention to the foundational stories of the kingdom to better understand how things work.
The magic system. I still think the usage of tea as a conductor of the brewer's magic is brilliant, but I was sad to see it get so much less screentime than in the first book. I'll expand on that later.
Kang's point of view chapters. I thought it was interesting to see him grapple with the actions of his father, and it added a lot to what could otherwise be a bit of a dull read.
The section with The Hermit. Won't expand on this because I don't want to spoil for any potential readers!
I really wish there was more I could say about the book positively, but that's all that comes to mind a mere two days after reading it. The negatives are a lot more prevalent in this book, almost entirely because so much revolves around the weakness of Ning as a main character.
Ning is a very bland main character. By the end of AMSIP I was confident that she had grown enough to be an interesting main character, but she hadn't. Even the addition of her sister as a traveling member for the first half of the book did nothing, really, except make it even more clear that she really does not have much of a personality beyond caring about her family. Sometimes the author would play with something interesting - like Ning being tempted to give into a terrible force if only to avenge the people who sacrificed everything to help her, or her anger and distrust of Kang from his betrayal - and then it'd just get completely swept over with no trouble. I want to make one thing clear: what makes a main character interesting is not their immediate and stable sense of morality, impervious to any sort of temptation or tarnishing, but their internal conflict of keeping with that morality. Every time Ning had a moment to question whether or not she wanted to be honorable, it would be dealt with by a simple "ah, but that's what the bad guys did!" And that was the entire depth to her character development.
The romance is just bad. I really tried to give it a pass, especially considering that I like Kang a lot, more than I liked Ning, and I did see potential in it from the first book. But the lack of any sort of actual chemistry with these two is just so obvious. Every time they'd think of each other, it felt like the author was waving a big, lit up arrow sign ala Las Vegas Strip that just said "they love each other, guys! source: just trust me." I liked the idea of Ning having shown Kang that shit wasn't right, and that leading to doubt in his father's plans. I liked the idea of Ning being torn on Kang because of his betrayal. I did not like how they just fell back into loving each other and trusting each other so easily after having their relationship shatter the first time. I do not like how their relationship skipped over them actually being friends, being equals in each other's eyes. I do not like how their relationship gets mentioned by Ning more often than the people who literally died in their attempt to help her escape from the besieged palace. I do not like this relationship set up, Sam I Am.
The lack of the actually interesting side characters. With the exception of Kang, who had the more interesting chapters of the book (because the book remembered its actually also supposed to have political intrigue in his chapters), the more interesting characters of the first book are either minimally included or not at all. The kitchen staff show up just to point out to Kang that shit isn't as it seemed with his father - which seemed like a waste, to me, since he had already been figuring that out on his own, and it would have hit much harder if it didn't take the commoners telling him that his dad was being manipulated by a demon. There is also the fact that the Zhen, Ruyi, and Shu, the main supportive cast, straight up get left behind halfway in and then play the most minimal roles possible, while also being the more interesting characters there even as the author seasons their personalities with "we only care about what Ning thinks" sauce.
WHERE IS THE TEA. So much of the first book was straight up carried by its super unique and awesome tea magic system that's almost absent from the second book. The author does explain it, and it does make sense - tea based magic is limited to being able to perform a tea making ritual every time, and that's straight up not always plausible - but when your books are marketed with this tea based magic, you need to find a way to carry through! Ning is not a strong enough character to stand without her magic to support her. I missed the competition setting of the first book in hindsight because it forced the book to be creative about the magic system. Without it, it really falls so much flatter.
Wow that ending was both convenient and rushed. I won't say too much to avoid spoilers, but there's one point in which the Big Bad literally shatters ancient relics that are supposed to stop him and seal him away, and then they deadass just reform around the main characters when the Big Bad isn't paying attention. No special reason why. They just do. There's more I could say, but the gist of it is that the ending is incredibly rushed, lowers every stake the book painfully made, and then ends with an epilogue where everything is sunshine and rainbows instead of focusing on the toll taken and the rebuilding of the kingdom at all. Just so terribly disappointing.
Really, what saves this book is that despite everything, the author writes well, and I am generally a fan of mythology based worlds enough to have that carry me, but mileage will vary and all that good stuff. I feel like if the author had just made the first book longer, got rid of the filler of this book, and mashed the two, we wouldn't have needed a duology and it would have made this book's content stronger. Did I hate this book? No. But will I read it again? Probably not.
Like always, we start with the pros:
The world building. A Venom Dark and Sweet carries on the excellent world building as it's predecessor, with the world of Dàxi being something unlike anything I've ever been taken through as a reader. I love how the author makes her own spins on Chinese legends, and how the book has a sort of myth-become-real vibe. It makes you, as the reader, really want to pay attention to the foundational stories of the kingdom to better understand how things work.
The magic system. I still think the usage of tea as a conductor of the brewer's magic is brilliant, but I was sad to see it get so much less screentime than in the first book. I'll expand on that later.
Kang's point of view chapters. I thought it was interesting to see him grapple with the actions of his father, and it added a lot to what could otherwise be a bit of a dull read.
The section with The Hermit. Won't expand on this because I don't want to spoil for any potential readers!
I really wish there was more I could say about the book positively, but that's all that comes to mind a mere two days after reading it. The negatives are a lot more prevalent in this book, almost entirely because so much revolves around the weakness of Ning as a main character.
Ning is a very bland main character. By the end of AMSIP I was confident that she had grown enough to be an interesting main character, but she hadn't. Even the addition of her sister as a traveling member for the first half of the book did nothing, really, except make it even more clear that she really does not have much of a personality beyond caring about her family. Sometimes the author would play with something interesting - like Ning being tempted to give into a terrible force if only to avenge the people who sacrificed everything to help her, or her anger and distrust of Kang from his betrayal - and then it'd just get completely swept over with no trouble. I want to make one thing clear: what makes a main character interesting is not their immediate and stable sense of morality, impervious to any sort of temptation or tarnishing, but their internal conflict of keeping with that morality. Every time Ning had a moment to question whether or not she wanted to be honorable, it would be dealt with by a simple "ah, but that's what the bad guys did!" And that was the entire depth to her character development.
The romance is just bad. I really tried to give it a pass, especially considering that I like Kang a lot, more than I liked Ning, and I did see potential in it from the first book. But the lack of any sort of actual chemistry with these two is just so obvious. Every time they'd think of each other, it felt like the author was waving a big, lit up arrow sign ala Las Vegas Strip that just said "they love each other, guys! source: just trust me." I liked the idea of Ning having shown Kang that shit wasn't right, and that leading to doubt in his father's plans. I liked the idea of Ning being torn on Kang because of his betrayal. I did not like how they just fell back into loving each other and trusting each other so easily after having their relationship shatter the first time. I do not like how their relationship skipped over them actually being friends, being equals in each other's eyes. I do not like how their relationship gets mentioned by Ning more often than the people who literally died in their attempt to help her escape from the besieged palace. I do not like this relationship set up, Sam I Am.
The lack of the actually interesting side characters. With the exception of Kang, who had the more interesting chapters of the book (because the book remembered its actually also supposed to have political intrigue in his chapters), the more interesting characters of the first book are either minimally included or not at all. The kitchen staff show up just to point out to Kang that shit isn't as it seemed with his father - which seemed like a waste, to me, since he had already been figuring that out on his own, and it would have hit much harder if it didn't take the commoners telling him that his dad was being manipulated by a demon. There is also the fact that the Zhen, Ruyi, and Shu, the main supportive cast, straight up get left behind halfway in and then play the most minimal roles possible, while also being the more interesting characters there even as the author seasons their personalities with "we only care about what Ning thinks" sauce.
WHERE IS THE TEA. So much of the first book was straight up carried by its super unique and awesome tea magic system that's almost absent from the second book. The author does explain it, and it does make sense - tea based magic is limited to being able to perform a tea making ritual every time, and that's straight up not always plausible - but when your books are marketed with this tea based magic, you need to find a way to carry through! Ning is not a strong enough character to stand without her magic to support her. I missed the competition setting of the first book in hindsight because it forced the book to be creative about the magic system. Without it, it really falls so much flatter.
Wow that ending was both convenient and rushed. I won't say too much to avoid spoilers, but there's one point in which the Big Bad literally shatters ancient relics that are supposed to stop him and seal him away, and then they deadass just reform around the main characters when the Big Bad isn't paying attention. No special reason why. They just do. There's more I could say, but the gist of it is that the ending is incredibly rushed, lowers every stake the book painfully made, and then ends with an epilogue where everything is sunshine and rainbows instead of focusing on the toll taken and the rebuilding of the kingdom at all. Just so terribly disappointing.
Really, what saves this book is that despite everything, the author writes well, and I am generally a fan of mythology based worlds enough to have that carry me, but mileage will vary and all that good stuff. I feel like if the author had just made the first book longer, got rid of the filler of this book, and mashed the two, we wouldn't have needed a duology and it would have made this book's content stronger. Did I hate this book? No. But will I read it again? Probably not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror and War
gatorademachinegun's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Holy shit what a ride. Amazing read, the switch from 1st person to 3rd when changing character perspectives is something I’ve never read before but Judy I Lin, does it so well.
Absolutely loved this book, the characters are so real and the medium to fast pace kept me on the edge of my seat.
10/10 stunning cover, stunning contents
Absolutely loved this book, the characters are so real and the medium to fast pace kept me on the edge of my seat.
10/10 stunning cover, stunning contents
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Torture, and Death of parent
Minor: Death of parent and Alcohol
allisonbrooke's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail