Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

87 reviews

oakairi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Torture, Vomit, and War

amberinpieces's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

xvicesx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

This was surprisingly good. I picked it up in the library after I'd been in two minds about it online several times thinking that it would not be my cup of tea (see what I did there? 😜) but after I read the first paragraph, I couldn't put it back. How powerful an opening! 

They say you can spot a true shennong-shi by their hands - palms colored by the stain of the earth, fingertips scarred from thorns, a permanent crust of soil and blood darkening the crescents of their nails.
I used to look at my hands with pride.
Now, all I can think is, These are the hands that buried my mother. 

The pacing was really good throughout, every scene purposeful and leading the reader through the baffling world of court politics and intrigue from the eyes of a girl of simple goals. All Ning wants to do is save her sister. 

The romance was cute, although brief, so I'm hoping for a bit more in the follow-up, and the end does come to a bit of a cliffhanger overall but I enjoyed it all enough to not argue too much. 

Strongly recommend. A love letter to Chinese myth, food that is a form of art, and most of all, tea.

On a side note, because I've seen this flagged as LGBTQ elsewhere and it's not necessarily clear if it's the main focus of the book or there is representation.

It's the princess who is a lesbian, not Ning, so the queer romance is not the main focus of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Classism, and Deportation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, and War

I flag a note on animal cruelty because a snake dies as a vehicle for one of the trials, but all other animals featured in the book do just fine.

solarel's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I enjoyed the world, though the first half of it felt very similar to other books I’ve read. 

The ending was a cliffhanger but didn’t manage to give any sense of finishing to the story arc? That’s just my thoughts. 

Overall I think this was pretty middle of the road. It was a fun read, enjoyable and mysterious. But there were parts I found fell short of what they could have been. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

3.75

Despite some plot thread being left unresolved, and some overstuffing, this debut is impressive in its concept, sensitive protagonist, and strong female relationships. The tea has been spilled. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Minor: Cursing, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Alcohol

There is a heavy amount of poisoning and a conspiracy theory driving the plot.

nillech's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

More prequel than standalone in a series. Captivating in its world rife with creative magical realism before the midway slump, but quickly rewarding in its final act if you've managed to overcome the lull.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Torture and Vomit

passionatereader78's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was heartbreaking.  I enjoyed the writing style. I liked the mystery in the story. I liked the main character.  I love books that have a strong sister bond. Ning sets off to the palace to enter a magical tea competition to save her sister's life. When Nina gets to the imperial city she quickly realizes that the stakes are higher than she expected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Torture

danajoy's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Blood

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

duarshe's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad 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

4.75

This was delightful to read. I found really enjoyable the world, the magic system and the entire book itself. It wasn't slow or boring and every chapter kept me on the edge and waiting for more.

Also, the story really gave me the vibe of Akatsuki no Yona meets The Cruel Prince, but Yona is a side character and Hak is a woman.

The only thing that keeps me from giving this a 5-star rating is that some descriptions were a bit repetitive for my like and I kept skimming over them.

Overall,  4.75⭐

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.0

I really liked the magic system of the world and the descriptions of the tea but otherwise, it had a very basic fantasy/empire plot and I ended up skimming a lot of the text because nothing was happening. I also felt that at times the MC was acting in an out of character manner? She wasn't fleshed out enough for us to believe she would act/say something so rebellious 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Sexual harassment