A review by shuyingzheng
A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

5.0

This was everything I wanted from a historical Chinese setting in an English language novel. The magic is based on traditional Chinese medicine principles, the worldbuilding is based on Chinese history (and does it well!!), and the palace conflict throws me back into all of the imperial palace dramas I watched when I was younger. The whole commoner for the people vs established ruling class theme is common for Chinese stories. Basically, this novel finally does the whole based in Chinese history/mythos thing well for once! I haven't read much YA in a long time, but I got so much more than I had hoped for from the novel. I was hesitant given its low-ish rating for YA but it's so good?? I've been complaining lots about Chinese-ish settings not feeling that accurate (or pulling things from history in a less-than-respectful manner) but this novel does it. I listened to this as an audiobook and it was so nice hearing the names and terms pronounced correctly for once. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel!