A Magic Steeped in Poison

banging pots and pans together Y'ALL NEED TO READ THIS

honestly, even if you're not a fan of YA fantasy, but are down for an amazing adventure full of a tea-based competition, incredible female friendships and political navigation, this is a book you need to pick up!!

it's certainly not perfect and while i do have my gripes, overall i had a wonderful time following ning throughout the competition. i wished there was more explanation of the magic system but i vibed with the writing and plot so it was easy to go along with the story and not bother with the details.

i CANNOT wait for the sequel, i needed it uhhhh yesterday?

3 stars. the tea magic was really interesting, the political intrigue was good, the characters were fine, the romance wasn't great - this probably won't be a book I think about for years to come. I'll likely finish the duology just to know what happens.

idk if I've just been on too much of a NA/romantasy kick to appreciate this book or what. I really wanted to love it and just ended up liking it (which is still good! just not a 5 start sort of book, and not what I would have predicted for myself)

Definitely more of a 4.5 but I'm rounding up.

This book has been on my radar since the first time I saw the title and premise and I knew it was gonna be awesome. Then came the stunning and colorful cover reveal and since then, I've been eagerly waiting for the release date so that I could pick it up. And I'm so so happy that I'm getting to participate in a blog tour for this book which wowed me all the way through.

I remember reading a three chapter excerpt of the book a couple of months ago and I was so impressed in just those few pages. The descriptions in this book are just ethereal. Whether it's the gorgeous pavilions and gardens in the palace, the detailed art of making tea or the way tea magic works - every thing is described so beautifully that we can totally feel it happening right in front of our eyes. The plot itself is also so engaging because we know the stakes right from the beginning and as we gradually get to know more dangers lurking in the dark and don't know who to trust, it just becomes all the important for us to know what's coming next and that made me not wanna put it down even for a second. It also helped that I was alone in a clinic waiting room full of people for more than 6 hours and this book was the only thing keeping me awake and not irritated. The author is very talented at keeping all the cards close to her chest and I never could really guess who some of the betrayers were gonna be, so it was a very thrilling ride. And while I'm not a fan of tea at all, I was just so damn impressed by the whole intricate process and it's corresponding magic and I wish we had coffee versions of it all so I could try.

And the characters... just wow. Ning is someone who I fell in love with in the first chapter itself. She loves her family so much and will do anything for her sister, her mother's loss is still overwhelming but she sets it aside because her purpose is different. But her mother is always with her through her tea making and it's magic and I was glad that Ning still had that connection to her mom. She also can be a bit impulsive but brave and gets into many tough situations but somehow manages to get out of them too. However what endeared me most towards her was that she will always stick to her principles and speak up when she gets a chance, even it might be detrimental for her personally. It's hard not to root for such a wonderful girl.

The story is told exclusively through Ning's POV, so we get to see the others through her eyes. Her spark with Kang is instantaneous and there were many lovely moments between them but their path is also forged on a heap of secrets and divided loyalties, so I'm very intrigued to see how it develops next. Kang did feel like a person who had good intentions but I also felt like he didn't understand all the stakes well enough. The princess Zhen took some time for me to get invested in but she turned out to be a strong willed woman having to fight very tough odds. I hope we get more of her in the next book because I really wanna get to know her up close. But the one character we get most page time with is Lian, the one friend that Ning makes in the capital, her roommate and competitor and partner all rolled into one. Lian is the daughter of diplomats and she has a lovely cheerful personality and seems to make friends very easily, almost taking Ning under her wing and not letting her feel alone. I loved their friendship and I also wish we will explore their bond more in the rest of the story. We also have quite a few other characters who show up frequently and leave deep impressions and I can't wait to see how the author weaves all of their arcs together.

In the end, this debut turned out to be as lovely as I was expecting it to be and I'm not at all surprised that it debuted at #1 on the NYT Bestsellers list. This Chinese mythology and Taiwanese tea making inspired novel is gorgeously written, very evocative, has characters you get feel invested in right from the moment you meet them, and enough twists and betrayals to keep you hooked throughout. And for a change, I'm ecstatic that we'll get the sequel in just a few more months and I don't have to cry waiting for it.

This book is the perfect example of why you greatly benefit from an amazing cover as an author looking to find an audience and trying to attract attention. 100%. It's colourful and whimsical and I just love it.
Sadly, the story itself did not deliver.

Ning live in a country where tea is magic. You can use it to do a wide variety of things, if you have the talent. Her mother used to do that, but then she died of poisoning, while Shu, Ning's sister is also dying. So our protagonist goes to the capital, to take part in a tea competition organised by the royal court to be able to save her sister.

There are so many elements to this. The royal court, political unrest, the tea magic, all the different competitors with their own agenda, the shady history of Ning's parents. A princess. A handsome boy as a love interest, but also with his own issues.
And it all just doesn't blend well. We are being told there are those things and they all matter, but somehow the writing doesn't do much with them and it all just comes off as unnecessarily complicated and also barebones at the same time. I have no idea how that is possible, but it is. It wasn't serious enough, nor whimsical enough. Stuck somewhere in between that greatly limits it.
It almost felt like we wasted a bunch of time on details. Describing hair styles, foods (which I like, I'm a foodie, both eating and cooking, but still), rooms. It wouldn't have been THAT much of an issue in a beefier book, but this isn't one. It's also a duology, which is weird when you are trying to have so many things going. Something will be ignored, I am sure about it and that's a shame.

There are also many names of people and places introduces at the same time. Ning leaves her home that has a very limited setting and cast of characters early in the story. Of course the royal court will have more people, but again, this is a short book and yet we get thrown a million people at us and I don't even think many of them matter all that much. It's just... “suspicious backstabber No.3” and that's it, they don't interact with the protagonist much, they just form a crowd. But in that case, will I remember which has what hair style? Not really, no.
It's a bit better with the nice characters, thought I didn't connect with them much either. There was one, Lian, who had some potential, but even that got sidelined real quick.
Now the love, interest, Kang... Eh. Typical handsome boy with a dark and difficult past who develops an instant connecting with the main character. As much as we are kiiiinda made to believe he can be shady, it's never realised properly. You just know he is a nice boy. It's so obvious.

The prose is first person, present tense, which I personally dislike. Some of you probably enjoy it, but I don't, so there is that.
All in all, the writing adds to my feelings about this book; I don't think it's the worse written thing ever, but it's lacking something that would actually make it great. It's a first novel, so probably the experience is missing, which is fine, it can be solved in time, but in its current form, I don't think this is really that good.

Now... I am not to claim a hard magic system is needed. Some people do it well, some don't, I can be perfectly content with something working just because magic is unknowable. But here it felt almost like the magic was just a convenient tool to push the plot forward, without us having an understanding of it.
The challenges in the magic tea competition were all underwhelming. We didn't see any form of amazing feat using it. One of them, the one involving a bird, could have been interesting, but they felt like afterthoughts in a story about political intrigue and lovers. From how this ended, the second book will be more about that, so I hope for the communication between Ning and Kang will be better, because... sheesh, it is one of those where we are supposed to see clever plots, but the characters just forget to freaking talk to each other properly.

I didn't love it. I didn't HATE it, I just felt like almost every element was lackluster. Not enough well-developed magic, not a substantial enough love story, not clever enough political things. Maybe I got spoilt by many different books my more experiences authors with skillsets that COULD handle all the things. Dunno.

But I will read book 2, I think. It's coming soon too.

A great book, especially as a first book. There is so much to talk about and love in this book. The way Judy weaves in so many sayings that actually feel natural to say and hear is great.

CAWPILE SCORE
C-7
A-8
W-8
P-7
I-10
L-8
E-9
TOTAL-8.14/10

CAWPILECharacters.Ning is a great character. We really get into her head and the reasons she has for doing things. Any character who might have initially felt one-sided was shown to have other sides to them. I really felt like her characters all acted appropriate to their ages. No teenagers acting like adults and vice versa.AtmosphereThe world that Judy I. Lin has created is beautiful and scenic, even if there aren't many scenes outside the palace, the use of all 5 senses creates a great scene that you can truly feel. Her incredible use of Scent and Taste were spectacularWritingWriting was good, occasional small things I could nit-pick, but nothing so bad it took me out of the story. Her chapters end well, and at a good length. The writing flowed well. I liked that we get told Ning was trouble to her family when growing up and then later its shown to us one instance.PlotThe Plot has some YA tropes to it, but done different enough that they worked well for it. I enjoyed the directions the plot took, and while I knew some things that would happen(tropes) I was still very excited to actually read it and am still excited to see where it is going.InvestmentThe first chapter was great and very engaging, it gives us everything we need to know to get started, but after they start the Trials everything gets so much better.LogicMost everything follows the logic that is set forth earlier in the book. I dislike and like when teenagers switch so quickly on romance/hate, but that really is how some teenagers are.EnjoymentI loved this book. I loved the Magic and Tea. I Loved all the lore that is presented to us, never felt info dumpy. I loved so much about this book and I am super excited for the next one. MISC awesome parts and thoughts“Grief has a taste, Bitter and lingering, but so soft it sometimes disguises itself as sweetness” What an amazing line. Beautiful. Love all the sayings throughout the book. One thing I dislike in tournaments is when one test is super unrelated to the tournament. Aka find this random thing do this thing that doesn't actually relate to what your testing on. That's what I thought was going to happen, but then it didn't and it worked so well. Lily SceneHow the magic is different for all the shennong-tu.During the first test. Dragon shakes off the morning dew after sleeping, Dragon encircles his royal residence. I live for this kind of stuff. So amazingStupid Judge who interrupts her first test. Is he the stupidest man alive, yes and yes, does he deserve to be thrown in a pit forever, because he couldn't be patient for 5 more minutes yes.It was a bit fast how many contestants they eliminated. The sister transcribing her antidote efforts into stitching and her coming home and saving her sister. Just amazing
I will be talking about it on Libromancy 04/03/2022 https://libromancy.podbean.com/

3.5 rounded up; I'm really torn... I really loved the tea magic concept and the different competitions, which were quite unique! The cons that I faced: Ning's journey suddenly introduced and she jumps right in, the romance was quite immediate, and this darn cliffhanger!!! ;-; Maybe it's just me but I wished it was told in third-person; I felt like it would have been more fitting, but it sounds like the author wanted to use first-person phrases/expressions. Also, so much poison and dying, as well as the poison's severity being on a spectrum, it was kind of weird -- like does it kill immediately, why was Shu's one for so long? I really loved knowing Kang's background and the mystery behind it, but the cliffhanger just sjhfgdksg

Reading this felt like everything and nothing simultaneously happened. There was an attempt at political intrigue, but it didn't feel well executed. The magic system was fascinating, but it felt as if the plot only skimmed the surface - perhaps the author attempting to too much, all at once. I think the story would have been stronger if it went all in on one or the other.

All things considered, I enjoyed Ning as a protagonist, but felt that all other characters within the story fell flat. The story felt too short to have properly fleshed out all the side characters, and even the male lead/main antagonists. While Ning made a compelling protagonist, the pacing (and perhaps even overall plot) of the story let her down.

Overall, not bad, but not great. Would not re-read.

8th July 2022:

Wow okay where do I begin.

This book has a lot going for it but also has some very obvious flaws. Especially in the beginning. The pros are the beautiful lore and the fascinating magic system. If this duology ever has a book based solely on exploring the lore and the magic I could get lost in it for days. It was that beautifully written and arranged.

Yet its glaring flaws are in the character interactions. Some things are clearly happening because the author is pushing it to be so. It completely took me out of the story and I very much disliked that part. I also hated the instant attraction elements at play here. 

It could be just my suspension of disbelief not being that low but I couldn't believe the interactions were natural and the protagonist's desperation behind her actions seemed weak many a times. I couldn't be convinced.

The plot really staggers until the very last moment though understandably since this doesn't feel like a plot focused book. 


My final rating: 3.5 out of 5.0 stars. 

“They say you can spot a true shénnóng-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.”

What fantastic opening lines. I was instantly captivated.

Ning has not only just lost her mother, but, even worse, she must live with the fact that her mother died at her hands, drinking poisoned tea that Ning herself prepared. Her sister, too, drank the poisoned tea, and she is dying slowly from the drink.

Ning is determined to find the source of the poisoned tea and bring that person to justice. Then she hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shénnóng-shi, masters of the ancient magical art of tea-making. The winner of the competition will receive a favor from the princess, and this may be Ning's only chance at saving her sister.

A fast-paced story filled with delightful twists and turns and stuffed with an array of fascinating characters. Plus magical tea.

Tea magic is really interesting and tasty concept.
The plot was concised to the competition, which was interesting and the court politics - the tension, the drama, the unease of who to trust was done so well. Although, there were some plot holes in the middle part of the story, just for conveniently get the main characters some information they seek.
The romance did not feel needed, quite rushed and not entirely fulfilled.

Did not do it for me. I loved the magic aspect with the tea ceremony and I thought the challenges were really creative and showed everything you could do with the tea. I did not enjoy the many layers of politics that revolved around it. I am left at the end of the book with more questions than eher and I don't really appreciate it.

Shénnóng-shī adalah peracik teh sihir, bakat yang dimiliki Ning sebagai warisan dari ibunya; bakat yang tidak diakui Ning karena mengundang malapetaka .
Tanpa sadar, Ning menyeduh teh beracun yang menyebabkan kematian sang ibu dan membuat adiknya sekarat. Kesalahan itu terus menghantuinya, hingga muncul kabar diadakannya sayembara pencarian Shénnóng-shī terbaik di Kekaisaran Daxi.
Ning rela melakukan apa pun demi menyelamatkan nyawa sang adik, termasuk membujuk putri sang kaisar. Dia pun berangkat ke ibu kota untuk mengadu nasib dengan mengikuti sayembara.
Namun, dia terperangkap di antara para pesaing yang saling menjatuhkan, terjebak di tengah intrik politik berbahaya, dan bertemu seorang pemuda misterius yang membawa rahasia besar. Ning akhirnya menyadari bahwa ternyata nyawanya sendiri yang harus dipertaruhkan.
Sebuah adaptasi kisah mitologi dan seni tradisional pembuatan teh dari Cina yang dilebur dengan dunia sihir, hingga terciptalah sebuah kisah fantasi yang memikat dan sepekat secangkir teh hangat.
Aku tertarik membaca buku ini karena covernya yang sangat menarik mata. Magic system idenya cukup menarik, dari jenis teh yang berbeda bisa memghasilkan sihir yang berbeda yang bisa dibaca oleh Shénnóng-shī.
Kurasa cukup menarik untuk sebuah novel debut, walau menurut seleraku romance tidak terlalu menarik. Biasanya aku akan memberi kesempatan membaca lanjutan serinya sebelum memutuskan apakah aku cocok dengan penulis ini atau tidak.

Since I've been in the mood for a fantasy, but not the bogged down 1000-pager, 10 book series, grimdark type, finding A Magic Steeped in Poison was exactly what I wanted and it delivered a ‘lighter' yet intricate story filled with magic, intrigue and a bit of romance. I haven't read a lot of YA fantasy to compare too, but I really enjoyed this one. Combining Asian elements and a brand new world to explore with an interesting premise that combines teas and magic, it seemed like a breath of fresh air. It is nice to see a Canadian join the ranks of popular YA, and I am happy to support this one for sure! The only downside: it ends on a cliffhanger! Upside: the second book will be out in August, so I don't have long to wait! I think if your not into YA fantasy, this won't convince you to get on board, but if you enjoy it and are looking for something new and refreshing, you might just find it here.

The character was so passive...and the plot didn't make any sense. Instead of being determined and filled with grit in a competition, the protagonist decides to just wing it. It would've made for a great character arc if she put on this forefront of a determined character while dread and doubt was still inside, and she learns to become more brave and determined to where she becomes more independent and strong. There was even one time where she was asked what she wants and she can't even answer it!

The romance was so...stupid. Stop talking to Pretty Boy, we need to get the tea leaves and win this competition! A good book would either put romance in as a crucial part of the story, work romance organically into the narrative via sexual tension/similarities, or will have romance be like a cherry on the cake. All of these do not get in the way of the narrative. This romance does. It was infuriating and sometimes it felt like she cared more about Pretty Boy than her DYING SISTER.

Basically, this book had no character, no payoff to the promises in the set up ( i.e. a thrilling championship), and a magic system that needed to be a hard magic system rather than the author's attempt at a soft magic system.