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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
[Note: While there is some body horror in this book, due to some terrible cooking accidents, the book doesn’t linger on the moments. ]
I love deadly competitions in my media, so Celestial Banquet caught my eye immediately. When author Roselle Lim focuses on the competition, Celestial Banquet really shines. The descriptions of how Cai made all of the food were always interesting, and Lim gave enough detail I felt like I could envision what Cai was doing even if I wasn’t familiar with some of the mundane ingredients. Cai’s ingenuity during the competition made her a fantastic underdog competitor, and each round felt like a genuine struggle and well-deserved placement. I was always impressed by Cai’s clever solutions and determination to fulfill her and her father’s dream.
There is a lot more going on in this book than the competition, and several of these plot threads do not have enough room to breathe. This largely impacts the characters—everyone except Cai and Kama did not have enough pages dedicated to them to become fully fleshed out. There were two different political subplots that I very much wanted the book to explore that didn’t get much screen time at all. We also hardly got to know anyone from the other teams (except toward the end), which meant that the casualties along the way didn’t have significant emotional impact.
I also did not enjoy the love triangle. There truly wasn’t space for Bo or Seon to get enough depth that I could favor one or the other. And their repeated pushing to make Cai choose between them was frustrating. I was with Cai on this—she’s in the middle of a deadly competition, can we shelve the romance, please? By the end, I was so annoyed, I wanted Cai to cut them both loose so she could focus.
That said, there are very solid scenes and fascinating pieces of worldbuilding in here that I think the book is still worth sticking on your TBR list if the premise speaks to you. The gods Cai cooked for where entertainingly horrifying and unsettling, and they really upped the stakes with their trials and curses. I would have loved even more complicated trials or a longer competition overall, honestly. I’m certainly interested in checking out future works by Lim.
Recommendation: Borrow it someday, if deadly magical cooking competitions are your thing. Celestial Banquet has an interesting premise that gets watered down by too many complications in the allotted pages. The best parts of the book center on Cai’s deadly cooking competition and her ingenuity. The love triangle, unfortunately, is its weakest plot thread.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
Writing is too simplistic and formulaic to hold my interest. I don't care about any of the characters.
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thanks to NetGalley, Dreamscape Select, and Sweet July Books for providing an ARC of The Celestial Banquet audiobook by Roselle Lim and narrated by Natalie Naudus.
2.5/5 ⭐️ rounded up only for nosy drunk god who is too invested in the love triangle.
Tropes
• Love Triangle
• So Much Love Triangle
• Top Chef type cooking challenges
• Gods & Immortals
• Beginning/End of chapter world-building snippits
I think it is time for me to accept... I have outgrown YA books 😔 This could not be more YA love triangle if it TRIED, but at least it seemed self aware about that... sometimes...
But seriously, the girl you like is cooking with explosive chicken and you think now is the time to go "so what are we?". DUDE, read the room!!
The Celestial Banquet itself is just background for love triangle "oh my gosh who will she pick" time. We have broke ordinary girl who cooks (but is also not even an adult and DEFINITELY not an established chef with decades of experience, and yet you want me to believe she is soOooO amazing at cooking that she is going to compete to be the best chef?), broke farmer boy that is her childhood best friend (cough cough, Gale), and noble boy that is very nice and loving (cough cough, Peeta).
The stakes were not high at all. Death is only for unimportant background characters, so much so that one character dies, is brought back to life (no one questions this?), then SHOULD die a second time. Like what.
Imagine going through something claiming it is for the greater good of saving your people from an invading empire, then seeing what the cost is (knowing fully going into this what is at stake!!!) and then suddenly getting on your high horse about how "the price is too high"... Then immediately back-peddling and taking the prize anyway.
This was just a disappointment. Only plus for me was that the narrator actually sang in one part and DAMN that was kind of impressive!!
2.5/5 ⭐️ rounded up only for nosy drunk god who is too invested in the love triangle.
Tropes
• Love Triangle
• So Much Love Triangle
• Top Chef type cooking challenges
• Gods & Immortals
• Beginning/End of chapter world-building snippits
I think it is time for me to accept... I have outgrown YA books 😔 This could not be more YA love triangle if it TRIED, but at least it seemed self aware about that... sometimes...
But seriously, the girl you like is cooking with explosive chicken and you think now is the time to go "so what are we?". DUDE, read the room!!
The Celestial Banquet itself is just background for love triangle "oh my gosh who will she pick" time. We have broke ordinary girl who cooks (but is also not even an adult and DEFINITELY not an established chef with decades of experience, and yet you want me to believe she is soOooO amazing at cooking that she is going to compete to be the best chef?), broke farmer boy that is her childhood best friend (cough cough, Gale), and noble boy that is very nice and loving (cough cough, Peeta).
The stakes were not high at all. Death is only for unimportant background characters, so much so that one character dies, is brought back to life (no one questions this?), then SHOULD die a second time. Like what.
Imagine going through something claiming it is for the greater good of saving your people from an invading empire, then seeing what the cost is (knowing fully going into this what is at stake!!!) and then suddenly getting on your high horse about how "the price is too high"... Then immediately back-peddling and taking the prize anyway.
This was just a disappointment. Only plus for me was that the narrator actually sang in one part and DAMN that was kind of impressive!!
I recieved this in exchange for an honest review, thanks to NetGalley
The descriptions of the food, clothing, setting are absolutely amazing. The food descriptions left me salivating; the descriptions of the gods appearances and their clothing was so magical and so easy to imagine in my head; the architecture and the buildings were describe so well and it was easy to picture in my mind. I really, really enjoyed these parts of the book and they are definitely the strongest parts. I could read a whole nother book of Lim just describing food and clothing - she is really talented here.
This is the third book recently that has involved a cooking competition, similar to The Great British Bake-Off, and it is clearly a trope/setting/idea I am loving. I really enjoyed reading about the competition in this novel, just like I have in the other books.
However, and it is a big however, this story is VERY weak in the emotional, romantic, and conclusion departments.
Emotional - the story has a few very shocking and sad very sad moments but they happen and we move on in about two sentences. There is literally no build up, the description is not there, and it's rushed. For example; there was an explosive, this person died, that's really bad. Oh well, but back to cooking. Done.
Romance - I absolutely hated the romance and the love triangle in this. It made no sense, it was stupid, and the conclusion to it was absolutely ridiculous and lacklustre. Again, there was absolutely no build up to the romance or feelings. Also, if the main character hadn't liked them, there would've been sexual harrassment multiple times, but because she's into the person/people, it's fine. I'm sorry but the romance pissed me off. It felt almost fake because of how poorly written it was; I was seriously expecting an A-HA! moment from one, if not both, of the love interests because I could not believe the romantic feelings were actually happening. I was genuinely waiting for a "silly girl, you've been manipulated all this time" or some ulterior motive to be revealed towards the end. This was Lim's weakest area in my opinion. It gave me the ick multiple times and made me cringe. Both love interests and the romance itself were not written well.
Conclusion - The conclusion was very rushed, again no build-up or tension towards the finale of competition; it was literally revealed, again, within about two sentences and it was over. And then the actually ending was so bad. If there is a sequel, then I'll forgive the very end. But where were end was just genuinely rushed and not a happy ending for any of our main characters in my opinion.
The descriptions of the food, clothing, setting are absolutely amazing. The food descriptions left me salivating; the descriptions of the gods appearances and their clothing was so magical and so easy to imagine in my head; the architecture and the buildings were describe so well and it was easy to picture in my mind. I really, really enjoyed these parts of the book and they are definitely the strongest parts. I could read a whole nother book of Lim just describing food and clothing - she is really talented here.
This is the third book recently that has involved a cooking competition, similar to The Great British Bake-Off, and it is clearly a trope/setting/idea I am loving. I really enjoyed reading about the competition in this novel, just like I have in the other books.
However, and it is a big however, this story is VERY weak in the emotional, romantic, and conclusion departments.
Emotional - the story has a few very shocking and sad very sad moments but they happen and we move on in about two sentences. There is literally no build up, the description is not there, and it's rushed. For example; there was an explosive, this person died, that's really bad. Oh well, but back to cooking. Done.
Romance - I absolutely hated the romance and the love triangle in this. It made no sense, it was stupid, and the conclusion to it was absolutely ridiculous and lacklustre. Again, there was absolutely no build up to the romance or feelings. Also, if the main character hadn't liked them, there would've been sexual harrassment multiple times, but because she's into the person/people, it's fine. I'm sorry but the romance pissed me off. It felt almost fake because of how poorly written it was; I was seriously expecting an A-HA! moment from one, if not both, of the love interests because I could not believe the romantic feelings were actually happening. I was genuinely waiting for a "silly girl, you've been manipulated all this time" or some ulterior motive to be revealed towards the end. This was Lim's weakest area in my opinion. It gave me the ick multiple times and made me cringe. Both love interests and the romance itself were not written well.
Conclusion - The conclusion was very rushed, again no build-up or tension towards the finale of competition; it was literally revealed, again, within about two sentences and it was over. And then the actually ending was so bad. If there is a sequel, then I'll forgive the very end. But where were end was just genuinely rushed and not a happy ending for any of our main characters in my opinion.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Five cooking teams. Three deadly trials. One final winner.
If you've watched the Netflix shows, Iron Chef or Culinary Class Wars & wished for it to be a book, you absolutely gotta read this. And if you add some fantasy elements to the shows & make the judges into major gods (aka pompous pricks with so much power in their hands), and the challenges into even higher stakes (as in you could literally explode if one thing goes wrong), you'd get Celestial Banquet!!!
Final rating - 3.5⭐
What can you expect -
🍜East Asian inspired YA fantasy
🍜Strong FMC with a short temper
🍜Two strong & handsome MMCs
🍜Deadly, exhausting trials hosted by the gods
🍜Lavish feasts & mouthwatering delicacies
🍜Love triangle
Celestial Banquet is every food lover's paradise, cuz you could get lost in the elaborate descriptions of delectable delicacies & may also end up with more cravings, so do tread with caution, aka have your snacks or meal prepared by the side while you read it!!!
The story follows Cai, a young noodle maker & cooking prodigy who wants nothing in life than to participate & win in the Celestial Banquet, the cooking competition that's held every decade by the major gods! The winner is bestowed the peaches of immortality which are priceless & coveted by every chef in the Peninsula. And we follow her journey into the competitions that prove to be more strenuous & demanding than she thought it'd be.
The book gets straight into the plot by introducing our FMC who's skilled and knowledgeable in the culinary arts, and introduces the competition right away which might seem to be a bit intimidating if not done right but it doesn't seem to be so. Plus each chapter starts with a titbit about the world or the gods or even some of the mythical creatures, so you're always made aware of the things you should know before getting into that chapter. And this gets you slowly acclimated to the world than making you feel overwhelmed with the info-dump. And the world was quite detailed & interesting as well, and it made me feel like this book would translate so well into an animated movie. The writing was so flavorful & descriptive that every single time a dish was described, the picture was immediately evoked in my mind & I felt like I was there beside them preparing & tasting it!!!
Coming to the characters, Cai was quite an interesting character to follow cuz even though she was skilled in cooking, she wasn't perfect and had her own flaws, one of which includes her sharp tongue. No matter the situation or the status of the person she's talking to, she doesn't hesitate to speak out her heart if they do so much as utter something insulting!! And I admired that about her cuz it showed how much self-respect she has & that she would not let anyone talk bad about her place or her parents without knowing the reality about them. And she has so much empathy even towards her rivals in the competition which might appear to be dangerous to have esp in such a setting but it distinguishes her as a character who'd readily aid anyone in danger over herself.
And I'm gonna be completely honest, I didn't really care about either of the love interests nor the love triangle!!!! Both of their advances towards Cai felt juvenile & I found myself rolling my eyes every single time they wanted to talk to her about their feelings. Like you're literally minutes away from being obliterated, and you want her to kiss you & tell you how she feels?!!!!!🙄😮💨 Idk if it's because I usually get icks from reading cliched YA romance or it was really done for the sake of doing it but the love triangle in here wasn't it.
Other than that, I really liked all our other characters - minor god Kama, Tala, even the two MMCs (Seon & Bo) when they were aiding in the competition or talking about their families, etc but just couldn't handle the romance.
Also the narrator, Natalie Naudus brought Cai to life with her amazing narration. Usually with YA books on audio, there's a fine line between making them sound just right or making them too childish & immature (which I absolutely hate), but the narrator made Cai sound perfectly stubborn & confident, and not even a tiny bit childish which I appreciate. And this made my experience ten times better as I found myself listening to it non-stop.
Overall, if you love books with trials, and also LOVE FOOD & different cuisines, you gotta pick this one up.
Huge thanks to Dreamscape Select & Sweet July Books for the ALC through NetGalley!!!
If you've watched the Netflix shows, Iron Chef or Culinary Class Wars & wished for it to be a book, you absolutely gotta read this. And if you add some fantasy elements to the shows & make the judges into major gods (aka pompous pricks with so much power in their hands), and the challenges into even higher stakes (as in you could literally explode if one thing goes wrong), you'd get Celestial Banquet!!!
Final rating - 3.5⭐
What can you expect -
🍜East Asian inspired YA fantasy
🍜Strong FMC with a short temper
🍜Two strong & handsome MMCs
🍜Deadly, exhausting trials hosted by the gods
🍜Lavish feasts & mouthwatering delicacies
🍜Love triangle
Celestial Banquet is every food lover's paradise, cuz you could get lost in the elaborate descriptions of delectable delicacies & may also end up with more cravings, so do tread with caution, aka have your snacks or meal prepared by the side while you read it!!!
The story follows Cai, a young noodle maker & cooking prodigy who wants nothing in life than to participate & win in the Celestial Banquet, the cooking competition that's held every decade by the major gods! The winner is bestowed the peaches of immortality which are priceless & coveted by every chef in the Peninsula. And we follow her journey into the competitions that prove to be more strenuous & demanding than she thought it'd be.
The book gets straight into the plot by introducing our FMC who's skilled and knowledgeable in the culinary arts, and introduces the competition right away which might seem to be a bit intimidating if not done right but it doesn't seem to be so. Plus each chapter starts with a titbit about the world or the gods or even some of the mythical creatures, so you're always made aware of the things you should know before getting into that chapter. And this gets you slowly acclimated to the world than making you feel overwhelmed with the info-dump. And the world was quite detailed & interesting as well, and it made me feel like this book would translate so well into an animated movie. The writing was so flavorful & descriptive that every single time a dish was described, the picture was immediately evoked in my mind & I felt like I was there beside them preparing & tasting it!!!
Coming to the characters, Cai was quite an interesting character to follow cuz even though she was skilled in cooking, she wasn't perfect and had her own flaws, one of which includes her sharp tongue. No matter the situation or the status of the person she's talking to, she doesn't hesitate to speak out her heart if they do so much as utter something insulting!! And I admired that about her cuz it showed how much self-respect she has & that she would not let anyone talk bad about her place or her parents without knowing the reality about them. And she has so much empathy even towards her rivals in the competition which might appear to be dangerous to have esp in such a setting but it distinguishes her as a character who'd readily aid anyone in danger over herself.
And I'm gonna be completely honest, I didn't really care about either of the love interests nor the love triangle!!!! Both of their advances towards Cai felt juvenile & I found myself rolling my eyes every single time they wanted to talk to her about their feelings. Like you're literally minutes away from being obliterated, and you want her to kiss you & tell you how she feels?!!!!!🙄😮💨 Idk if it's because I usually get icks from reading cliched YA romance or it was really done for the sake of doing it but the love triangle in here wasn't it.
Other than that, I really liked all our other characters - minor god Kama, Tala, even the two MMCs (Seon & Bo) when they were aiding in the competition or talking about their families, etc but just couldn't handle the romance.
Also the narrator, Natalie Naudus brought Cai to life with her amazing narration. Usually with YA books on audio, there's a fine line between making them sound just right or making them too childish & immature (which I absolutely hate), but the narrator made Cai sound perfectly stubborn & confident, and not even a tiny bit childish which I appreciate. And this made my experience ten times better as I found myself listening to it non-stop.
Overall, if you love books with trials, and also LOVE FOOD & different cuisines, you gotta pick this one up.
Huge thanks to Dreamscape Select & Sweet July Books for the ALC through NetGalley!!!
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No