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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Rating: Solid 3/5
I love the unique premise of a cooking-based world set in historical Asian lands. Before starting the book, I got similar vibes to Food Wars manga. The cooking challenges and ingredients were fun to read and see how it plays out. Many of the challenges had me thinking about how I would approach the dish myself—like making noodles without eggs. The ingredient names were fun to read like Demon’s Breath, Wine of the Diyu, and Petty Revenge. I also appreciated how each chapter begins with a scroll excerpt which helped add depth through worldbuilding and background information.
*** Some General Plot Spoiler/Scenes Below ***
One of my favorite dynamics in the book was between Cai and Kama. Their shared love for food created a balance of moral depth and lightheartedness. Kama’s role as a god who sides with the immortals and respects them made him stand out from the other gods, and his sacrifice for Bo was really sweet. However, the execution of his near-death scene felt rushed and anticlimactic, which lessened its impact.
On the other hand, I wasn’t a fan of the love triangle between Cai, Bo, and Seon—it felt too fast-paced and unnecessary. The scene where Cai kissed Bo despite not having feelings for him felt misleading (poor Bo), and then later she just turned around and kissed Seon as if that was the only way to comfort him during a panic attack? It just didn’t really make sense nor felt like it would help the book in any way. These moments made Cai seem pretty indecisive and if I’m being honest - a bit foolish too. I would have much preferred the story to focus more on the food challenges than the romance. Like sure, Seon and Cai share a connection through food, but that alone doesn’t make their relationship compelling, especially since Cai could explore the culinary world on her own after winning the competition.
Character relationships in general felt rushed, particularly between Cai and Tala. I wish their development had been given more time to grow naturally from the challenges they went through together instead of from one instance with the second cooking challenge.
Overall, this book was a great cozy read, though faster-paced than I expected. The execution could have been stronger in terms of character development and making the cooking challenges more difficult. Cai seemed to breeze through the competition despite some minor setbacks and those setbacks were resolved too quickly (more showing than telling would help). I can see this book being a fun read for younger teens. I hope the next installment dives deeper into the world in terms of food and the political system. I’m especially curious about what the other gods were discussing when they saw Kama at full power, whether Pubu’s immortality was partially taken to create the peach, and what Cai and the others discussed with the Empress about saving the Peninsula.
I love the unique premise of a cooking-based world set in historical Asian lands. Before starting the book, I got similar vibes to Food Wars manga. The cooking challenges and ingredients were fun to read and see how it plays out. Many of the challenges had me thinking about how I would approach the dish myself—like making noodles without eggs. The ingredient names were fun to read like Demon’s Breath, Wine of the Diyu, and Petty Revenge. I also appreciated how each chapter begins with a scroll excerpt which helped add depth through worldbuilding and background information.
*** Some General Plot Spoiler/Scenes Below ***
One of my favorite dynamics in the book was between Cai and Kama. Their shared love for food created a balance of moral depth and lightheartedness. Kama’s role as a god who sides with the immortals and respects them made him stand out from the other gods, and his sacrifice for Bo was really sweet. However, the execution of his near-death scene felt rushed and anticlimactic, which lessened its impact.
On the other hand, I wasn’t a fan of the love triangle between Cai, Bo, and Seon—it felt too fast-paced and unnecessary. The scene where Cai kissed Bo despite not having feelings for him felt misleading (poor Bo), and then later she just turned around and kissed Seon as if that was the only way to comfort him during a panic attack? It just didn’t really make sense nor felt like it would help the book in any way. These moments made Cai seem pretty indecisive and if I’m being honest - a bit foolish too. I would have much preferred the story to focus more on the food challenges than the romance. Like sure, Seon and Cai share a connection through food, but that alone doesn’t make their relationship compelling, especially since Cai could explore the culinary world on her own after winning the competition.
Character relationships in general felt rushed, particularly between Cai and Tala. I wish their development had been given more time to grow naturally from the challenges they went through together instead of from one instance with the second cooking challenge.
Overall, this book was a great cozy read, though faster-paced than I expected. The execution could have been stronger in terms of character development and making the cooking challenges more difficult. Cai seemed to breeze through the competition despite some minor setbacks and those setbacks were resolved too quickly (more showing than telling would help). I can see this book being a fun read for younger teens. I hope the next installment dives deeper into the world in terms of food and the political system. I’m especially curious about what the other gods were discussing when they saw Kama at full power, whether Pubu’s immortality was partially taken to create the peach, and what Cai and the others discussed with the Empress about saving the Peninsula.
adventurous
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:
No
Thank you to Sweet July Books and NetGalley for accepting me for an eARC of Celestial Banquet!
Celestial Banquet is set in a world where every 10 years the major gods hold the Celestial Banquet, where each minor god can choose a talented chef to compete on their behalf to cook for the major gods. Our main character Cai is a talented noodle chef and enters the Celestial Banquet alongside her region’s minor god, Kama, to compete for the prize of peaches of immortality so she can open a restaurant to honour her late father’s wishes.
I really enjoyed this one! The pacing is very speedy; I read it in two days, and it’s super engaging with high stakes. I mean it’s like Masterchef meets The Hunger Games, of course I was engaged! The food descriptions made me so hungry throughout, and I really enjoyed the parts where Cai gets absorbed into her work and her love for cooking. I also loved seeing the different mythical creatures and the gods in this, they were really interesting to read about. Kama stole the show for me, I really liked his character.
I think my main gripe with this was the romance; I’m really not a love triangle fan! Bo and Seon both had their good and bad qualities, but the whole of the book they were both badgering Cai to make a choice when there’s literally a life or death competition going on around them! We have better things to worry about gents. I’d have preferred it if the romance was dialled back a little bit so we could focus more on the competition. There were also some plot points that were brought up but not dealt with, which makes me think we’re setting up for a sequel, so I’m interested to read that if it happens.
Overall I really enjoyed this one! If you love cooking shows, especially cooking style anime, definitely give this book a go!
Celestial Banquet is set in a world where every 10 years the major gods hold the Celestial Banquet, where each minor god can choose a talented chef to compete on their behalf to cook for the major gods. Our main character Cai is a talented noodle chef and enters the Celestial Banquet alongside her region’s minor god, Kama, to compete for the prize of peaches of immortality so she can open a restaurant to honour her late father’s wishes.
I really enjoyed this one! The pacing is very speedy; I read it in two days, and it’s super engaging with high stakes. I mean it’s like Masterchef meets The Hunger Games, of course I was engaged! The food descriptions made me so hungry throughout, and I really enjoyed the parts where Cai gets absorbed into her work and her love for cooking. I also loved seeing the different mythical creatures and the gods in this, they were really interesting to read about. Kama stole the show for me, I really liked his character.
I think my main gripe with this was the romance; I’m really not a love triangle fan! Bo and Seon both had their good and bad qualities, but the whole of the book they were both badgering Cai to make a choice when there’s literally a life or death competition going on around them! We have better things to worry about gents. I’d have preferred it if the romance was dialled back a little bit so we could focus more on the competition. There were also some plot points that were brought up but not dealt with, which makes me think we’re setting up for a sequel, so I’m interested to read that if it happens.
Overall I really enjoyed this one! If you love cooking shows, especially cooking style anime, definitely give this book a go!
Thank you to Edelweiss Plus for lending me a copy of the book.
Celestial Banquet was a joy to read, fast paced and full of action throughout the book. I really like the concept of a dangerous cooking show where competitors are fighting for the prize of the infamous peaches of immortality. I loved the love triangle between Cai, Seon and Bo. The food described in the book is just enough to make you feel hungry.
In my opinion, I would've liked to see more knowledge on cooking certain things, or just something that makes it sense of how each chefs cook. I think that would show how each character has a different cooking style and that makes it more difficult for the gods to judge them. It does seem like everything was going well for Cai a bit too easily.
I am interested if there is a sequel to this, especially as how the ending seems to trail off.
Celestial Banquet was a joy to read, fast paced and full of action throughout the book. I really like the concept of a dangerous cooking show where competitors are fighting for the prize of the infamous peaches of immortality. I loved the love triangle between Cai, Seon and Bo. The food described in the book is just enough to make you feel hungry.
In my opinion, I would've liked to see more knowledge on cooking certain things, or just something that makes it sense of how each chefs cook. I think that would show how each character has a different cooking style and that makes it more difficult for the gods to judge them. It does seem like everything was going well for Cai a bit too easily.
I am interested if there is a sequel to this, especially as how the ending seems to trail off.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
tl;dr
A fast-paced plot painted on a world canvas that feels a little too vast for the scope of the book. Lots of food descriptions.
Thoughts
Have you ever read a book and thought "This should have been a video game?" Because that thought sat in the back of my head the whole way through. The plot is fast-paced with a structure of narration (cutscenes), hunting for ingredients (map exploration), and then the culinary battle (boss fight). There're also dating sim elements, and plenty of one-on-one campfire chats with supporting cast that slowly reveal everyone's personal motives. Heck, there are even tidbits of world lore on the "loading screens" between chapters. And speaking of world lore, there's a lot of fun stuff to mine in here. The author's bio talks about growing up in a diverse Asian neighborhood, and that's evident in the variety of food and names presented here (shout out to the calamansi mention). The competition is as brutal as promised, with Squid Game-esque levels of punishment for losers, and there are plenty of layers of backstory for all of the characters with a much larger world just beyond the doors of the competition. And that's where a video game structure might really have come in handy. There's too much to fit into one book, but plenty for a game with multiple playthroughs. On this route, Cai can date Bo. On this route, she skips romance entirely to learn more about Kama. On this route, she absolutely obliterates the competition early on. Heck, can we add that rival kid from the first chapter as DLC?
My point is that the world is so vast that I felt really locked in to the choices that actually appeared on the page. Love triangles aren't my thing, for example. (I accept the fault is with the reader here.) Especially the kind where the two options get increasingly hostile with each other, and then the MC. Spending most of the time on the romance took away the potential of the competition plot for me, but I'm sure it'd be the selling point for other readers. There are just so many enticing ideas and plot hooks dangling in front of me, and the book only had time to chase down one of them. Alas!
The food content is mixed for me. I cook a lot, and I cook Asian food a lot. Make no mistake, I'm very mid. That being said, I expected more cooking here. This book is overflowing with sumptuous descriptions of food and eating, but the actual cooking techniques and moments are surprisingly sparse. The first round gave us some insight into Cai's ingredient choices, but after that, there's very little. Cai's supposedly a genius cook, but we never get any look into that genius. I cheered when (mild spoiler alert) the final theme ingredient was eggs, because eggs are used to make noodles, and we'd spent the entire book hearing that she's a master of noodle-making. I couldn't wait for her to show off kneading the dough, the stretching, the twisting, the flourish with her knife as she cut noodles with precision. Everyone else would finally see her at her best and most brilliant. But instead she made omurice? Right after she admits in the narrative how much she misses making noodles for an audience? Anyway, this last point in particular doesn't seem to bother anyone else, so I'm gonna put a mark in the curmudgeon column for me.
Overall, this book didn't land with me, but if you told me it was being converted into a video game, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sweet July Books for an advance copy. All thoughts in this review are my own!
A fast-paced plot painted on a world canvas that feels a little too vast for the scope of the book. Lots of food descriptions.
Thoughts
Have you ever read a book and thought "This should have been a video game?" Because that thought sat in the back of my head the whole way through. The plot is fast-paced with a structure of narration (cutscenes), hunting for ingredients (map exploration), and then the culinary battle (boss fight). There're also dating sim elements, and plenty of one-on-one campfire chats with supporting cast that slowly reveal everyone's personal motives. Heck, there are even tidbits of world lore on the "loading screens" between chapters. And speaking of world lore, there's a lot of fun stuff to mine in here. The author's bio talks about growing up in a diverse Asian neighborhood, and that's evident in the variety of food and names presented here (shout out to the calamansi mention). The competition is as brutal as promised, with Squid Game-esque levels of punishment for losers, and there are plenty of layers of backstory for all of the characters with a much larger world just beyond the doors of the competition. And that's where a video game structure might really have come in handy. There's too much to fit into one book, but plenty for a game with multiple playthroughs. On this route, Cai can date Bo. On this route, she skips romance entirely to learn more about Kama. On this route, she absolutely obliterates the competition early on. Heck, can we add that rival kid from the first chapter as DLC?
My point is that the world is so vast that I felt really locked in to the choices that actually appeared on the page. Love triangles aren't my thing, for example. (I accept the fault is with the reader here.) Especially the kind where the two options get increasingly hostile with each other, and then the MC. Spending most of the time on the romance took away the potential of the competition plot for me, but I'm sure it'd be the selling point for other readers. There are just so many enticing ideas and plot hooks dangling in front of me, and the book only had time to chase down one of them. Alas!
The food content is mixed for me. I cook a lot, and I cook Asian food a lot. Make no mistake, I'm very mid. That being said, I expected more cooking here. This book is overflowing with sumptuous descriptions of food and eating, but the actual cooking techniques and moments are surprisingly sparse. The first round gave us some insight into Cai's ingredient choices, but after that, there's very little. Cai's supposedly a genius cook, but we never get any look into that genius. I cheered when (mild spoiler alert) the final theme ingredient was eggs, because eggs are used to make noodles, and we'd spent the entire book hearing that she's a master of noodle-making. I couldn't wait for her to show off kneading the dough, the stretching, the twisting, the flourish with her knife as she cut noodles with precision. Everyone else would finally see her at her best and most brilliant. But instead she made omurice? Right after she admits in the narrative how much she misses making noodles for an audience? Anyway, this last point in particular doesn't seem to bother anyone else, so I'm gonna put a mark in the curmudgeon column for me.
Overall, this book didn't land with me, but if you told me it was being converted into a video game, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sweet July Books for an advance copy. All thoughts in this review are my own!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Classism
Minor: Sexism, War
adventurous
emotional
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:
Yes
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.
I have only one complaint: I wanted more. The story was so good, I love the characters so much that I find it hard to let go of them, I wanted to see what comes next, their lives after the ending. Celestial Banquet was so, so good.
In this book we follow a cooking competition with a huge reward that would change the lives of our protagonists. Also, there are gods. I would like to take a moment to congratulate the author in doing world building in a way that doesn't feel like world building, it is really simple but it was also so seamless that I don't even know when everything was introduced. I loved the little history pieces in the beginning of each chapter, it adds character. And don't get me started in the illustratios, THAT MAP, just gorgeous.
The reading is fluid, time goes by very quickly and it's not a long book, it's the right length in my opinion. The food descriptions also need to be mentioned, I was so hungry during the entire book, the author really knows how to describe food in a way that makes me dream about dishes.
I fell in love with the characters almost instantly, and as I said before now I'm struggling to let go of this story. There are some themes like grief, class and love that are always good to see in books. This is not a romance book by the way, but there IS romance and it is so cute.
Just give Celestial Banquet a chance, you won't regret it.
I have only one complaint: I wanted more. The story was so good, I love the characters so much that I find it hard to let go of them, I wanted to see what comes next, their lives after the ending. Celestial Banquet was so, so good.
In this book we follow a cooking competition with a huge reward that would change the lives of our protagonists. Also, there are gods. I would like to take a moment to congratulate the author in doing world building in a way that doesn't feel like world building, it is really simple but it was also so seamless that I don't even know when everything was introduced. I loved the little history pieces in the beginning of each chapter, it adds character. And don't get me started in the illustratios, THAT MAP, just gorgeous.
The reading is fluid, time goes by very quickly and it's not a long book, it's the right length in my opinion. The food descriptions also need to be mentioned, I was so hungry during the entire book, the author really knows how to describe food in a way that makes me dream about dishes.
I fell in love with the characters almost instantly, and as I said before now I'm struggling to let go of this story. There are some themes like grief, class and love that are always good to see in books. This is not a romance book by the way, but there IS romance and it is so cute.
Just give Celestial Banquet a chance, you won't regret it.