Reviews

Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai

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krystlethegreat's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful lighthearted 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? No

3.75

1st- The plot and characters are fantastic.
2nd- However, I felt like we jumped into the story missing the first few chapters. The magic system just didn't have enough explanation, still not sure what the firm really is, and the plot started BEFORE the book. Sometimes jumping into the storyline works. If the main character is confused, yeah, I'm okay with being confused, too. BUT- when we're going through it and everyone is dealing with the fallout, it's really confusing.

Overall, 3.75 ⭐️
Without the confusion 4.5 ⭐️

readundancies's review

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

The first half to two-thirds of this was pretty good. Like, engaging in terms of plot and premise.

But, this has heavy debut vibes. Because the ending was not ideal. I wanted more from the characters, especially Elle in terms of anger at her sacrifice which, granted, is not the story being told based on the ending. But if I'm being honest, the ending in general was a bit of a letdown since I wanted a proper comeuppance for Oberon and really wasn’t a fan of how much a bleeding heart both Elle and Luc were when it came to giving their immortality up in lieu of freedom. Not my cup of tea, and for a standalone it was disappointing because a poor ending can make or break a story and in this case? It didn’t help matters.

The world building was not fantastic either. Everything felt very pre-established in a fanfictiony sort of way which is not bad, but with how fantastical the world is, especially with the politics and everything, I needed more exposition to deep dive into than I was provided with. And the pacing was disjointed at times; not enough that it was pulling me out of the story, but still noticeable. Alongside that, the stakes were always there but they felt separate to the story at times, because they weren’t always the focus and when they were, the execution of the plot surrounding them never really reached its full potential.

I think my greatest gripe though is that this is touted as a slow burn romance and I am here to say that that statement is inaccurate as fuck. Friends-to-lovers sure, but they are in full blown pining mode at the beginning of the story, and there was nothing slow burn about it.

The premise was so solid that I was disappointed in how the execution didn’t live up to my expectations. A lot of untapped potential here. It was also a lot more cozy fantasy vibes than I was anticipating. Which is not a bad thing, but not what I was expecting or looking for in a read at the time.

A lot of great ideas were thrown into this story but they were never solidified or broken down in a manner that surpassed surface level. This ties into the whole unfulfilled potential angle because I would’ve been so down for more sibling dynamics, especially if it were to include William who gets little to no page time and yet is kind of a big deal when it comes to plot. I wanted proper retribution and consequence for Oberon manipulating Luc for so long. I wanted more Wrecking Crew and Tony and Lira, more dysfunctional Liang family dynamics especially background on the family and the culture involved, more backstory in general for Luc and his adoptive sphinx mother. There was so much of this world I wanted to explore further, the characters, their stories and interactions and relationships, but we just never got around to it.

I would still read from this author though because like I stated earlier, the first half/two-thirds were really engaging.

It reminds me of the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas but like a lite version of it, which I could see being really appealing to readers who’ve enjoyed that series/author. Think less dark, more cozy.

As a standalone fantasy I think it works and I think there were a lot great aspects in the novel, but it’s by no means a perfect debut release. It was still very enjoyable to consume though.

magneticwave's review against another edition

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3.0

had a blast, what a fun little treat

book_lizard42's review

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5.0

Holy hell, this author can WRITE. Stunning. Beautiful. Incredible. A book I will actually buy a PHYSICAL copy of. Wow.

The magical system is so well-thought-out, and I dearly hope that it's just the first in a (very long) series. This might be the book that everyone I know gets for Christmas and birthdays. I need for EVERYONE to read it so I can talk with them about it!

I have 25% left, and I'm already feeling the loss that will come with finishing.

caleyr94's review

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4.0

Elle is the descendant of a Chinese god of medicine and as a Fae, has healing powers and other glyph magic. She works for a Fae agency, where she’s met Luc. She’s hiding her powers there because of a terrible family issue that occurred over twenty years ago.
Luc is a security expert and half-elven. He has secrets of his own and a tyrannical boss who can control him if needed.
Luc’s latest case has him on the other to discovering Elle’s family secrets and jeopardizing their budding romance.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book and the interweaving of the Fae, western and eastern myths and medicine, and a fast-paced plot. I was shocked by some of the twists at the end of the book - I definitely thought it would end and I still had about 80pgs to go. But I really appreciated the writing style and how well Mia gripped me all the way through.

chanzlyn's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

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

3.5

🎧: 4/5 - the overall narrator sounded great and gave a lot of life to the characters! There were a couple of characters that had the same voice so it was a bit confusing at those moments but it happened very rarely.
🌶️: 1.5/5 - there are two explicit scenes but they read as more soft and romantic than "spicy". They did have some spicy lines but just really beautiful!

AT THE TOP I want to say that ultimately I do love the ideas presented in this world/story and I'm interested to see what Mia Tsai will put out next, if it'll explore this world or not. It did take me until about 40% of the way through the book to really get into it but once I was in, I found the elements in this world and story fascinating by the half way point, that it made it easy to forgive the bit of time it took me to get invested and still come out with love for this novel. The romance portion of the book, despite being insta-love (not a fan of that trope personally), makes this book worth the read in the end!

Now for the issues that I had...the main big issue was the amount of "telling" and not "showing" this book had. She introduces her best friend and goes "she's a Black woman" or a side character and says "An East Asian Man". She does describe their appearance a bit, more so with her best friend than with the side character but it's not enough to really give me an image in my head and is just too spoon-feeding rather than world building.

The first issue is that this book felt like it wanted to be an urban high-fantasy story with all of the fantasy elements it wanted to incorporate but at the same time really heavily relies on the reader having a background with a wide variety of fantasy and even modern day information (the two locations are Raleigh North Carolina and a couple of cities in France - so no actual "world" building but also I'd have to look up those places as I'm not familiar with them ultimately). I'm all about diversity and showcasing more than just Westernized concepts of fantasy but there wasn't enough information about these variety of races/creatures/etc that it simultaneously felt like an overload and lack of information. At one point it makes mention of a Tanuki which I'm familiar with! But from the description, I couldn't tell if that person in this story was a shapeshifter? If it was humanish looking with Tanuki features? Just a traditional Tanuki? Same goes for the Oni. Because not every person can shift but it's never really explained if there are shifters or not. And this isn't just for non-western mythos, there are mentions of harpies, elves, etc but not much detail about them so the "world" building in terms of the creatures/people that inhabit it wasn't very clear to me.

Another issue I had with the story was that it felt like two stories that were just pushed into one novel rather than having elements of both tales weaved into each other so it flowed more naturally through the book:

The first major conflict is with a family member that is somewhat resolved half way through the book! It seemed like he was going to be this huge issue but ultimately nothing really comes of it.
It's determined he's captured but other than her family working out his house arrest, we actually don't get much information otherwise. Does he get in trouble for trying to kill his siblings? Do we get a solid conclusion of what happens to him? Not that I could recall. It just felt like there was a lot of build up for the younger sibling being an issue but then we just kind of moved on like it wasn't that important compared to the romance story/her rediscovering herself.
The second story was the romance/her rediscovering herself. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adored Luc and Elle together! I won't lie that insta-love type stories aren't my flavor but it felt like the book was supposed to be a focus on them, which is great, but the shift from her sibling storyline to the romance just felt a bit jarring. Had this book just been about Luc and Elle and their relationship, I think I would have loved it a lot more! I understand that the conflict with her younger sibling is a huge part of why things played out the way it does for the romance but it just wasn't woven together in a way that felt right. It was like "here's main plot one that suddenly ends with the thing that matters for the romance plot" rather than "here's main plot one with bits and pieces through the story that showed the reader how it will connect to the romance". It was just a balance of two different stories that I feel missed the mark.

I want to add that while this type of story telling structure can work where you have one major story plot "end" in the middle, it just didn't feel right here because of how disconnected they are ultimately.

The last issue, that I briefly touched on in the point above, is the lack of conclusion in most of the major plot points.

Luc just walks away from his job because Oberon can no longer control him? That's really weird since he didn't lose his abilities otherwise to work and we should at least have gotten a final confrontation between the pair. Then there was a lot of build up about her ancestor's Jade but then it never came back. Next was her story arc with the younger brother was never really finalized (it's fine if there is another book coming in this series and he'll make a return but something about his current state would have been nice!) Is her older brother going to go back to being a fixer? Is he just going to keep his practice going? Like what's his storyline now that he's fully healed? Also why did she remove his jade in the first place? I understand that it's partly because her younger brother was out for blood but they built up Tony to be powerful so he probably could have faced off against his younger sibling anyways? So why did she step in to "kill" him? Just nothing felt clear and if things were explained, the amount of heavy world building without a lot of showing washed over those bits of detail. And maybe these points aren't "resolved" to setup for the next novel but aside from the romance, not a single point was resolved when at least one or two of them should have a "ending for now" type of setup rather than this empty space.

One note that's not really an issue or praise but something that was interesting. I saw there was a afterword (which unfortunately doesn't come in the audiobook) where Mia Tsai talks about using multiple languages in the book because of her experience as a reader feeling like she was being shut out in stories that featured languages she didn't understand. "There isn't anything in the non-English dialogue that's critical to the overall understanding of the text, but I wanted explicitly for readers to experience the shutting of the door, the dropping of the portcullis." While I understand the sentiment, I do wish she added a context clue or two to things she referenced. Like she'd say a character was proficient in "something-in-another-language" and nothing more - while I get that it ultimately doesn't make/break the story, having context of if that's a weapon, a magical ability, etc, would have fleshed things out more and given more "show" to the reader. It still would have given me the experience of "the shutting of the door" effect as I wouldn't know details of the thing that person is proficient in but it would have at least built the character out more. Whether or not I like this approach of letting your readers experience the issue she's faced is neither here nor there in my review as what author's intend for their readers to feel is not something I care to debate on.

AS FOR THINGS I LOVED

Calligraphy magic is SO cool and I found the general magic world fascinating from the little ideas I was able to gleam!! I wish we had more expanded information on the calligraphy magic because she mentions she doesn't even need her brush but I'm not entirely sure how that would work. It's also really neat that she's a descendant of a healing god but it doesn't seem like everyone in her family has so there's a lot of ways magic works itself through this world.

The characters are a joy to follow and I really found myself loving all the main ones that popped up.

Can we also talk about the diversity of this novel?? From race representation to the diverse mythos, to the LGTBQIA+ rep?? incredible. I do have some issues with how she presented a gay character at the beginning but otherwise I genuinely loved how everything was presented and just felt naturally woven into this world.

I know I wrote some lengthy notes that might feel contradicting to me saying I still ultimately loved this book but it's true, I did love this world! You can absolutely love something while still being critical of it. I am only as critical as I am with this because I think Mia Tsai brings a fresh breath of air to the fantasy genre and I can only hope she'll bring more. She has interesting ideas, concepts, and a world that is full of so many possibilities. While the overarching story with the sibling was a miss for me, the world was fascinating and I did ultimately love their love story.