A review by lilly_reads98
A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I enjoy some parts of this like when it’s descriptive of the setting and focusing on the love interest, but I don’t like everyone being so mean to our main character. I like the main characters interactions with Kang, and her roommate but everyone else is so mean to her. And it doesn’t focus much on the love interest because their interactions are short and they really only interact a handful of times in the entire book. I like the setting of the palace: “a rock garden, a glimmering koi pond, flickers of orange, white, and gold beneath the rippling surface. Dainty, dark-branched cherry trees covered in shimmering pink and white flowers. The heady scents of blossoms and incense swirl through the air.” (P 28) In the beginning I thought I would like this but I didn’t really have any positives besides the pretty descriptions and meeting Kang was nice. I was thinking about halfway through that I was enjoying it more and that it had potential to get better but it did not get better. The attacks on the palace are just so repetitive and the constant mentioning of poison and the main character never trusting anyone got so annoying. I just don’t understand what this book is supposed to be besides a tea competition and the political intrigue. The pacing is just constantly changing between being fast paced because something dangerous is happening and then to just a slow conversation. I was constantly wondering where the story is supposed to go. I don’t like books where the main character is constantly being abused by people, like it makes it hard for me to enjoy the book or give it a high rating; I like books that are enjoyable to read. I just would’ve enjoyed it more if it were a more lighthearted read. Also, I really like tea but I don’t think magic tea is like extremely interesting? Like the concept of magic tea is cool but I just wasn’t wowed by the main use of magic being throug tea. I also wish this had focused on the romance more. I like Kang a lot but he’s not in the book a lot. It feels like the main plot is the court politics and if it had more romance to balance it out I would have enjoyed it more. Nearing the end it was so annoying when the main character calls Kang a liar again when he’s obviously not. I was just bored for a lot of the second half but I wanted to know what happens so I finished it. Like there needs to be more time spent between Kang and Ning in order for me to care more. They kiss and she just goes straight back to calling him a liar the next time she sees him? The plot is also too repetitive, someone gets sabotaged or almost killed in every single trial of the competition. It’s nice Zhen is more friendly to Ning at the end and (spoilers ahead) that they leave together, but I just don’t like how dark this gets. I’m interested in seeing what happens in the next book but since I didn’t enjoy this one that much, I don’t think I would enjoy the next one either. Anytime I’ve ever read a sequel to a book I gave 3 stars I don’t really enjoy the second one either. The authors just always throw in these things at the end to make you want to read the next one! I was hoping for the ending to be really good so I could give it a higher rating but it’s just not.. so many things are left unresolved so you’d have to read the next one to get the ending to this one. I do want to know what happens in the next one and it may have potential to be better than this one.
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