A Venom Dark And Sweet (The Book of Tea #2) by Judy I. Lin

By Lean and Love �� - March 09, 2023

Tittle      : A Venom Dark And Sweet (The Book of Tea #2)
Author        : Judy I. Lin
Pub Date : August 23, 2022
Pages         : 352
My Rating : ★★

The Summary

The realm of Dàxi has experienced a great evil. The Banished Prince has returned to take control, and the widespread poisonings that have kept the populace mired in mistrust and dread have aided in his ascent to the dragon throne.

Princess Zhen has been escorted into banishment by Ning, a youthful but mighty shénnóng-shi who wields magic using the age-old and delicate art of making tea. Ruyi, the duchess' devoted bodyguard, and Shu, Ning's recently recovered sister, join them. The four young women journey together across the kingdom in quest of allies who can aid in driving out the invaders and reclaiming Zhen's legitimate throne.

Ning's nightmares, however, are still plagued by images of conflict and bloodshed caused by the golden serpent. All the magic in the country might not be sufficient to stop an evil that is much older than the minor disputes between men from consuming the world.

My Review

Being completely honest, I believe that the first book in this series could have been written as a standalone and the remainder of the series combined into it. Although everything is resolved by the conclusion of this duology, I didn't find it to be as enjoyable as the first book, which I thought was doing alright and that I still enjoyed.

The journey itself was pleasant, but I thought the pace was too leisurely. The plot's goals were ambiguous even in the first half of the book. The main characters' thoughts would take up one minute, and then there would be a lot of activity and magical occurrences in the following minute. The complaints were always the same, even going so far as to state the main objective from the first book again.

I was also perplexed by the sudden introduction of another POV. The story is recounted from the perspectives of Ning and Kang, and both perspectives sounded the same with the exception of Kang's perspective being told in the third person. In actuality, the sounds of nearly every character were identical. The story was told in a detached, impersonal way, making it difficult to become invested in it. Ning's thoughts and emotions were frequently described rather than actually shown in this story, a fault I was able to overlook in the first book. This made the story feel dragged out and repetitive.

Overall, I'm not disappointed with this book, but when I finished it, I just drew a blank. More than anything else, I still think that this was a cool concept that was badly carried out.

Series Review:

A Magic Steeped in Poison: 3/5 stars

A Venom Dark and Sweet: 2/5 stars

The Book of Tea Duology: 5/10 stars

My ratings score:

★★★★★ Fantastic! Made me go through a lot of emotions & the entire book is incredibly beautifully done!

★★★★ Memorable! Despite its shortcomings, this book was incredible and taught us a lot.