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. 

★★★ Good work! Nothing particularly remarkable, but still nice.

★★ Meh... Mediocre with great room for improvement.

★ Extremely Poor.

Tittle           : The Dragon's Promise (Six Crimson Cranes #2)

Author        : Elizabeth Lim

Pub Date    : August 30, 2022

Pages          : 400

My Rating   : ★★

The Summary

Princess Shiori promised on her deathbed to give the dragon's pearl back to its rightful owner, but doing so is riskier than she ever thought. She must travel to the kingdom of dragons, deal with political intrigue involving both humans and dragons, thwart thieves who are desperate to obtain the pearl while maintaining the appearance of a perfect princess to deter those who want to have her burned at the stake for the magic that runs in her family. The pearl itself is not your typical goods; it pulses with malicious power, leaping to Shiori's aid one moment and betraying her the next, threatening to destroy her family and sever the fated thread that ties her to her true love. To protect the life and the love she has worked so hard to obtain, Shiori will need all of her strength.

My Review

In all honesty, Six Crimson Cranes deserved to stand alone even though I thought the first book was only merely average and left a lot of unanswered questions that I had expected the second book to address. Instead, it just made me feel disappointed.

I really value it when you create new worlds and tell stories that are steeped in mythology and culture. She just has such a sure touch with the magic she conjures, so I'll always be tempted to purchase her works.

There is far too much happening for just one book, and it felt much longer than it needed to. The plot of this novel was boring and haphazard. There were either too many subplots or too many unresolved problems, which gave the impression that I was being hurried from one subplot to another.

Its uneven pacing occasionally made it feel crowded and out of place. It looked as though the author was coming up with plot twists on the fly. Moreover, it appeared as though the author was under duress to finish this sequel since some ideas from the first volume were repeated here.

Even though there isn't a true love triangle in the story, it is hinted, which I found to be almost as annoying as dealing with one. The characters in this book don't seem to be strong enough to carry it off, even without a love triangle. I never warmed up to the characters, and I frequently felt cut off from what was happening on the page.

Instead of being happy that the story is over now that the book is completed, I still have a lot of unanswered questions. And as an outcome of those unexplained causes, nearly every answer to a particular problem seemed random and forced.

Overall, this is a disappointing end to a duology that had a lot of promise but was regrettably divided up, and I still stand by my opinion that if the first book could be the only one more focused, It will be more fantastic!

Series Review:

Six Crimson Canes: 3/5 stars

The Dragon Promise: 2/5 stars

Six Crimson Canes 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. 

★★★ Good work! Nothing particularly remarkable, but still nice.

★★ Meh... Mediocre with great room for improvement.

★ Extremely Poor.

Tittle           : Song of Silver Flame Like Night (Song of The Last Kingdom #1)

Author        : Amélie Wen Zhao

Pub Date    : January 03, 2023

Pages          : 512

My Rating   : ★★

Tittle           : The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy #2)

Author        : S.A Chakraborty

Pub Date    : January 22, 2019

Pages          : 625

My Rating   : ★★★★★

Tittle           : Six Crimson Cranes (#1)

Author        : Elizabeth Lim

Pub Date    : July 06, 2021

Pages          : 481

My Rating   : ★★★

The Summary

The sole princess of Kiata, Shiori'anma, is hiding something. Her blood is infused with forbidden magic. Shiori usually manages to keep it under wraps, but on the morning of her wedding, she loses control. Her error initially appears to be a lucky break, preventing the wedding she never wanted. But Raikama, her stepmother, is also drawn to it.

The little princess is exiled by the witch Raikama, who also transforms her brothers into cranes. Shiori is warned not to discuss it with anyone because doing so will result in the death of one of her brothers.

Shiori, who is silent, wordless, and alone, searches for her brothers while learning of a sinister plot to take the crown. Only Shiori has the power to restore order to the kingdom, but in order to do it, she must put her faith in a paper bird, a fickle dragon, and the boy she battled so hard not to wed. And she must, at all costs, embrace the magic she has been trained to forswear throughout her existence.

My Review

A fantasy retelling of an Asian folktale, Six Crimson Cranes. The narrative shows a young royal facing unforeseen difficulties and learning to deal with them. The map is a beautiful work of art, and the cover is outstanding.

Unfortunately, I can't say that I'm completely certain of how I feel about this. It was simply a fantastic daydream for me. I'll confess that the story's unexpected turn set it apart from many other books of a similar genre I've read. That was really fantastic, for sure.

This book had a great beginning, but once the characters left the castle, the plot lost all meaning and the book started to drag. I also believed that the characters weren't given enough focus, even though that less time was spent on action. There were only a few cursory descriptions of the characters' motivations; there were no character-deep dives into what they were thinking.

My favorite part of the story was the unique and fascinating universe that Elizabeth Lim created. The beauty of the world is stunning. I enjoyed how the author created her world with wonderful detail. My interest is maintained by the magic system. I loved feeling so original, genuine, and unfiltered. I experienced a peculiar sense of belonging to that place and this story. It was an experience like no other.

Everything in the writing was outstanding. fascinating, seductive, and stunning. I found that the language is simply so gorgeous, and I thought it complemented the worldbuilding brilliantly. One of the main elements that I think everyone would agree on is that when people choose this kind of genre, they expect the world and how dreamy it is. And writing on the senses is something Elizabeth Lim excels at!

It clearly has a YA flavor, so if you're hoping for characters with more nuance and an intense relationship, this certainly isn't the book for you. However, this one is worth reading, especially since it's a unique YA reader fantasy!

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. 

★★★ Good work! Nothing particularly remarkable, but still nice.

★★ Meh... Mediocre with great room for improvement.

★ Extremely Poor.

Tittle           : A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea #1)

Author        : Judy I. Lin 

Pub Date    : March 29, 2022

Pages          : 480

My Rating   : ★★★

The Summary

Knowing that she is to blame is the only thing harder for Ning than losing her mother. She was the one who accidentally produced the poison tea that killed her and that now poses a threat to also kill Shu.

Ning goes to the imperial metropolis to compete after learning about a contest to determine the best shennong-shi in the kingdom—masters of the venerable and magical art of preparing tea. The princess will provide a favor to the victor, and this might be Ning's only opportunity to save her sister.

Ning, though, may be more in danger due to the treacherous rivals, violent court politics, and a mystery (and attractive) lad with a startling secret.

My Review

This young adult fantasy book was far better than I had expected. I loved how important tea was to the plot of the entire book. This story truly comes together because to the classic Chinese technique for brewing tea, which has a certain charm. Learning about traditional Chinese medicine as well as earlier Chinese customs, such as how to make tea, was intriguing.

The magic system and the story fit the author's incredibly lyrical writing style perfectly. The created planet is wonderful, unique, and full of rich heritage and history, aside from its ties to some Asian mythology. The charm and culture of this narrative were great.

The tournament provided a wonderful opportunity for readers to learn more about the magic system. The challenges were unique and enjoyable, frequently blending elements of the political instability.

Unfortunately, the characters are rather conventional YA fantasy characters. Although the characters weren't especially nuanced and lacked internal conflict outside of romantic relationships, they were nevertheless compelling enough to follow and support. Despite the fact that there are numerous characters, we only end up learning more about a select few of them. The majority of the supporting cast don't change much and rarely contribute fresh details to the plot.

Ning spent a lot of time waiting or pondering at first as the pace was slow. The build-up was almost too long, but the second half really upped the ante in terms of the plot's stakes.

Secondly, Ning's relationship with her love interest is the archetypal insta-love relationship, and I'm not the biggest fan of the cliché. Despite the fact that they were obviously cute together, I personally found them uninteresting because there was no spark between them that would have led to their romance developing throughout the story.

Although it may come off like I didn't like it, I truly did enjoy reading this. In the hopes that I will learn what I was missing in the first book, I am anticipating the sequel.

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. 

★★★ Good work! Nothing particularly remarkable, but still nice.

★★ Meh... Mediocre with great room for improvement.

★ Extremely Poor.