
Member Reviews

This book follows two women who unknowingly share culinary magic, blood, and a target on their back in the intermingled plots of revenge, nations, and gods.
I could not put this book down. It had one of the most original magic systems I have seen - and I loved how it played into cooking, taste, and perception. While smell and taste are some of our stronger senses, I find that books often leave these kinds of details out, so having unique powers based around this was a breath of fresh air.
This magic, and the lore it stemmed from, were the cherry on top of the cake of an engaging fantasy plot. With many competing interests (between nations, gods, magic, creatures, and vengeful humans), Cato effortlessly wove each character's motivations and histories together so they culminated in one exciting reveal after another until the climatic battle at the end.
All I can say, is I hope there is a sequel coming (and much much more of Grandmere). Fantasy lovers will not be disappointed.

This was a super creative read. Not sure if it'll blow up on TikTok, but there's definitely potential to be a social media darling.

If you love all things magic and thing culinary this book is for you! If you are blessed by the Five Gods, you have a sense for food and sweets like no other. With warn the way it is hard to keep all abilities a secret.

A Thousand Recipes For Revenge (ARC)
Beth Cato
3⭐️
Pub Date: 6/13/2023
In a world where 5 gods ruled, chefs are held as of highest regard and strength, properties of Verdania. Ada has found herself as a rogue chef after being burned by the injustice and bloodshed. After years of hiding, assassins now hunted her down and Ada has to run for her life. Her paths soon cross with a foreign princess Solenn, and they realize they have much to share more than just their gifts. Sacrifices have to be made, but how much? And will the gods assist or destroy them as they go into war?
This book is about culinary characters and magic/fantasy. This is my first one of this particular topic and was curious and excited to get this ARC. It was so hard to follow in the beginning. The plot/world building aspect was not set up, and made me think that I was missing something or that I'm reading a sequel. But I googled and this is the first book. I was tempted to DNF because I wasn't confident that the world will be built completely for me to fully understand the story. But ofcourse I did not and pushed through.
Once I pieced the plot and world together, it got better but I was still constantly confused. First, there were so many French terminologies. The plot was engaging but not to the point that I couldn't stop reading it. I actually stopped for days and felt no need to continue. It might be me finding out that I'm not a huge fan of culinary plotlines? The story picked up exactly at 50% of the book, where there's more action. The explanation and the world building came at this point too. So since it's more coherent, I started to enjoy it and actually finished pretty quickly. There are excerpts from make-believe chef books too at the start of each chapter which was confusing. It's a nice touch but I don't see how it added to the book. Skimmed.
Also, the conclusion was so unsatisfactory. I would imagine there's going to be a book 2. If not, it ended in a weird way. Actually, it didn't end at all.
Overall, it was very creative, the story was actually good but world building was unsatisfactory and it was too confusing.

I was intrigued by the worldbuilding in the book summary--food magic!--and there is indeed food magic in this one. On the other hand...I don't think it's unfair to a book when most reviewers come to it "wanting a different book" when there is a mismatch between what the book's marketing says it is and the readers' expectations. It's different when it's the academic vs. popular nonfiction thing; but this is genre fiction and when I'm promised food magic, I'd expect a little bit more cooking and magic with ordinary food, instead of the food magic being actual magic food made with dead magical creatures (except for the cat hair, I can't forget the cat hair.)
This leads to a lot of heavy-handed pseudovegan moralism, too, which I also wasn't expecting. This made it feel more YA than this book actually is, along with the adult protagonist reading like a teen and the teen protagonist being mature beyond her years; it's Solenn the teen who has to make the really important decisions.
The other problem with the promotional material is that I expected a standalone novel and this...is not that. There are a lot of dropped threads that hopefully are sequel bait, because it's not good if this is all we get and those plots got dropped.
This book may appeal to the horse girls out there. Solenn is definitely a horse girl.

The premise of this book sounded really good, and the first couple of chapters I was really sucked in. It got into the action quickly and gave me a character to latch onto and feel for.
Once the book kept going it started to lose me, however. I had a hard time keeping the characters straight, following what was going on, and getting invested in what was happening. I think part of the problem is that the book jumped between time frames without much warning or sign as to where/what we were jumping too, Once I lost focus on the book I had a hard time staying invested. This was definitely not a good book to read with large breaks between sittings, or on ebook.
The ending picked up a little, but at that point I was half-invested in the book and couldn't focus on it like I had wished I could.

"A Chef intimately knows the anatomy of a knife."
What a unique fantasy world. Not too far off from ours, but the recipes are magical! "Gods-touched creatures are set apart, much as Chefs are set apart from common people". (221) Political intrigue and dangerous alliances. Oh, and unicorns. 🦄 And the only person who you can really trust is yourself.
It reminded me a bit of Lost Apothecary, which I enjoyed a great deal.
Ada is a new & interesting heroine.
"Please keep my presence here a secret. These are dangerous people."
Ragnar considered her words with an inclined head. "Most people are dangerous, in one way or another."
Solenn wasn't my favorite narrator, but I did like seeing a different perspective in the story.
I haven't really seen people talking about this book... but they should be!

I have to say it was really difficult for me ti finish this book. Sometimes it felt too "strange" for me, even if I requested to read this because I was very intrigued by the plot and the magic sistem.
The first part of the book was good, but then at 35℅ of the book my attention began to dissolve.
Hear me out: I think the concept is great, the magic sistem is original and pretty cool, but maybe this is not my time to read it? I think that if I pick this book in five months maybe I will enjoy it more.
Super cool the idea of putting part of a cooking rule book at the beginning of each chapter.
You can find my review on goodreads, link in my bio
Excuse me if my English is bad, it is not my first language.

This was well written but disappointing for me. I just did not connect to the story or characters. I expected something a bit more modern.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!
Being entirely honest - I DNF'd at 45%. I'm so sorry! I just couldn't get on with the characters or the story. I adored the idea of the magic and how it works. Reminded me a little bit of Mistborn. As other reviews have mentioned, world building was amazing and I could fully picture each character in my mind when reading, their different personalities shined through. I just couldn't get fully absorbed into the story.

This book wasn't what I expected at all. For some reason (based on the title I guess) I thought this would be akin to the assassin's that take out their targets with food. That DOES happen but not in the way I would think. The title in fact simply refers to a saying regarding the Five Gods that the characters in the book revere. chef's are considered those who can commune closely with the Gods via their food preparation.
There's a lot more here but I can't do too much w/o giving away major plot points. The book was a lot of plot and needed a moment to breathe explain, world build, etc just a smidge more. I'm assuming based on the ending theres more to come and hopefully more world building happening..I will say this book did not play it safe with sacrifice; the protagonists were not looking for easy ways out.
The story intriguing but the writing and story need some tightening up particularly with two POVs. 2.5 stars.

A huge thank you to netgalley for providing me an ARC of this delightful book.
I didn't know what to expect going in, but I'm so glad I got to read this book.
The magic system and world is so unique. I have never ready anything with food magic in before, especially not like this. It was interesting, and really fun to learn about.
The characters were loveable, I was particularly fond of Ada, myself.
The story as a whole was great, but there were a few moments during the first 1/2 of the book that could've been dealt with a little differently, and in my opinion, may have improved those aspects if done in a new way. (now this is already in good reads and this won't be a huge spoiler, I am referring to sollen finding out erwan and ada are her true parents. The reaction was very minimal and brushed over the issues).
The story as a whole was really enjoyed, even the early books court politics as it was not written in a boring way at all.
Cats writing style is simple,yet effective. It is easy to read, and suits the story and pacing well. It was enjoyable to read.
In all, I highly recommend picking this book up if you enjoy fantasy reads with unique magic systems.
I really can't wait for the next instalment, and learn more about where we left off in this book, learn more if the world's and so on. I'll be glad to jump back in, again. I have questions that need answers!!

This BOOK has EVERYTHING!!! A 100 years from now this will be a fairy tale we tell our daughters (and sons).
It has everything a classic fantasy saga needs. A girl on a mission, hiding from a villain, a family member who helps them face the world, growing up too fast, magical food and suspicious talents. And this would make a great animated film too with an awesome soundtrack.
You cannot help but want to read all of Ada's life in one sitting but if you can't --because it is a LOT-- you will have that lovely feeling of not being able to wait and get snuggled into your favorite spot and start reading again.
Fantasy, Magic, Empowerment, Culinary, a little bit of a pirate or steampunk lifestyle---so good I can't explain it But halfway through I already tons of ideas for fan art.

I could not get into this book. I tried and tried and there was nothing that made me want to keep reading this book honestly. It was well written but just not my style of book at all even though it sounded like it could have been.

A Thousand Recipes for Revenge… how to even describe what I just read…?
There is so much that goes on and keeps you hooked the entirety of the book. I can honestly say I did not expect this story to take turns the way it did and I am pleasantly surprised.
The ending was a shock to me. It was pretty dense/complicated at the beginning as the world building is happening because it is kinda given to you in a big bundle rather than slowly, but once you get past that, the story was really well done and beautifully fleshed out.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

4.5 stars, rounded up
This was a very interesting take in food magic; a recentering of Chefs as magicians blessed by the Five Gods.
The author has created a lush, well-realized world with tons of lore and little interesting tidbits, as well as an unexpected twist well into the second middle of the book. While I am not the best audience for court intrigue plots (in one of the POV character arcs) the book quickly went beyond that and it really managed to cover a lot of ground—and I say this with fascination because there's still so much to happen in this world, and we're left well-poised for a sequel.
I really enjoyed the sprawling cast of characters, as none of them felt two-dimensional, and I found the conversations about what motherhood can look like to different people very interesting. Solenn and Ada, the two main POV characters, were refreshingly real and complex on page. I do wonder however if revealing the nature of their relationship to the reader could have been done a bit later, to increase the tension—and I found Erwan's interactions with one of them (spoilers) to somewhat lack the expected chemistry.
But overall, I would definitely recommend this book!

I read an eARC of A Thousand Recipes for Revenge by Beth Cato.
This was a book with a truly unique magical world. Here, magical is brought forward by humans in the dishes that they are able to create by "Chefs". In the kingdom that we find ourselves, Chefs are immediately conscripted into the army and government as venerated but controlled people by those in power when their "tongue" starts to be able to taste the fine details that normal humans cannot. What a Chef can taste will depend on the Chef, with empathetic, or Chef's who taste what others taste thus able to make dishes to their customer's pallet, being hailed as the most powerful and most sought after. There are also certain ingredients within mundane and magical creatures that can be cooked and give people certain powers for a time like invisibility or keeping them looking younger.
Honestly, I adored the magical system, and could go on about the more complexities and how later in the book it adds to the political intrigue of the book and how people treat each other and really it's the best part of the book.
The book also follows two characters. Ada, a Chef who has an empathetic tongue who is hiding from the government that she once served. Because of how fickle the king, her marriage to a man she fought with but was from another country was annulled when he declared to separate their alliance, and she left her daughter with him because she was afraid her daughter would also be a Chef and she didn't want her to live the way she had.
The other main character is a princess who is marrying the prince of the kingdom who develops a Chef's tongue just in time to stop an assassination attempt on her future husband, and now must hide that she's a Chef in this land that conscripts all their Chefs and also save her new husband to be from further assassination attempts without giving herself away.
This on top of a cannibal who turns people into salt in order to eat them and gain a great deal of power and who has a grudge against not just Ada but also the princess.
This story is action packed and will have you constantly on your seat with political intrigue and action scenes. A wonderful book that is definitely worth the read!

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974
A mother and daughter duo against the gods? Sign me up. This isn't your typical book of mythology, this has a chef going against some of the gods of old. With her penchant and magic with food and wine, one would think her a daughter of Bacchus. A wonderful one sitting read that I will read again. Would make a wonderful film.

(Also posted on Goodreads)
I wasn't sure that I would finished past the first few chapters. The concepts were interesting and the world intriguing, but I struggled switching between the characters in the beginning. However, as plots began to unfold and the world flourished, I found I couldn't put it down. The author foreshadows well and I felt rewarded when everything I thought about might be really happening, was true. Even then, I was still surprised (pleasantly) by a few things that happened in the end. I can't wait to see what happens in the a sequel.
Disclaimer: I was given an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The description enticed me into requesting this book. I am very glad I did.. The author creates a unique world of "culinary magic" and adds gods who were once human , then combines that with action and adventure. I highly recommend all fantasy fans read this.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and the author for allowing me to read this outstanding ARC. Thus is my honest review.