(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.

Do you love the video game Battle Chef Brigade?
Then this book is for you!
From the cover, this wasn't exactly what I expected. I imagined something more intimate, a little like a fantasy cozy mystery... this wasn't it. It really was an Iron chef battle of god powers and army fighting linked to food and taste. The magic system is amazing for someone who loves food and cooking like me. But the tone was just too young. I couldn't quite believe the main character was not a teen and that made the plot difficult to work, which is sad because it's a good one. I think this is really a question of reading preference, and this one just wasn't for me, I didn't manage to get into it.

There are a lot of books coming out lately that feature food. A lot of these books are cozy slice of life books that are about found family and setting a certain mood. The title of the book should warn you that this is not what this book is going for.

The author has clearly thought a lot about her magic system and how to make a Chef be a powerful magical force within her world. This idea didn't work for me in this book; it felt forced. There is a lot of heavy lifting and explanation early on that kept me from falling into the story. I love cooking myself and was ready to love this book too, but it felt like the scaffolding and idea behind the book were more front and center than the story. I did not finish the book so this might have eased off later, so take this all with a grain of salt (hah).

Chefs are gifted with magic from the gods. They know which ingredients to use to bring out the best flavor and full potential of food. Chefs have a responsibility to use their gifts for the good of the kingdom. Rogue Chef Ada Garland has a particularly strong gift for perceiving the aroma and flavor of food – a gift that landed her in the military years ago. After deserting, Ada and her grandmother have been lying low and staying on the run. But now, it seems Ada’s past has caught up to her as she returns home one day to an assassination attempt. She reaches out to fellow members of her military unit and finds her problem is not unique. While on her journey to help her friends, Ada sees someone she thought she would never see again…

A foreign princess has come to Verdania’s court to marry their young Prince Rupert. Princess Solenn does her best to fit in in a new country, but her empathetic and caring nature is at odds with the haughty attitude of her betrothed’s crew. While dining with the prince, Solenn uncovers a plot to kill her future husband. What’s almost as surprising is the way she is able to discern this threat…

Ada’s and Solenn’s journeys will converge as each woman tries to save those around her and protect the world from raging deities.

It never fails to amaze me how imaginative authors can be. Just when I was getting into the story and feeling like I was familiar with the world she created, a whole new layer was unveiled. The idea of certain foods imbuing eaters with special abilities, gods being associated with specific flavors and powers, and multiple storylines joining together seamlessly were just a few of the things I thought were well done. I did find a couple of the revolutions that Ada had to be a little abrupt, but I would read the next book (if there is one) in a second!

Well written enjoyable read with an interesting food based magic system, and some twists I didn't see coming.

The first half of the book was a little slow, but for the most part I found it to be a relaxing introduction to the world. The second half of the book is where the action really picks up.

My favorite thing about this book was the food based magic system and the well developed lore around the gods and their influence on foods and the world. There were some really interesting twists around the epicurea and I loved the powers associated with cats!

Thank you to NetGalley & 47North for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this book - the magic system curated through food was inventive and complex. I, as possible the World’s Worst Cook™️, would fare terribly in this world.

The characters are the real standout here: every one of them felt developed and had their own personalities beyond their ability to move the plot along. The history & worldbuildjng of the novel was incredibly interesting (though some of the select texts to start the chapters were a bit on the nose).

Two main callouts here: the whole novel felt like YA, even though Ada was somewhere in her 40s. Not that I expected the tone to change drastically between POVs but I did expect some more change in maybe sentence structure or complexity. And the final battle ended semi-dramatically but the aftermath felt a bit rushed.

Overall - cannot wait for the next installment! Already have some friends in mind for recommendations.

This is a story of food and its magic abilities which caught my attention. And although it is an interesting style of book I found it fell a bit flat for me.

It was like a long and winding road and if it had been shortened and a little bit less descriptive it would have flowed so much better. A bit historical, a lot of food, some magic brought some interest and fun to the story.

Although I though this would be the book for me I just didn't get into it as much as I had hoped.

I picked this book up because of the cover and the title. The premise came third. Thankfully that wasn’t higher on my list..,. This book flat out was not for me, The concept was somewhat intriguing but also missing something that held it together. I had no connection to the characters and the plot of the story did nothing to draw me in. That’s just my opinion, though, which I know is going to be completely different from someone else’s. I’m only throwing this review out there for like minded readers.

the premise sounded very interesting. but i dont think it lived up to the expectation that I had. I couldn't even get through the latter half of the book

In a land where Chef’s are god-granted in their talents of magic, Ada is born-Chef and deserter from the imperial army. When her identity is uncovered, she and her grandmother must flee into hiding, as an old enemy sets his sights on killing her. Meanwhile, in the same city, Princess Solenn is just trying to survive her upcoming marriage to the Crown Prince, but someone keeps trying to poison him—and she fears they are trying to frame her for his death.

Cato’s magic system is one of the coolest I have ever encountered. The world-building is efficient, but graceful, with pieces of information slipping into place just as you begin to wonder or ask questions. Each twist and turn of the plot is brilliant and surprising, with both Solenn and Ada being equally compelling and likable characters. I mean, it says something I read, photographed, and posted this book all in the same day, despite the fact I have a backlog of something like 40 books to post about (whoops).

My one reservation about this book is that there are moments, toward the end of the book, where the plot grows a bit too convenient—characters finding each other by chance, or revelations that feel a bit unearned. But mostly, this was a really solid read, and I'm looking forward to its June publication date!

Thank you for the opportunity to review this ARC!

I will say that this book started slowly for me. There seemed to be so much background information that needed to be explained that the action was delayed significantly and any action there was, was hidden beneath explanation. About midway through, I couldn't stop, though. As Ada and Solenn grew closer and closer together without knowing it, as they all worked to solve this problem, I loved it.
There were some moments of dialogue where I felt like it sounded juvenile but then I realized that Solenn is 16 and instead of being annoyed, I was relieved that a teenage girl got to sound like a teenage girl.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this eARC.

Unfortunately I just could not get into it and had to DNF it at about 20%. The concept is unique and intriguing but it was too all over the place for me. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and there was too much telling and not enough showing.

The cover is beautiful and drew me in instantly! This book has such an interesting concept of magic being tied to food and how this is used socially and politically. This is also a story of connecting with long lost lovers and family where you find yourself really rooting for this families happy after-ever. There are many different aspects to this book that it kept me interested.

Let me start by saying I love the premise of this book. Also, the cover really drawed me in. However, I just found the entire book dull. I love the idea of food containing magic, but for me, there was never an "Oh, wow!" moment. The entire thing fell flat for me.

2.5/5 stars! I really enjoyed the premise of this story and I love food/cooking-related tales. I think my expectations were set too high because this story felt very dull. I wanted to like the characters and buy-in on their goals, but I felt myself putting this down frequently and forcing myself to pick it back up. I will say that I really enjoyed the world-building and found the plots around assassination to be exciting.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

I picked up this book not knowing what to expect. Honestly, it was the cover that drew me in, it’s so beautiful and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was a bit concerned to see that so many readers had DNF’ed this book but decided to give it a chance anyway. And I’m so glad I did!

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. I generally enjoy fantasy books, but many of the big epic series’ tend to be slow paced to the point that I struggle to make progress in them. By contrast this story is extremely fast paced! We start the first chapter with a kidnapping attempt and it never lets up from there. I am also a fan of stories that focus on court intrigue and political manoeuvring which this book has loads of.

The cast of characters was great, I loved to see the middle aged and elderly protagonists represented but we also get an empowering teenage girl who does not (!) fall for a boy or make stupid decisions out of immaturity.

Honestly I fell in love with the first narrator, rebel chef Ada, from the moment I watched her interact with her senile grandmother. Their bond was beautiful and their interactions were at times heartwarming and at times hilarious. Ada’s backstory was heartbreaking and I really hoped for her to get to a better place over the course of the book.

And princess Solenn was another excellent narrator, a girl with a massive diplomatic weight on her shoulders, trying to make the best of a bad situation. She has a great mind and strong character but in the misogynistic society where she lives is only valued for who she might marry. It was great to see some of her potential realised throughout the book.

Unlike many books with multiple narrators I did not find myself preferring one over the other, although it was unclear for most of the book how they would converge I enjoyed the two parallel storylines equally. The story mostly went where I though it was going but there were several surprises and plot twists along the way, all of which only made the book better. It’s clear this book is setting the stage for a series, it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger but leaves several threads loose for future instalments.

I can’t finish off without commenting on the world-building, the story is set in a fantasy version of 18th century France which I think was well done. There are enough similarities that I can appreciate the historical and geographical inspirations, but it’s still a unique fantasy realm. The magic system is based around cooking magical ingredients with blessings from five deities. I found it really well done and loved the more insight into the gods that we get towards the end of the story. The little intros of lore and recipes at the beginning of each chapter were also interesting.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fast-paced fantasy books with strong female protagonists. It’s also an excellent choice for anyone that wants to transition from YA fantasy to start reading adult fantasy.

A very interesting premise…unfortunately I found the execution to be under-developed and a bit wooden. Could possibly appeal to a YA audience. Thank you to NetGalley/publisher for the opportunity to review.

I think it's really interesting to have a magic system built on food but it felt like a quick idea and not particularly well developed out. This book had so much potential to blow me away and whilst I enjoyed it, it wasn't something I would pick up and read again

A Thousand Recipes for Revenge comes out Jun 27th, 2023. This interesting fantasy world explores the new trendy magical system of 'food-related' magic. In this world, five gods rule the world, and some gifted mortals are 'chefs' with some of the gods' powers. The story follows Ada, a rogue chef, and general. While the food-based magic system was interesting, I could not relate to the characters and the writing felt too choppy. The author focused on developing this unique world, that the plot and characters fell short.

Thank you to NetGalley, 47 North, and author, Beth Cato, for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.