Loved this one. So much so that I will actually get a physical copy for myself once I've got some money to my name.

Celestial Banquet is a fast and fun-paced fantasy novel based on a cross between Asian mythology and any one of a number of competitive cooking shows. Cai is a teenage orphan, who lost her mother at birth and lost her father a relatively short time ago. Her goal is to win the Celestial Banquet - a cooking competition held every decade for the best cooks available, who cook for major gods, and compete for the Peaches of Immortality, which, beyond immortality (only available for minor gods), can provide the winner with anything they wish for. However, the competition is shrouded in mystery, as the gods blur or erase the memories of anyone involved, to hide the details from future competitors, to improve the competition. Details about the competition are thus vague, but it is known that death is a significant risk, balancing out the potential reward.

The parts of the plot dealing with the cooking competition were a solid five; however, the novel could use more of the Asian mythology, which felt like it was thrown in for scenery more than the significant part of the plot that it really was. It would also benefit from developing the relationships between the characters more - especially the romantic subplot that was a significant part of the plot, but which felt like it was added later rather than developed along with the story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I found this book avaiable on NetGalley and immediately thought it could be my cup of tea. I wasn't wrong at all.

I honestly don't know if, in the future, the author's gonna write a sequel to this book. I think it could be a good idea, but even if this will not happen, the book is also good as a standalone.

The vibes are a mix of Asian mythology, classic fantasy with the hero's journey to win a competition, and Master Chef's x Final Destination. All started calm and full of hope, but scene after scene the story darkened and very bad things happened.

We all know that in the stories Gods and Goddesses are cruel and almost always love to see humans struggle and suffer, and this book it's a great example of that.

I liked every character, the good ones and the bad ones, and all of them are well written and interesting. My favourites were: Kama, 'cause he's a Minor God but he loves his people and he's gentle and kind; Bo, because of his loyalty and because he deserved more; Tala, for her fierceness and sincerity.

There's romance in this story, too: Cai has to cook, survive and fulfill her dream while also struggle with her love problems, because both Seon (her crush) and Bo (her childhood friend) are aiming for her heart, attention and love. She made a cute pair with both, I think, but unfortunately in the end she didn't choose the one I hoped for.

Luck, Temperance and Indulgence, the three Major Gods that organized and judged the Celestial banquet, are ruthless and cunning. They really didn't hold back when they had to punish or curse some of the contestants.

Finally, the Empress. Well, what can I say? I hated her more than I hated the Gods. I'm hoping she fails in all her evil plans.

[Note: While there is some body horror in this book, due to some terrible cooking accidents, the book doesn’t linger on the moments. ]

I really do love deadly competitions in my media, so Celestial Banquet caught my eye immediately. When author Roselle Lim focuses on the competition, Celestial Banquet really shines. The descriptions of how Cai made all of the food were always interesting, and Lim gave enough detail I felt like I could envision what Cai was doing even if I wasn’t familiar with even some of the mundane ingredients. Cai’s ingenuity during the competition made her a fantastic underdog competitor, and each round felt like a genuine struggle and well-deserved placement. I was always impressed by Cai’s clever solutions and determination to fulfill her and her father’s dream.

There is a lot more going on in this book than the competition, and several of these plot threads do not have enough room to breathe. This largely impacts the characters—everyone except Cai and Kama did not have enough pages dedicated to them to become fully fleshed out. There were also two different political subplots that I very much wanted the book to explore that didn’t get much screen time at all. We also hardly got to know anyone from the other teams (except toward the end), which meant that the casualties along the way didn’t have significant emotional impact.

I also did not enjoy the love triangle. There truly wasn’t space for Bo or Seon to get enough depth that I could favor one or the other. And their repeated pushing to make Cai choose between them was frustrating. I was with Cai on this—she’s in the middle of a deadly competition, can we shelve the romance, please? By the end, I was so annoyed, I wanted Cai to cut them both loose so she could focus.

That said, there are very solid scenes and fascinating pieces of worldbuilding in here that I think the book is still worth sticking on your TBR list if the premise speaks to you. The gods Cai cooked for where entertainingly horrifying and unsettling, and they really upped the stakes with their trials and curses. I would have loved even more complicated trials or a longer competition overall, honestly. I’m certainly interested in checking out future works by Lim.

Recommendation: Borrow it someday, if deadly magical cooking competitions are your thing. Celestial Banquet has an interesting premise that gets watered down by too many complications in the allotted pages. The best parts of the book center on Cai’s deadly cooking competition and her ingenuity. The love triangle, unfortunately, is its weakest plot thread.

I recieved this in exchange for an honest review, thanks to NetGalley.

The descriptions of the food, clothing, setting are absolutely amazing. The food descriptions left me salivating; the descriptions of the gods appearances and their clothing was so magical and so easy to imagine in my head; the architecture and the buildings were describe so well and it was easy to picture in my mind. I really, really enjoyed these parts of the book and they are definitely the strongest parts. I could read a whole nother book of Lim just describing food and clothing - she is really talented here.

This is the third book recently that has involved a cooking competition, similar to The Great British Bake-Off, and it is clearly a trope/setting/idea I am loving. I really enjoyed reading about the competition in this novel, just like I have in the other books.

However, and it is a big however, this story is VERY weak in the emotional, romantic, and conclusion departments.
Emotional - the story has a few very shocking and sad very sad moments but they happen and we move on in about two sentences. There is literally no build up, the description is not there, and it's rushed. For example; there was an explosive, this person died, that's really bad. Oh well, but back to cooking. Done.

Romance - I absolutely hated the romance and the love triangle in this. It made no sense, it was stupid, and the conclusion to it was absolutely ridiculous and lacklustre. Again, there was absolutely no build up to the romance or feelings. Also, if the main character hadn't liked them, there would've been sexual harrassment multiple times, but because she's into the person/people, it's fine. I'm sorry but the romance pissed me off. It felt almost fake because of how poorly written it was; I was seriously expecting an A-HA! moment from one, if not both, of the love interests because I could not believe the romantic feelings were actually happening. I was genuinely waiting for a "silly girl, you've been manipulated all this time" or some ulterior motive to be revealed towards the end. This was Lim's weakest area in my opinion. It gave me the ick multiple times and made me cringe. Both love interests and the romance itself were not written well.

Conclusion - The conclusion was very rushed, again no build-up or tension towards the finale of competition; it was literally revealed, again, within about two sentences and it was over. And then the actually ending was so bad. If there is a sequel, then I'll forgive the very end. But where were end was just genuinely rushed and not a happy ending for any of our main characters in my opinion.

Celestial Banquet is set in a world inspired by Chinese and Southeast Asian folklore.

But the star of Celestial Banquet is the food. It’s clear that author Roselle Lim is a fan of cooking. No one could write about composing dishes the way she does if they didn’t like creating in the kitchen. These are the places where Lim’s writing is most assured, almost poetical.

That’s not to say that there aren’t other strong elements. The trials are exciting and engaging. There’s action and problem-solving and teamwork there.

Where the plot kind of stumbles is the love triangle, which sometimes feels forced and a little unnecessary. Lim’s ending also breaks with the rest of the book, feeling too fast and a little disjointed.

The Celestial Banquet is the first book in a planned series, and I can’t help but wonder if the kitchen magic will be there. Fingers crossed. I look forward to the next book.

Battle Chef Brigade that took me by surprise on some parts and hungry for the majority of it. It feels very fairy-taley and plays out like an animated series in my head. Worth a read.

Hunger Games meets Iron Chef in this YA fantasy novel. Sadly, the only strong element of the Hunger Games I got from this book was the annoying love triangle 😅

Let me back up though. The premise of this is good. I was interested in exploring more of the amalgamation of all Asian cultures into one fantasy land, as well as the melting pot (hehe) of their cuisines. The book jumps right into the main plot and the pacing moves pretty fast throughout the book.

Almost too fast though. I feel like a lot was skimmed over. Especially the cooking aspect, it seemed glossed over when it was basically the main plot of the book: cooking for the gods. There could have been greater world-building in this novel for the ending to really pack a punch. As things were tying up towards the end, it seemed like a lot of things were an after-thought. The author could have really dug into the brutality of the Hunger Games-like competition. But each trial felt a little too fast and not explored enough with its after effects and other contestants.

This fast pacing also affected the characters because they came across quite flat to me. There was an opportunity to have a fun found family aspect, but I wasn’t getting it. The roles everyone took on were too cliche: ambitious female main character who doesn’t know how to hold her temper, suddenly-a-man-childhood best friend (aka potential love interest #1), classically handsome, popular rich guy (aka potential love interest #2), a foil to the FMC and a comic relief. Though I will admit the character of Kama was endearing and my favourite part of the whole book.

The FMC also had way too many cliched lines that they were saying. But I’m reeeeally hoping that it was just the ARC I read that made it feel messy. The basic bones of the book is actually quite good and the ending left an impression as well. The author is also an exceptional writer. There was so much potential for this to be really good.

Thank-you to NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC and ALC!

This is an interesting book. I love the idea of a cooking competition between the gods and humans. I was really invested in the book the first third, the second two thirds I feel like I became less invested. Cai’s character was well developed and I was truly enjoying her journey until the love triangle came into play. Bo I can see as a suiter but Seon just didn’t feel right, and Cai trying to pick between to two didn’t really add to the competition. Maybe if the love triangle had been taken out, I would have enjoyed the book. Or if the love triangle seemed more realistic. Both boys just seemed like they were pushed into confessing to Cai that they wanted to be with her. I did enjoy everything else about this book, from Cai’s ingenuity when it came to making dishes, and to her interactions with the various gods.
Thank you so much to Zando and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

3.25 ⭐ - 🥗⚔ A cozy foodie fantasy with deadly celestial trials! I loved the concept of a celestial cooking competition, and the characters were great fun. The food descriptions throughout the book were rich and delightful. I loved the scrolls at the starting of each chapter, capturing a facet of the history/lore of the world - it was an interesting and vibrant setting that felt quite fresh. I always find the culture, concepts and magic in eastern-inspired fantasy books to be quite creative.

I was quite happy to get both the e-arc and audiobook for this story through NetGalley.

🎧 Audiobook Rating: 4.25 ⭐
Narrated by Natalie Naudus (Dreamscape Media)
The narrator's voice is rich and earthy. I found her tone to be quite comforting and expressive - the voices for all the characters were done really well, especially the male characters. And I have to say, I absolutely LOVED it when she sang in a chapter towards the end! I added a 0.25 to the rating purely on account of that. This is a rare instance where listening to the audiobook actually enhanced my enjoyment of the story, and made it feel more cozy and fun. I'm now curious to know whether she has released any songs! 😋

What didn't work for me:
The back and forth romance with two love interests - Cai was simply too young and indecisive! I think this story could have done without such an emphasis on the romance, because there was a lot of fun potential for the world and setting to be explored better. Critical events in the story were overtaken and overshadowed by conversations around her romantic life, which felt silly or cheesy at times. Also, everyone in the story from the Gods to competitors to friends, were invested in which of the two love interests she would pick. 😂 Somehow, because of the audiobook and other positive elements of the story, I found it dramatically funny for the most part. (Otherwise there are far too many books I have dnf'ed on account of getting annoyed by such things 😋 )

Overall, this was an enjoyable cozy read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complementary e-arc and audiobook of this story. All opinions expressed here are my own.

This was such a cosy debut, and the premise felt very unique. The characters were well-developed, which I appreciated, as Cai was fun to read. However, I wish there had been more depth to the lore? The whole idea is so unique that I would have loved to read a bit more about the gods. The romance was nice, even if a bit lacklustre, but overall, this was a fun book!

Many thanks to Zando / Sweet July Books for the ARC of this one, which is billed as Iron Chef meets The Hunger Games. This one is out today, June 3rd.

The premise of this book is incredibly fun. I love the concept of a cooking competition for the gods, and how they were portrayed as fickle and careless. There were so many delicious food descriptions to enjoy throughout the pages, as Cai prepared her dishes before and during the competition.

The pacing is quick, keeping you engaged as events fly by. I like that the book really immerses us in the contest, unlike some books that fade to black during the actual cooking part of these competitions. Part of what keeps the book going at a fair clip are the little interludes from history and myth between each chapter. These really added to the flavor of the book and fleshed out the worldbuilding in a way that I liked. Learning a bit more about the minor and major gods through these myths complicated them in interesting ways.

I love a YA love triangle as much as the next person, but the love story in this one felt a little underdeveloped. We keep being told that Cai cares for these boys, but I didn’t feel we really got to see that on the page for the most part. I love to root for someone in a love triangle, but I didn’t really have enough to go off of either way. Obviously, the cooking competition setup didn’t allow much time for lingering glances and long conversation, but a bit more setup beforehand or perhaps strategic flashbacks or reflection could have helped those relationships feel more fleshed out.

In all, Celestial Banquet delivers a nice, hearty meal of a YA novel. The pacing is solid, the descriptions and worldbuilding are spot-on, and the characters are compelling enough to keep you wanting to learn more. I do wish there was a bit more to make the love triangle feel like something other than an afterthought, as it didn’t quite feel fully formed. Even so, I highly recommend Celestial Banquet to anyone who loves a solid YA dystopia and/or cooking competition novel.

This book bills itself as "Iron Chef meets The Hunger Games," in which street chef Cai enters the gods' once-in-a-decade cooking contest to win money to start her own cook shop and fulfill both her and her deceased father's dreams. Unfortunately, she has no idea what she's getting into because the gods wipe the memory of anyone who survives the contest (and quite a few do not). There are a series of escalating challenges with magical ingredients while Cai's team endlessly teases her about a sort-of-love-triangle whose outcome is a bit too obviously pre-determined. A fast read and a solid if not outstanding YA fantasy novel.

I only came across this whilst researching upcoming releases for June and was immediately hooked and felt my tummy rumbling in anticipation of the fantasy feast to come.

Great cover, and an even greater concept. A YA fantasy about a cooking competition for the gods??? Sign. Me. Up.

Cai has worked and scrapped for everything she has achieved and decides to turn her “never say die” attitude towards the Celestial Banquet. She persuades drunken but loveable outsider minor god Kama to be her godly patron and finds the flirty nobleman Seon joining her team too. After Kama chooses a different final member for her team, Cai’s childhood friend/crush/it’s complicated, Bo, joins up with a different team to ally with Cai and improve her chances. If the banquet wasn’t stressful enough, Cai finds herself torn between two love interests who can’t help but trip over themselves to declare their love for her (guys, she has a lot going on right now, this isn’t about you, save it for later!). She also discovers that it isn’t a simple cooking contest, there are challenges along the way, some quite literally deadly!

A fun fantasy read tinged with a few surprisingly serious and sober moments. I devoured this book in a matter of 48 hours. Don’t worry, I made sure to still savour the taste!

The best part of this book was the uniqueness of the trials along with the descriptions of the foods and the ingredients. Other than that, it felt flat and almost rushed in some parts.

I loved the concept and the thought behind the book, but I realized that I wasn't connecting with the story when one of the love interests kicked the bucket momentarily, and I kind of shrugged and went "eh". Even in the back half of the book where people were kind of dropping left and right, I didn't necessarily feel any kind of grief. I also will say that I would not have made the same choice as Cai at the end of the book, but I guess, you do you.

Nice concept but not executed at well as I hoped.

This had me when I read food games and the author said The Mummy (1999) vibes.

This slightly lost me but I think for a debut it's a solid, engaging and a fun quick read! The very idea of the story is, I would say unique, I haven't read anything like this yet and I really liked it, and I liked the world building itself.

Where the book lost me is the romance subplot (and that choice in the final competition... what? Omurice?). Of course, I will preface this by saying I am not a love triangle fan and I am even less of a fan of love interests being jerks. So I am sad to say I did not vibe with this entire part. However, I loved Cai, such a good main character and I enjoyed spending time with her.

Besides the romance subplot, I think 3/5 stars is also because while this feels very unique and fresh story idea wise and world building wise, I just kept feeling as if something is missing. Maybe it will come up in the next installment (I am of the belief that this isn't really a standalone because of some things in the book), maybe not, but the feeling was there.

This novel is a deliciously magical tale that captures the charm of cooking shows with high-stakes fantasy. Cai, a passionate noodle stall owner in the Peninsula, dreams of opening her own restaurant. She teams up with her childhood friend Bo and the minor god Kama to enter the Celestial Banquet—a deadly culinary competition judged by gods and the Empress. The prize? Peaches of immortality, which could change everything for Cai.

Filled with mouthwatering descriptions of Asian cuisine, high-tension challenges, and a touch of romance, this story blends food, fantasy, and fierce determination. While a love triangle simmers beneath the surface, the focus remains on Cai’s journey and survival. Perfect for fans of Chopped with a Ghibli vibe, this book will leave you hungry for more—and noodles.

First, thanks so much to the publisher for the opportunity to review this e-Book and the audiobook for this book. Both were remarkable as far as a debut novel is concerned. I am really excited to read the rest of this series. The explanation of cooking show meets hunger games is absolutely correct and it is incredible. The one issue I had is the love triangle. First of all, the FMC is wildly naive and the whole ingenue thing doesn’t work super well. Additionally, the audiobook narrator sounds significantly older than Cai and it undercuts the young ingenue thing in a way that takes you out of the narrative. Lastly, she chose the wrong guy so hopefully she will pick again in the next book! lol!

Once every generation, the Major Gods hold a Celestial Banquet, inviting chefs from all over the Continent to prepare mouthwatering feasts in exchange for the opportunity to win the ultimate prize... the fabled Peaches of Immortality, along with a lifetime of fame and fortune. Cai is a noodle chef who enters the competition with dreams of owning her own restaurant and supporting her impoverished Peninsula town. Cai is determined to prepare a feast fit for the gods—even if she loses her life.

I loved this book. It was like a combination of Hunger Games, Squid Games and a cooking competition. The world is inspired by Chinese and Southeast Asian folklore, Every round the contestants had to hunt down mystical (and often deadly) creatures, and then prepare a meal to serve the Major Gods. They would sample the offerings, judge them, and then the least pleasing meal would cause that team to be eliminated from the competition, and in turn, punished severely by the Gods. Then the remaining teams would move on to the next phase of the competition. The competition was cutthroat, and the tension was palpable. I loved reading about the dishes they prepared. In between each chapter were short lessons from the Gods that pertained to the story. There was also a bit of romance, since Cai was juggling the affections of two different boys at the competitions - her childhood crush-turned-friend Bo, and dreamy Seon, who is part of her team,

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I was entranced by the cover art and intrigued by the premise, but unfortunately, this book was severely underbaked. The author delivered with her descriptions of all the mouth-watering and fantastical ingredients and dishes that pop up throughout the book (I started getting very hungry at some parts), but everything else was...lacking. Though the beginning was promising, we are quickly thrown into the Celestial Banquet without much room to sit with the world the author creates or to learn about Cai's experience and reputation in her hometown as a renowned noodlemaker. While we are given the opportunity to see her ingenuity, it's still hard to believe that she could be the best chef suited to be a candidate out of the entire Peninsula from just one challenge. This disbelief continues in the actual competition; it's difficult to understand why and how she wins the Banquet when we aren't given the opportunity to see what her competitors cook in comparison.

Speaking of the actual competition, for being so deadly and overseen by fickle gods, while the stakes were high, they never felt that way. The majority of the book felt like a detailed summary; we're told so many things instead of actually shown them (except for the food), and we're overwhelmed with tons of info-dumping at the exact moment whatever concept is introduced. For the trials, they were described and solved so quickly that it was hard to develop any emotional investment in the outcome when Cai and her team succeeded for the most part without any major risks or injury. I also found it odd and kind of a cop-out for Cai to mostly just copy her competitors' solutions or get the exact thing she needs from her teammates (like Tala somehow possessing a surprise spice that makes objects float so Cai doesn't have to swim??) instead of relying on what should've been her own ingenuity when this competition is supposed to be about showing how skilled and talented she is. Despite the competition leaving Cai and her friends mostly unscathed, it is severely deadly for the other competitors yet their deaths are not really handled with the appropriate weight, mostly again because of the author's writing style. I never believed that Cai felt true regret, horror, or even fear for her own life because of how underwhelmingly everything is described.

Speaking of Cai herself, I know that she is described in the synopsis as hot-headed but she can be immensely frustrating, with the way that she is in a deadly competition serving food to gods who can kill her if they don't like her tone, yet she can't stop herself from speaking out and somehow everything turns out fine for her. It would've been more interesting if we actually saw consequences for Cai's hot-headedness and would've made the competition seem more lethal, as well as enhance Cai's later realization that the Banquet was a means of fear and control. The story was also heavily bogged down by the love triangle, and frankly, Cai's indecisiveness made her deeply unlikable to me. It was annoying how each boy kept pushing Cai to choose between them in the middle of a life-changing competition, but they had a point that she should choose instead of stringing them along because she even admits to herself she *knows* who she wants more. To Cai's credit, she does keep insisting that she needs to focus on the Banquet first and foremost but this is unfortunately undermined by her actions where she keeps kissing each boy a few pages later and constantly thinking about them. Still, she refuses to give an answer until the very end, and despite the losing boy being understandably heartbroken and pissed at her for stringing him along, she selfishly keeps pushing things to go back to normal. I really wish the story had solely focused on the Banquet and didn't have the love triangle forced in at every turn; even the minor and major gods were all pressing her for a choice, which just made things ridiculous.

As for the other characters, they were all terribly one-dimensional and their dialogue mostly very bland. I also didn't understand at all how they came to grow bonds with Cai, particularly Tala and Songwon; it just felt like after an eternity of ignoring her or being stand-offish, a switch flipped and they were suddenly best friends revealing deep secrets to each other. Tala's revelations were particularly baffling and not given enough weight. I also thought it was pretty inappropriate of Cai to get excited about her status the second Tala says her parents were killed. Lots of backstories were given as unnatural info-dumps, which again was underwhelming. The Empress, the overarching antagonist, was disappointingly one-note with not a hint of cunning or grace, just a caricature of a tyrant. How is this the woman who conquered most of the Continent and who has the privilege of dining with the gods?

I did enjoy the last surprise twist about the immortal peaches, but I found it slightly odd that Cai changed her mind about them solely to save one person and not, like, for the people of the Peninsula that she keeps telling the reader she would do anything to help protect against the Empress. Cai's vendetta against the Empress and ambitions to help the Peninsula felt kind of out of nowhere for her character and perhaps even too large for who she is, not to mention they aren't properly fleshed out to make us believe that that's what Cai wants. Aside from the tasty food descriptions, I also did like that the major gods were genderless, embodying both male and female, but that and the Empress's prominent position felt a little dissonant with the fact that strict gender roles supposedly still exist (which also weren't really enforced as a struggle Cai experiences despite us being told so). Additionally, the book could use another round of editing, as I found multiple typos including a misgendering of Indulgence, though I know this is an early copy and hopefully most were caught before publication.

Overall, I was really disappointed with this book and probably won't be picking up the sequel if there will be one.