A Magic Steeped In Poison by Judy I Lin is a #1 New York times bestseller. it is a magical young adult fantasy, the first of the book of tea duology. is it worth the hype? let’s find out!
Table of Contents
A Magic Steeped In Poison Overview
Provided by Arthur:
For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that its her own fault. she was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her. the poison tea that now threatened to also take her sister, shu.
When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom’s greatest Shennong-Shi- masters of the ancient and magical art of tea- making- she travels to the imperial city to compete.
The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be nings only chance to save her sisters life. but between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious ( and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, ning might actually be the one in more danger.
Writing
In a Magic Steeped In Poison the pacing on this book was 50/50. its starts of good and then in the middle It was slow and kind of boring. I had to put this book down and come back months later. After I picked this book back up months later I was able to finish it. after about half way through the book it starts getting good and everything starts to make sense.
The mixing of the tea healing properties plus fantasy elements made this book far more interesting. It was very cool depending on how you pour, how long you steep, and how much leaves you use creates different outcomes and effects of the tea. In this department the like the world-building and knowledge was greatly developed.
Characters
The characters in a magic steeped in poison where not that well developed. I didn’t feel connected with the characters at all. The main character, Ning barely had any character traits that I could remember. The love interest, Kang I felt like I didn’t know him at all, there was barely any mention of him and it felt like he came in at the most random time.
The characters just felt all over the place and were not developed well. I do hope to see some character development in book 2 of the book of tea duology.
Pictures & imagery
I definitely judged a book by its cover when I bought it. Its so beautiful.
On the cover of the book it’s very colorful. There’s a lot of things going on with the tea steam, and flowers which point to the magical aspect of the tea in this book
Also inside the book there’s a picture of what I think is ning & kang
and then the actual book without the dust cover. I just think the pink is gorgeous!
A Magic Steeped In Poison Review Conclusion
so to answer the question is a magic steeped in poison, New York times bestseller worth the hype? unfortunately its not. the plot is amazing, the whole aspect of healing and magical tea is very interesting. but the book can get slow at times and sometimes seem to drag. the characters aren’t developed well and seem boring. I know they are just words on a page , but in this book they actually feel like just words on a page.
overall this book had a good plot, but the lack of depth and emotional pull towards the characters is something it severely lacks. my rating on the book was 3.5 / 5 stars.
did you read this book? did you like it?
Genre: young adult fantasy
Page count: 375
Release date: March 29th 2022
