Review – A Thousand Recipes for Revenge (Chefs of the Five Gods, Book 1) by Beth Cato (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Length: 406 pages
Publisher: 47North
Release Date: June 1, 2023
ASIN: B0BBNBWRPR
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Chefs of the Five Gods series
Source: eGalley for review from NetGalley
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Adamantine “Ada” Garland has an empathic connection to food and wine, a magical perception of aromas, flavors, and ingredients. Invaluable property of the royal court, Ada was in service to the Five Gods and to the Gods-ordained rulers of Verdania—until she had enough of injustice and bloodshed and deserted, seeking to chart her own destiny. When mysterious assassins ferret her out after sixteen years in hiding, Ada, now a rogue Chef, and her beloved Grand-mère run for their lives, only to find themselves on a path toward an unexpected ally.
A foreign princess in a strange court, Solenn unknowingly shares more with Ada than an epicurean gift. They share blood. With her newfound magical perception, she becomes aware of a plot to kill her fiancé, the prince. It’s part of a ploy by adversarial forces in the rival country of Albion to sow conflict, and Solenn is set up to take the blame.
As Ada’s and Solenn’s paths converge, a mother and her long-lost daughter reunite toward a common goal, and against a shadowy enemy from Ada’s past who is out for revenge. But what sacrifices must be made? What hope is there when powerful Gods pick sides in a war simmering to eruption?”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in The Chefs of the Five Gods series. I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley to review.
Thoughts: Previous to reading this book I had read Cato’s Clockwork Dagger duology (loved it) and the first two books in her Blood of Earthe series (loved the first book, thought the second book was just okay). I liked this, but did think the beginning was slow. However, the story really picked up in the second half. I usually really enjoy the steampunk elements Cato adds to her story but that wasn’t a theme of this book.
This story alternates POV between Ada and Solenn. Ada was a Chef (has magical perception of food called an epicurean gift) in service to the Five Gods, but left that service and went rogue after many years in service to the army. Solenn is a foreign princess that is being married to a prince of Verdania in order to unite the two nations; however things change for her when she finds out she has the magic of a Chef.
This book starts out pretty slow. Ada is fleeing from assassins with her Grand-mere but she doesn’t know exactly why they are after her now (after many year of hiding) and starts out by trying to figure out why rogue Chefs are suddenly being targeted. This is a lot of her running from place to place trying to put facts together. Solenn’s start is also a bit slow; she is trying to adjust to the new foreign court and befriend both her future husband (who is 14 years old and pretty much a boy still) and his friends. Things get complicated for Solenn when she finds out she has the epicurean gifts of a Chef. It takes a while for these pieces to come together and really get interesting.
I struggled to stay engaged and interested in the first half of the book. I did enjoy the unique magic system and the world-building here but I didn’t actually start to enjoy the story until halfway through the book. There are some big reveals halfway through the book and as we learn more about where epicurean (a magical substance) comes from, things start to get really intriguing. The characters were mediocre to me, I didn’t really engage with them or care about them that much. This may have been because of the constant POV switching, which broke up the story quite a bit.
This book is hugely politically driven. A lot of page space is given to discussing alliances with other nations and past and potential future wars. I am not huge into reading fantasy that focuses on politics. Again, there are some other interesting elements that come into play later in the book but it was a bit too little to late for me to love this.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I ended up liking this but didn’t love it. I am glad I finished it because there are some very intriguing fantasy/magic elements that come into play later in the book. However, the first half of the book was slow for me and I didn’t like the political focus. I am on the fence about whether I will continue this series right now. I am leaning towards not continuing it because the first half of this book felt like a chore to get through, but I did enjoy some of the twists revealed in the second half. This also did not include the heavy steampunk themes that I really love Cato for, so that was a bit disappointing.
