The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: A Venom Dark and Sweet

Series: The Book of Tea #2

Author: Judy I. Lin

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Mythology

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review:

The enthralling conclusion to Judy I. Lin’s Book of Tea duology—A Magic Steeped in Poison and A Venom Dark and Sweet—is sure to enchant fans of Adrienne Young and Leigh Bardugo.

A great evil has come to the kingdom of Dàxi. The Banished Prince has returned to seize power, his rise to the dragon throne aided by the mass poisonings that have kept the people bound in fear and distrust.

Ning, a young but powerful shénnóng-shi—a wielder of magic using the ancient and delicate art of tea-making—has escorted Princess Zhen into exile. Joining them is the princess’ loyal bodyguard, Ruyi, and Ning’s newly healed sister, Shu. Together the four young women travel throughout the kingdom in search of allies to help oust the invaders and take back Zhen’s rightful throne.

But the golden serpent still haunts Ning’s nightmares with visions of war and bloodshed. An evil far more ancient than the petty conflicts of men has awoken, and all the magic in the land may not be enough to stop it from consuming the world… – summary from Goodreads

A Venom Dark and Sweet was an interesting conclusion to this duology.

Again, I wanted to like this more than I did. It was just okay with a lackluster ending.

I think this book took an interesting turn from the first book. It really brought in gods and demon character that I didn’t really see in the first book. I felt like this came out of left field.

The ending was also a little rough. I felt like it ended too simply. Again, this thing with the demon wasn’t really set up properly. The ending wasn’t developed and, while there was struggle, it wrapped up in roughly a page.

Then there was a thing with the POV. There was both Ning and Kang’s POV, which I really enjoyed. However, Kang’s POV was in the third person while Ning’s was in the first person. I thought I would really like Kang’s chapters, but the third person POV made me feel farther away from his character.

I also think that we could have gotten more from the characters, especially the side characters. I wanted more from Kang, Ruyi, Zhen, and Shu. They really weren’t developed further from the first book.

The romance also wasn’t very intriguing or developed. There was this connection between Ning and Kang, but it wasn’t explored or developed. They truly only had this connection and not much else. There was something there, but there needed to be more.

Ning was just okay. I don’t think there was much character development, and she didn’t really intrigue me at all.

The magic throughout this story was super interesting. I love that it was tea based. We also got to explore more of Asian culture, which I really enjoyed. I also really enjoyed the character of Lady An. She was so intriguing, and I really liked her.

I think I read this duology just to read it, not because I particularly enjoyed it. I’m glad I gave it a chance, but I probably won’t reread it. This duology had a unique magic system, wonderful Asian culture and representation, and female relationships.