A Venom Dark and Sweet (The Book of Tea, 2)

Star Rating: —> 5 StarsLOVED THIS DUOLOGY SO FREAKING MUCH!A high-stakes, utterly transportive, action packed conclusion to The Book Of Tea Duology!“Soon there will no longer be an empire to rule, and we'll all reside in the serpent's realm of nightmares.Soon none of it will matter at all.”This was a beautifully laid out Chinese mythology-based tale of Gods, monsters, & the legends of shénnóng-shī. I cannot express enough how lush, beautiful, yet absolutely readable prose was! I fell even harder for this story than I could have ever imagined! Judy I. Lin’s take on the magical tea makers of Chinese legend is just SO original— an absolute breath of fresh air. I look forward to reading so much more from her!I LOVED having Kang’s POV this time around! His tale of redemption was woven with care, and this tale is as much his, as Ning’s.Ning was as STRONG AF as EVER ! I love seeing female POCs in SUCH. STRONG. ROLES! Ning is both lovely and kind, & cutthroat and vicious! She is a character I couldn’t help but fall deeper & deeper in love with !“I want to kiss him, and hit him, in equal measure.”Lmfao! Yas we loves this!I ADORED (duh) the enemies to lovers dynamic present here, as I always do, haha. This is more of a background theme, but you can definitely still feel that tension!Gah I just fell head over heels for this duology!1000% recommend!!!Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher—Fewel & Friends/ Macmillan, & Judy I. Lin for the e-arc!!!!________________these covers are just… my god… PLSSSSSSSS

I loves the 1st book. The imagery, the relationships being built, and the story build up as a whole was well paced for me. I got know characters well enough to care for them while wanting to know more about the political game being played. The magic system was really interesting and unique to me, I would love to see it animated or brought to cinema solely for the portray of the magic.This 2nd book felt too segmented for me to care for the characters in the same way. While I thought the dual story telling fron Ning and Kang's perspective was fun, some chapters felt too short. By the time I was engaged in what was happening the chapter ended and I'd have to reset.For as much as the ending builds up to, I thought it fell short simply due to length. The scene that I consider to be the main climax of the serpent is wrapped up in less than 10 pages. And then the story ends in another 10 or so. I understand nit wanting a long drawn out fight, but it just felt like it happened SO fast given that that was what I felt the entire story was building up to.I think this ending and it's length would have been perfectly fine if the story focused more on the relationships being built like the first book did, but this 2nd book felt more focused on the missions to me.I would still highly recommend though.

I love this author! Her world building is descriptive but not to the point it takes over the plot. I loved the first book in this series and enjoyed the closure in this sequel. The blend of ancient magics, romance, and political chaos was so enjoyable and wrapped up seamlessly. Highly recommend! I have been struggling to read as of late and I flew through these books quickly.

I loved this duology and I thought this book wrapped up really well! I loved that we got kang’s point of view in this book and I was so so happy to read the ending! It was thrilling! I wish we could’ve learned a little bit more about the sacred items but either way, I thought this was excellent!

This is a series that I wanted so very badly to love because it has so many well done elements but the characters are painfully two dimensional and the plot was barely there. So why did I stick around so long? The food descriptions are awesome. The magic system is really cool even if it is poorly fleshed out and explained so poorly that it seems like it's constantly contradicting itself. The mythology woven in is awesome. Unfortunately none of this saves a series with a loose plot and characters who have less development than noodles in hot water.

Condition exactly as described. Packaged well. Definitely will buy from again!!

I thoroughly enjoyed 'Steeped in Poison' and expected a different kind of continuation from 'Venom'.The POV shift from Ning to Kang and Ning threw me a bit but I quickly adapted. There was less of the beautiful imagery and remarkable food descriptions that I savored so much in 'Poison'. The ending was just too neatly and quickly completed for what had developed before.This one just felt too formulaic for me. I still liked it, but I didn't love it.

Immersive and plot driven, with a satisfying end. Would recommend!

Llegó en excelentes condiciones, una esquina ligeramente golpeada pero es casi imperceptible, no estaba sucio ni dobladas las hojas, llegó un poco antes de lo esperado.

Loved every moment of it. Ning’s and Kang’s connection, Ning’s relationship with Zhen as well. Really enjoyed it all. Highly recommend it

I loved the first book in the series, and this one was just as good! Loved the tension, fast pace, and excellent world-building!

I have found some misprints in my book :/

Couldn’t wait for the german version because I loved the first part so much!!