Eight Tastes of Treachery was a phenomenal sequel to Seven Recipes for Revolution. I have been waiting for this sequel since I finished and I love the frame narrative and the mythological stakes. Keep reading this book review of Eight Tastes of Treachery for my full thoughts.
Summary
Three years after eating the rich, Paprick Bessa is an infamous warchef known as the Butcher. Numbed by grief and war with the ousted rulers, Paprick no longer enjoys cooking and can’t create new recipes. So when Ranch finally reaches a tenuous ceasefire with the Rare, Paprick seizes the chance to reheat his passions, opening a restaurant with a menu all his own.
But conspiracy interrupts the opening night, his own emphon destroy the restaurant, and all signs point to the neighboring Empire of the Badgeboar. Whoever orchestrated this threatens to destroy everything Paprick and Ranch’s common fought for, and the Butcher leaves no threat breathing. To find the attacker and stop another all-out war, Paprick, his partner Cori, and his kitchen brigade journey west to curry favor with the Empire’s questionable elite and investigate its mysterious religions.
Treacherous forces and dire prophecies lie in wait for Paprick’s arrival, and all the while, the Rare re-arm in the east. Facing magics and flavors unlike any he’s ever tasted, Paprick will have to choose what matters most – his people, his passions, or his partner. He can’t save all three.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Eight Tastes of Treachery asks us whether we want the heroic life or a life of contentment. But what if that heroic life is thrust upon us? If that’s our fate in life and that we have to be the hero and have to lose it all? Eight Tastes of Treachery is about Paprick’s quest for future. It’s easy to fight for revenge, for the ones we love, but what about if we have to put it all on the line for something more? If the allure of power beckons and it requires us to lose it all and we can’t say no? With another frame narrative, Eight Tastes of Treachery is an action packed sequel about the consequences of our actions. There’s the same heart, the same recklessness, the same humor. And it reminds us that the lives of heroes are rarely peaceful.
Eight Tastes of Treachery examines mortality versus immortality. Of putting it all on the line for the future which isn’t ours. The burden of being chosen. To fight for a better future even if we won’t see it. Thematically, Eight Tastes of Treachery is where it shines as the pacing was a bit rushed at the end. I loved how Paprick’s story explores when the powers at be use treachery and cruelty combined with a willingness to let others pay the price. It explores the corruption of power, the idea of being able to control unchecked power, and who pays the cost.
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Find Eight Tastes of Treachery on Goodreads, Storygraph, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.