Day: September 23, 2017

Tea AND Dragons?! #yesplease

The Tea Dragon Society

By: Kate O’Neil

I loved this book so much it warrants the second-ever gif on my blog. This was my face the entire time I was reading:

                                     

I picked up this beauty while I was browsing through the graphic novels on NetGalley and the title immediately caught my attention. How could I not read something about tea? The dragons were just an added bonus. I figured the story would be simple since this is a Middle Grade book (ages ~9-12) but boy was I in for a treat.

 

There are so many interesting things I’m having a hard time sorting them out in my head to write this review.

 

Let’s start with the major theme: traditions. The book begins with Greta questioning whether it’s still important for her to learn her mother’s craft. She comes from a line of blacksmiths, but apparently it’s a dying art. Along the way she runs into a dragon, which she later learns is a tea dragon. Like blacksmithing, raising a tea dragon is no longer a cherished skill. Greta, her friends and her mentors all grapple with whether, how and why people should keep traditions alive.

 

As for the dragons themselves, well, O’Neil certainly put time into creating their stories. Each dragon produces a specific type of tea. When the tea is brewed properly, is has magical properties and contains all of the memories it has with its caretaker. Each tea dragon has its own personality and they’re notoriously difficult to care for. They are quite unlike their full-dragon cousins.

 

Early in the story, Greta meets Minette, a lost girl. I don’t want to give too much of her backstory away, but I thought it was exceptionally clever of O’Neil to have a tea dragon pair with Minette in her time of need.

 

Throughout the novel, there’s also an LGBTQIA undertone. It’s not overtly obvious, in fact, unless you’re paying close attention you might miss it. While some novels attempt to push a political agenda down your throat in such a way that destroys the integrity of the story, the LGBTQ* elements were woven in so seamlessly that they just made sense.

 

The Tea Dragon Society was a well-written, beautifully illustrated, fully immersive experience. I’m actually kind of upset there aren’t more novels out (yet?).

 

I want to know how Greta and Minette grow. I want to find out more about their families. I want to see what becomes of blacksmithing, tea dragon raising and other old-world crafts. I want to see what happens to Hesekiel and Erik. How do they care for each other? What exactly happened during the battle the tea dragon alluded to?

 

If you’re reading this, do me a favor: grab a copy of The Tea Dragon Society and make sure all of your friends to the same. It comes out on October 31st but is already available for preorder on Amazon. It’s so wonderfully pure. It may feel like there’s little hope for humanity these days, but The Tea Dragon Society is a ray of sunshine in the darkness.

tea dragon society cover
Oni Press, 2017. 72 pgs

REPOST: Pinterest Would Have Been Better

cover of 30 day whole food challenge
Kindle, 2017. 135 pgs

30 Day Whole Food Challenge: Essential Recipes to Help you Lose Weight Naturally, Stay Healthy, and Feel Good

By: Amanda Rice

 

I’m starting to think I’m the Simon Cowell of book reviews.

 

Recently, I’ve started requesting “project books” from publishers. Desiring a reprieve from information overload, I look to project books to give me something to work on while I read. Project books give me the opportunity to start new, healthy habits.

 

30 Day Whole Food Challenge was the first project book I requested and it was awful. I ignored the fact the the book was based on a fad diet and decided I would try out some recipes to see if anything tasted good. I’ve read my fair share of cookbooks in the past; this “book” was really more like a pamphlet. My copy clocked in at a whopping 108 pages with ample blank space, though the Kindle Edition supposedly has 135 pages.

 

Cookbooks usually have plenty of pictures, and most cookbooks will give information regarding the specific nutrients in a meal, substitutions and maybe a bit of interesting information regarding the dish. 30 Day Whole Food Challenge did none of those things. It would have been nice to see some pictures of preparation steps or serving ideas.

 

I’m tempted to call this the anti-cookbook. By now, I’m used to modifying recipes to suit my dietary restrictions. I swap pork for beef or chicken depending on the recipe, and when I don’t feel like eating meat,(I try to limit my meat consumption to once or twice per week, I’m slowly transitioning to vegetarianism) I can usually remove or replace the meat.

 

With 30 Day Whole Food Challenge, however, most of the recipes required meat, and it became exhausting trying to figure out how to adjust them to my liking. Since this book was about whole food, I expected more vegetable dishes than meat dishes, but at least 2/3 of the book is dedicated to meat.

 

Besides that, there are a lot of rather uncommon ingredients listed in the recipes (guar gum? water kefir?). I don’t live near a health food store, and a lot of these recipes can’t be completed with the stuff someone has in an average kitchen. If have to either shop online or trek to almost the neighboring city to go to Whole Foods, and Whole Foods produce is out of my price range.

 

Aw man, don’t even get me started on the typos! There were typos all throughout the book, from incorrect cook times to misleading recipe labels. One of the foods on the “allowed” list is also on the “disallowed” list. Which is it? It’s clear Rice typed this book and hit publish without giving it a second glance. To be fair, I received an ARC, but most ARCs have at least been glanced through and edited by the authors before they’re sent for review.

 

I suppose this book is good for a very specific type of person. If you already know what Whole30 is and don’t have any particular dietary restriction, then you might find this cookbook helpful. There are plenty of recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner but there’s very little information about what the Whole30 diet actually is. This book would make a great addition to another foundation text on the Whole30 diet.

 

If you’re just starting out on your health-food journey, you might want to skip this one.

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