Cooking with Monsters (Book 2): Harm-to-Table

by Jordan Alsaqa, Vivian Truong (illustrator)

Fast-paced monster fights are back on the menu in this critically acclaimed YA graphic novel featuring high school romances and a diverse cast of LGBTQIA+ characters that is perfect for fans of Naruto, My Hero Academia, and other great manga. Our heroic chefs-in-training are back for their second spicy year at the Gourmand Academy of Culinary Combat. Missed connections and bitter rivalries are rekindled as Hana, Olivia, Bobby, and the others struggle with new monsters, new techniques, and new recipes! But things are only made more difficult when the crew is split up. As Hana and some of her classmates are sent on their first field mission to Clayton Ranch to uncover the secret behind attacks on the local livestock, Olivia, Bobby, and the remaining students in Gourmet City find themselves in the midst of a culinary crime ring. And both seem to be connected to a mysterious band of poachers working for a charismatic and dangerous leader... If the students can’t stop her, Gourmand may just go up in smoke!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Fantasy, Comics, Romance, Food

260 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 2024

Reviews

[Sophy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new spin on a world with monsters, where kids go to school to be master chefs who learn to hunt and cook monsters. Also, learn how to persevere and not make the monsters extinct. At the same time, a group of people is trying to push their hands so they can kill all the monsters.

[Bibliohiker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. This was another fun and action packed read in the series that had quite a few surprises. I can’t for the next book!

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved the first volume in this series, but the second wasn't nearly as entertaining for me. The plot really dragged for me, maybe partly because there are a lot of very wordy panels. I also felt like Olivia got way too easy of a pass for how she treats Bobby throughout this book. Their relationship is kept intentionally vague to make her look less horrible, but they were very clearly dating. Maybe they hadn't had a boyfriend/girlfriend, exclusivity discussion, but it fits my definition of infidelity for her to flirt with and decide to date someone else without clearly breaking with him first.

[Wyatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Manages to do a lot and be OK. Half-functions on how annoying its characters can be in order to drive the drama forward. If you think hard about it, nothing makes any sense in this world. The bad guys in this have a philosophy that makes sense, then doesn't, then does, without actually changing. Same goes for the good guys. Played out concepts smashed together, that’s all it is. You can pinpoint every piece of inspiration for this thing. Still, I enjoy that it's going full throttle with those ideas and the pacing is well done. I think it will hit its stride by the next and be something I feel is actually pretty good.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is actually more a 4.5 stars, but I'm rounding up because this series is so perfectly within my interests!

The thing I most dislike is the betrayal and a bit of how the kids (particularly Hana) just leap in without thinking, but that's actually par for the course for action-oriented stories. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a story where the main character(s) DIDN'T do something stupid once in a while!

Or, ones that aren't super boring as a result, anyway.

Otherwise, another great extension of this fascinating world where basically they eat Pokémon instead of cockfighting with them, haha. A little confusing for complete newcomers, but mostly as far as how the characters relate to each other, though that's easy enough to pick up by the end of the book.

[Jaxine Rivera · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I was definitely pleasantly surprised how this graphic novel is unraveling especially in this second volume how Olivia, Bobby and Hana's relationships progressed and we get to explore more of the world and a new ability with monsters and a new antagonist as we find out more about what happened with Chef Ara and her past and how that comes to bite them back. I am really happy that some things were mentioned at the end with how Olivia isn't excused from her behavior, but also like it does bother me how the progression of Hana's and Olivia's romantic relationship as soon as Bobby is gone, but I really hope Bobby works on himself on his journey and frickin I knew one of their friends would go join the poachers and it still frustrates me, but also it makes sense for his character despite getting redeemed in the first volume.

I do enjoy the pun names of the monsters and the conflict with regular folk who are not warrior chefs being affected by the monsters. The weapons being kitchen utensils I can see, but it made me laugh to see someone using measuring cups as a weapon.

Despite all that, all I can say is I am very excited for the next volume to be released later this year!

[Christine LaBatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second installation of this YA graphic novel finds the crew back for their second year and dealing with poachers and smugglers. This series is really fun and unique with the food monsters! You definitely need to read the first volume before this one otherwise a lot of relationships and plot points will be confusing. They are easy to read though, so it will be easy to catch up! I thought we got some really good plot progression here, and there were some big plot twists that I did not see coming! Characters who I thought might betray the main crew were fine and then there were surprise betrayals! It also sets up the next volume nicely as we can see the tension building even more. Can't wait to see what awaits Gourmand next time!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Geordie · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the failings of the first book in this series was, it wanted to be a silly action/adventure, anime-style comic, but also wanted to be taken seriously. The second book doubles-down on the serious, and this is NOT an improvement. The book is full of attempts to have serious relationship conflicts alongside silly monsters, and it drags. The book is swamped with angst and long pages full of dialogue that is often repeating emotion-fests that filled earlier pages. Attempts to be serious about environmentalism feel lackluster when the book's heroes are pretty cool about killing and eating monsters that THEY think are okay to kill/eat. The first book was at least some light fun, this one drags on joylessly in a way that makes it feel twice as long as it actually is.

[Artnoose McMoose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second of the series, and it’s too bad I’ll have to wait several months for the next one.

Our sous-chefs return for their second year at the culinary academy for aspiring warrior chefs. Friendships turn into a love triangle, and old family stories start to be revealed. Some of the students go off to their first hunt and reunite into some poachers. The ones left at the academy try to break up a smuggling ring, which proves more difficult that they expect. We start to get an idea of the greater sociopolitical machinations of this fantasy world.

[Bozhena Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you IDW Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this book. The adventure continues in the second book of the culinary combat series Cooking with Monsters. Same great characters, same awesome graphics, more monsters, more combat, and non-stop action makes this a fun read. Can’t wait for the next volume!

[Nathan Mensah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I NEED MORE

It is a crime more people aren’t reading this series. Part 2 was a very worthy follow up in this ongoing series!!! We get to see more of the world, characters grow, and an ensuing mystery. Counting down the days until we get Part 3!

[Krystal Caloia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Year 2.
Damiano went Rogue.
Hana and Olivia are....dating?

I wonder what Plan B is......

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still fun, more romantic drama. Still very high school with monsters. Feels more like middle book. Solid, but not as fresh as the first book.