Interstellar MegaChef

Flavour Hacker #1

by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

Looking for your one shot to rise to the "top of the pots" in the cutthroat world of interstellar cuisine? Look no further--you might have what it takes to be an Interstellar MegaChef!

Stepping off a long-haul star freighter from Earth, Saras Kaveri has one bag of clothes, her little flying robot Kili... and an invitation to compete in the galaxy's most watched, most prestigious cooking show. Interstellar MegaChef is the showcase of the planet Primus's austere, carefully synthesised cuisine. No one from Earth--where they're so incredibly primitive they still cook with fire--has ever graced its flowmetal cookstations before, or smiled awkwardly for its buzzing drone-cams. Until now.

Corporate prodigy Serenity Ko, inventor of the smash-hit sim SoundSpace, has just got messily drunk at a floating bar, narrowly escaped an angry mob and been put on two weeks' mandatory leave to rest and get her work-life balance back. Perfect time to start a new project! And she's got just the idea: a sim for food. Now she just needs someone to teach her how to cook.

A chance meeting in the back of a flying cab has Saras and Serenity Ko working together on a new technology that could change the future of food--and both their lives--forever...

Genres: Science Fiction, Queer, LGBT, Audiobook, Adult, Fiction, Lesbian

453 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 2024

Reviews

[Heather Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy cats! “Great British Bake Off in space with queer women” was a brilliant way to sell this book but it is SO MUCH MORE than that. Interstellar Megachef is EASILY one of the best books I have ever read in my life. Yes, there’s a simmering, layered love story between two morally grey queer characters. And it’s great! And yes, there’s a reality cooking competition! But man, this book is: the colonization of food, cultural hegemony, the ethical conundrums of technology and artificial intelligence, xenophobia, representation vs. the peddling of pipe dreams, food as love, food as sustenance, food as art, food as relationships, food as memory, culture wars, the ethics of power, idealism as imperialism, and identity inside all that. When I got to the last page, I blurted out, “My god, this is the ultimate anti-Gatsby” and I mean that as the highest possible compliment. It’s also just gloriously imagined and plotted sci-fi novel.

Thank you to Rebellion | Solaris and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and provide and honest review.

[Siavahda · Rating 2 out of 5]

*I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.*

Welp, talk about a major disappointment. I was so excited for ‘Desi-dominant far-future anti-colonial foodie sci-fi’, but it was kind of like running smack into a wall. Face-first.

The worldbuilding…is a mess. Superficially, it’s very, very cool – humanity has spread throughout the galaxy, we’ve encountered aliens, and white people are DEFINITELY not in charge any more (about time). The centre of human civilisation – no longer Earth – is heavily socialist, extremely serious about protecting the environment, and populated by cities of constantly-shifting buildings. Massively intriguing!

But the ‘socialism’ is functionally indistinguishable from modern capitalism – supposedly no one owns property and the city assigns objects and possessions to whoever needs them, but there are people decked in jewels (who needs jewels???) and working in corporations that definitely don’t seem socialist in the slightest. Everyone on this planet – I kid you not – has one of nine names, which besides being objectively ridiculous and boring also makes it VERY hard to keep track of who’s who. And the cities of moving buildings are very cool, but how exactly people get around when maps etc are useless is hand-waved completely, and why are all the buildings in constant motion if they’re supposedly reacting to the needs of citizens? I don’t need my apartment to get bigger or smaller or change shape from minute to minute, only if something out of the ordinary happens. ??? Worst of all, Interstellar MegaChef is supposed to be two thousand years in the future, and, just – no. Not even a little. A few hundred years, maybe, but two thousand? I don’t think Lakshminarayan really thought about how much change occurs in two thousand years – look at how much the world has changed in just the last century! – because it’s definitely not reflected in the civilisation/s she’s created. You or I, fellow reader, could step onto planet Primus and get along just fine, if someone gave us a translator box – nothing about the culture is significantly different to the modern West at all.

Like… If you are going to write far-future fiction, can you PLEASE not do this? Far-future settings should be WEIRD. Or at least radically different to the world we know today. Unraveling by Benjamin Rosenbaum does this incredibly well; Interstellar MegaChef really Does Not.

(And why, in two thousand years, is Earth still climate-destroyed? Did it get fixed but then wrecked again? We have the tech to terraform planets but not fix our own? What??? And if that’s the case, how is anyone still living on Earth at all?)

Plus, the aliens don’t feel like aliens. They read as humans in pretty costumes. That’s definitely a pet peeve of mine and I’m so sick of it. Don’t bring aliens into it unless they’re going to be alien, ffs! I get that inventing a new sapient species, one that doesn’t think like us because why would they, is very hard – that’s fine! Just don’t do it, then! No one said you had to!

Gah.

What’s going to be more important to most readers (I know most people aren’t as obsessed/nit-picky about worldbuilding as moi) is that none of the characters are very interesting – they’re all morally grey and unlikeable, but not in ways that make you intrigued – and this is really not a foodie book. The cooking competition is over almost before it starts; our chef character doesn’t even make it to the second episode, and there’s no lavish, delicious descriptions of the meals or food-prep at all. And despite the cheerful pink cover and too many people comping this book to the Great British Bake-Off, Interstellar MegaChef is really grim, actually – there are no fluffy, feel-good vibes here, which would be fine if this book had just been marketed more accurately instead of, you know, sending me in with completely wrong expectations.

When are publicity teams going to learn that that’s a fast way to make us hate a book? Sure, you made me buy it, but I’m going to tell all my friends and anyone who reads my blog that the marketing is a lie, so overall, I’m pretty sure this tactic is, in technical terms, fucking stupid actually.

The prose is very bland – some readers are going to enjoy it just fine, and I do think it’s very…accessibly written? But good luck figuring out how to picture…pretty much anything at all. There’s virtually no description – not even visuals, never mind things like taste and so on.

Is it anti-colonialist? Yep! Very, very heavy-handedly, I thought, but possibly it gets better with that later in the book. The first 20% was just embarrassing, honestly, like it needed to be SO obvious because what if readers didn’t get the message???

So yeah. This was a hard fail for me, but. If you go in KNOWING that it’s not a foodie book, nor a feel-good book – and if you don’t care about the worldbuilding – then I think it’s possible to enjoy this. (Lots of other early readers have!) But it’s an absolute NO THANK YOU from me.

[Gyalten Lekden · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Rounded from 2.5)

This is definitely a journey. It’s a twee sci-fi romp that tries to explore some really heavy themes about identity, imperialism, ambition, and the human condition. Unfortunately, it felt a little overwrought, for me. But let me start with what I enjoyed. I thought the narrative pacing was good. Almost every chapter swapped POVs, and that kept the story from ever feeling heavy or dragged down. The writing was clean and fit the story well, and the dialogue felt naturalistic (given the world of the story). The ancillary characters actually felt rounded and interesting, which I appreciated. The main characters were compelling, but also kind of expected. They were each defined by very specific character traits and everything else about them felt like it was mapped around those, so their journeys felt a little expected. Still, they were competent and strong, and I enjoyed spending time with them.

But the story and the plot, as well as the social commentary… it all just felt somehow both muddled and like a sledgehammer, without any finesse. I appreciate and agree with the types of social (and political) injustices that the author is calling out, and I really enjoyed them being explored in art. But it felt undirected. It felt like it was trying to be a satire, but of who? Everyone, whether they be the humans still on Earth or those living on Primus, were duplicitous hypocrites. So, who is the satire directed at, if everyone is just kind of awful, whether you are giving the pretense of being inclusive but actually xenophobic and exclusionary or whether you are a planet that largely is still overrun with violence, political instability, and greed? The only characters that seemed free of the hypocrisy are those who are basically the back-to-nature, luddite hippies of this world, and even they are introduced in a riot. It just felt like a lot of heavy ideas but just sprayed out in all directions. I don’t need to root for anyone, especially not a government, but none of the critique felt pointed, it just felt broad and lost some of its emotional resonance. By trying to do too much everything felt less significant. Similarly, the world-building just felt, well, manufactured. It is hard to create a world that has connections to Earth but set 2,600-ish years in the future, I will grant that, but it just didn’t feel convincing, it felt like all the seams were visible. The way some advancements are so beyond what we have now, and some other areas seem not to have progressed at all… it didn’t feel convincing. The story is similar, I appreciated all the individual parts but when they came together it just felt too convenient. I especially didn’t think the romantic sub-plot added anything, it felt superfluous, and while obviously there are a handful of things left open for the sequel it just felt both like the plot I expected while still not being believable. Really, it was hard to find any confidence that Saraswati would make the decisions to do what she did, given her commitment to being a chef and the clear and obvious potential ramifications of her actions, ramifications that every other chef commented on. Nothing in the story convinced me she would be dumb enough to not realize the consequences or self-serving enough to ignore them. Ambition, that’s it? It just didn’t feel like it lined up with everything the story had built up about her to that point.

Look, the novel is quite ambitious. It is unafraid at tackling issues of identity and acceptance and how we struggle with making the best decisions in less-than-ideal circumstances. Nothing about it is bad, it just feels a little heavy-handed, not in its messaging style, necessarily, but in the way there are multiple messages that are overlapping and intersecting each other, along with its character and story decisions… it all just felt quite labored, and while the twee/playful tone went some ways in mediating this, giving a fertile ground for making social commentary, I just didn’t think the pieces all fit together to be the whole I had hoped. I do think the narrative pacing and the ideas are quite strong, and I really appreciate the importance of food and its relationship to identity, to home, to knowing/ignoring oneself. You might love this story, there are certainly fun bits to catch on to and some ideas that will really resonate with a lot of people. For me everything felt too clunky and over-worked, but I would rather a lot of ambition and even more interesting ideas be handled a little clumsily than not have them at all.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Solaris, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[BookishKB · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt flat for me. There wasn’t a single likable character and ultimately the book felt very forced.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an entire culture obsessed with its past, while struggling desperately to assert its relevance in a rapidly evolving future.

Saraswati Kaveri has arrived to Primus all the way from long-forgotten, often-maligned Earth with her tech-bot best friend and a dream: to compete on Interstellar MegaChef and show everyone on Earth and the universe that she can cook. Except...nothing goes to plan, and as she struggles to find her footing in the culturally elitist world of Primus, she stumbles into tech genius Serenity Ko and a gambit to change the concept of food forever.

And yet, every one of their traditions was preserved in a bell jar, hallowed like the ancient relic of a saint, never questioned or re-examined.

This book was so good.

It's a scathing indictment of empire and xenophobia and cultural superiority and immigration, with heavy, heavy comparisons to the UK and India. There is also a lovely idea of the role food plays in culture, and not a little jab at the elitist mentalities of the chefs of the Great British Bake-Off when they encounter non-white foods and BIPOC chefs.

"I don't know if I'll ever run into you again, and I hope I don't, because talking with you is like being stabbed with a billion needles all at once, but I won't forget your kindness."

Wrapped in the commentary is the story of Saraswati, who is trying to do her best and figure out her shit—and Serenity Ko, who is also trying to do her best (sure?) and figure out her shit. Both women are at odds personality-wise, and both are embroiled at opposite ends of a galaxy-wide conspiracy that neither is really aware of.

I really enjoyed how their relationship transformed and changed over the course of the book, as Serenity Ko very, very slowly got her shit together and realized that creation isn't a monolith but a framework of people, and as Saraswati found her place in Primus society. I wasn't entirely sold on one aspect of their relationship, but it was relatively new by the book's end.

There's more stuff going on, but the book does end in a something of a cliffhanger, so I'm hoping that the loose plot points will be resolved in book 2.

Anywho, if you're looking for a book that skewers the racist microaggressions of GBBO, this is the book for you.

I received an ARC from the publisher

[Emma Wheatley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m unsure if I liked this. I do know I want a snarky robot friend who lives on my shoulder and whispers a sarcastic commentary.

*update* having let it sit a while I’ve realised the reason I’m unsure on this book is the cover and premise both promise lighthearted fun cooking with a hint of romance. That’s not what this is. It’s a commentary on xenophobia and elitism, in the cooking world but also generally. If you’re after something heavier then that’s fine but I was not so it was jarring.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was extremely clever. Not perfect, but clever. Between this one and The Ten Percent Thief I’m prepared to add Lavanya Lakshminarayan to my “auto-read” list.

This is set about 2000 years in the future. Humans have colonized other planets across the galaxy; the Earth is (still) a shitshow, but the colonies were all founded on principles of sustainability and the collective good. People are still people, but the colony worlds seem to, on the whole, be living up to their ideals. More or less. This book takes place on the first of those colony worlds, Primus. The Primians will tell you - without prompting and at length - about just how great they are at those ideals, especially compared to those barbaric Earthlings.

Our main characters are Saraswati Kaveri (Saras to her friends) and Serenity Ko. Saras is a refugee from Earth, and a talented chef. She’s determined to compete on - and win - the biggest show in the galaxy, Interstellar MegaChef, despite the disdain that Primians have for everything Earth (cuisine not the least). Ko is a rising star at XP Inc, a company that uses nano biotech to deliver experiences ranging from reality-augmenting to fully immersive. But her boss is making her take a sabbatical, much to Ko’s annoyance, because her work-life balance is non-existent and she needs to get a better perspective. While on sabbatical, she hits on her best idea yet: eating as a simulated experience. Someone can eat a plate of what is, essentially, NutraLoaf, but thanks to XP Inc’s integrated nanotech get the sensory experience of some of the greatest meals ever cooked. Unfortunately, despite being the granddaughter of a famous Primain cookbook author and restaurant critic, Ko knows absolutely nothing about food (drinks, she’s good on). If only there was someone who could help her learn…

As a work of science fiction, this has a lot going on. Partly it’s commentary on cultural imperialism - the irony of the Primian disdain for Saras’ big, bold flavors in favor of their more sedate “refined” was not lost on me, given that the author is Indian. It poses an interesting question with this immersive virtual food tech - what is lost by convenience? It definitely has its good points, in that it has the potential to deliver these wonderful experiences across the galaxy to people who could otherwise never experience. But it also has its dangers, both as a tool of cultural imperialism (reinforcing Primus’ place at the cultural apex of humanity) and as a tool of propaganda if in the wrong hands (the ability for something external to influence what a person experiences with this degree of finesse).

And what about the effect this will have on the culture of food? It’s not a huge thing to Ko, but it is to Saras and Ko’s grandmother. Even if it’s not quite as good as the “real” thing - and Ko is determined to make it so - will there still be a place for “real” food in the world Ko is trying to build? Humans, as Ko’s grandmother points out, will collectively choose the most convenient option every time, which has historically not worked out too well for us.

Beyond science fiction, this book has a lot to say about food. It’s clear that Lavanya Lakshminarayan is someone who appreciates food; not only for its flavor, but for the love that can go into creating it, the way it brings people together, the passion it can engender.

I called it flawed at the top of this, and it is. Going into specifics would be spoilers, but my big issue with the book is that it just stops. Goodreads has it as book #1 of the “Flavour Hacker” series, so I’m perfectly content with lots of unanswered questions. Even if it was standalone, I’m content with ambiguous answers and lots of things being left to the reader. But there needs to be a denouement of some sort, and that’s where I think this book is lacking. Still, 4 stars.

My blog

[Lata · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Iron Chef in space story takes place on Primus, a large and powerful planet settled many years earlier by humans. These humans wanted to escape the ravaged Earth, and its attitudes and practices that had led to the climate collapses. All the human colonies were founded with sustainability as a central tenet, but Primus has the most wealth, power and political and cultural influence on space-settled humans, most of whom have a variety of tech augments, but others have gone further with extensive body mods.

Saraswati Kaveri arrives on Primus at the novel's start. She’s upset about her life on Earth, and travelling incognito with her best friend Kili, a Winger, which is a flying artificial intelligence shaped as a sphere. Saras is there to enter a cooking competition, and make her name as a brilliant chef, a feat she has already achieved on Earth, but some event in her past has thoroughly tainted her memories of her earlier achievements.

At the same time, we meet Serenity Ko, a brilliant virtual reality designer, whose recent simulation SoundSpace has been incredibly successful. After getting thoroughly drunk and starting a riot, Serenity Ko ends up on a transport where Saras meets her. Ko does not make a good first impression.

Saras' dream of making it big on Primus are dashed spectacularly on air, while Ko is put on mandatory leave by her boss for not playing nicely with her coworkers (rather than inciting a riot). Ko is flummoxed and furious, as she sees this as a punishment, rather than a time to reflect on herself. She has worked harder than anyone else she knows to get to where she is at the company she works at, Xperience, after being dubbed a Techno-Aesthete Savant by the Primus Employment Council and recruited straight out of university.

Saras tries to pick up the pieces of her dream but keeps crashing into Primus preconceptions that Earthers are incredibly primitive barbarians, crass, dangerous and volatile, while Ko has an epiphany, not about herself, but rather, the next amazing sim she will create for Xperience. It will entail building on SoundScape, and using people's implants to evoke memories when seeing and smelling a cooked item. Ko attempts to recruit a star chef (also her grandmother) to her cause, but Ko's self-centredness, slapdash approach to cooking and lack of interest in food stalls her efforts.

Saras begins working in the kitchen of a high-end restaurant run by two siblings formerly of Earth, who have no desire to be associated in any way with their home planet. Saras learns about the cuisine of Primus, and how it developed from the early colonists' experiences, and when Ko needs a chef to help her to develop her sim, she remembers the weird Earther she met, and the two begin a friction-filled work relationship, even while each realizes they find the other attractive.

While all this is happening, a Primus cultural minister, Optimism Mahd’vi, is determined to remind all of humanity of the preeminence of Primus in all things.

The title and book cover both convey the impression of a fun, potentially bombastic, definitely cut throat competition amongst the best chefs in all the human settlements in the galaxy. And yes, there is some of that, but instead we also get author Lavanya Lakshminarayan posing some hard questions about colonialism, xenophobia, bigotry, bullying, empathy, the difficulties of assimilation into a dominant culture and its potential effects on mental health, cultural imperialism, familial expectations versus personal ambitions, and the idea that the prevalence of virtual reality may diminish curiosity, exploration, engagement and respect for nature and its diversity. It's also a slow burn love story between two messy, queer women.

The novel is fantastic. It's smart, it's funny, it's touching, it's infuriating, it’s sad, it's sweet (Kili!), and it made me so hungry. Lakshinarayan must really love food and all it entails: the ingredients, the care and attention it takes to cook something delicious (I'm not referring to only high-end cuisine) and how sharing a meal can bring people together.

I loved this story, and was a little surprised by its abrupt ending, but this book is listed as the first of a series, so I'm really eager to find out what happens next.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Rebellion for this ARC in exchange for my review.

[Jamedi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review originally on JamReads

Interstellar MegaChef is the first novel in the sci-fi series Flavour Hackers, a really clever book written by Lavanya Lakshminarayan, and published by Solaris Books. A novel which not only has an excellent plot woven around two deep characters and their way to understand food and cooking, but which also takes the opportunity to examine many current themes through the sci-fi lense.

Saraswati (Saras) Kaveri has arrived to Primus from the often deemed as primitive Earth, only with her techbot friend and with an invitation to compete on Interstellar Megachef, planning to show to the universe that she can cook; but things don't go accord to plan, and she struggles to find a place on the elitist Primus' culture. But opportunities appear in unexpected places, and stumbling into the tech genius Serenity Ko and her idea to change the concept of food forever is the gambit she needs to prove her value.

Lakshminarayan has written an excellent novel in all aspects, starting with the characters. Not only we have in Saras the figure of somebody fighting against adversity, constantly being shunned due to her origin, but in contrast with the Primus people, she's open to change her mind; she's marked by her past and wants to prove her value. We also have Serenity, a workaholic that is trying to create a revolution in a field she doesn't understand; she's trying her best even if her manners are not always good, and in reality, when paired with Saras, we finally have somebody that really wants to learn.

Outside of the characters, it's incredible how Lakshminarayan manages to organically weave into the novel themes such as the dismiss done by colonialism to the occupied places; how food plays a role in society, and how it is understood in different ways, all being equally valuable, even if many of them are not taken into account because of the origin. How Saras is treated because of her being a refugee is a perfect portrait of the racism experienced by many people (especially BIPOC nowadays).
The story is amazingly paced, told using several POV, and taking the story to a finale that I personally love (I have a soft spot for them).

Lakshminarayan has created something incredible with Interstellar MegaChef, and definitely I recommend it to people that like clever sci-fi with abundant social commentary; I've enjoyed every single page of it, and I can't wait to see how the Flavour Hackers series continue. And be sure to have a meal before reading this one, because you will end hungry!

[Joanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Solaris for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

2.5 / 5 stars, rounded down

Saraswati has escaped a precarious family situation on her home planet of Earth to take part in Interstellar Megachef, the most prestigious cooking show on Primus (which, if you ask a Primian, is the centre of the universe). Unfortunately, Saras has underestimated the levels of xenophobia that are targeted at Earthlings on Primus, and has an uphill battle to even be considered a chef on this planet - despite running her own very successful restaurant on Earth. Meanwhile, Serenity Ko is a Primian intent on finding the next big thing. Her boss has some criticisms of her working style, sure, but that’s just because he doesn’t understand how great she is at her job… right?

The premise of Interstellar Megachef is fantastic - a cosy sci-fi story about a chef travelling across the universe for a reality TV show to prove something to herself and her family, with a hint of a sapphic romance. Unfortunately most of those ingredients didn’t come through in the final dish (if you’ll forgive my terrible cooking metaphor). Saraswati and her little robot AI friend Kili are very likeable, as are the few friends she somehow picks up along the way - side note, can I have a book about Starlight Fantastic & Moonage Daydream instead, please? I’m not sure how Saras picks up said friends, who seem to be willing to do absolutely anything for her within 2 minutes of meeting, but it’s a good thing she does because she could not have progressed anywhere in the story without the entire wider cast.

The diversity of races (human and alien), genders, and sexualities were all great to see, although it did feel a bit jarring that neo-pronouns only seemed to be used for very specific aliens, with no human using them. Regardless, pronoun use and gender expression were never commented on, which felt like a lovely baked-in part of the world. However, for a book that is supposed to be set millennia after our present day, it did not feel like there was any other progression or development of the human race, or of most technology. The majority of the humans and other species have access to “the loop” - a sort of internet within your own brain - and space ships, but that’s really the only technology that is mentioned.

Saraswati's family mystery and wider politics are slowly revealed throughout the book, but aren’t interesting or developed enough for me as a reader to care. It felt like this, along with a few other plot points, were setups for a sequel that just felt lacklustre in their introduction. The beginnings of the romance between Saraswati and Serenity Ko is another of those lacklustre plot points. It felt jarring that at one point they were suddenly describing their overwhelming sexual attraction within their POV chapters, when before there had been no hint or suggestion of that blossoming between the two of them.

Serenity Ko herself is a very interesting character to have written in this book. She is entirely unlikable with zero redeeming qualities at the beginning of the story… and in the middle… and at the end… I had no interest in reading any of her chapters because I would only hurt myself rolling my eyes at her inflated ego. She was well-written, yes, in the sense that it was very easy to hate her for being a horrible person. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as a reader to be interested in her story, and I resented having to read her chapters.

Overall this book was a miss for me. It didn’t feel sci-fi enough to be sci-fi, it didn’t feel wholesome enough to be cosy, and with the inclusion of Serenity Ko, the characters certainly weren’t likeable or relatable enough for it to be a compelling romance. There’s definite potential to it, and I could see myself picking up Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s other novel, but Interstellar Megachef won’t be one I’m recommending to friends, and I won’t be holding my breath to read the sequel.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a complex and rich scifi universe! So many different cultures and world views. I loved that this was not just a rehash of social issues on earth. Yes, there was some carryover of modern social problems, but it felt rooted in this universe, not our own. Which I found refreshing.

I struggled with not enjoying some of the characters’ personalities. And I did have trouble keeping the character names and planets straight, but it was still a fun ride. I enjoyed all the fun interstellar food. Iron chef in space!

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC. All
opinions are my own.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected a light SF comedy. This was darker at times and with more layers. Classism, racism, envy, greed, revenge, you name it. I was looking for more fluff.

Saraswati Kaveri comes to the planet Primus to take part in the Interstellar Megachef competition. She has a little flying robot named Kili, a mysterious background and something to prove.

Serenity Ko is a prodigy and writer of immersive sims. She drinks too much, is pretty arrogant and not easy too like. One wild night too many and she is on mandatory leave from work.

Those two are the main characters. Both of them have serious issues with their parents. Eventually their worlds collide and they might or might not end up in a romantic relationship. That was a development I could have done without. Neither character is very mature. There is a lot of sulking and pouting involved.

And then there is Optimism Mahd‘vi, a mover and shaker in the background. At the beginning I thought she would play a more pivotal role, but she showed up pretty infrequently.

I really disliked all of the Primians and their culture. A whole planet of entitled and narrow minded bigots. On purpose, I am sure, but nasty nonetheless and not fun to read.

This was pretty unpleasant to read over large stretches of the novel. I don‘t understand why I should care about a story filled with mean people. I don’t see the attraction. Two-third into the book I almost tossed it. And when Ko was shown the errors of her ways, she behaved like a 5-year old. Aggravating and very unattractive. I did continue, but skimmed quite a bit, having mostly lost my remaining enjoyment in the story.

Interesting discourse on simulations, possible addiction and their dangerous potential of replacing the real deal.

Well done ending that leaves several plot points unresolved. I doubt that I will read the sequel, I skimmed entirely too much and disliked too many of the characters, including Serenity Ko.

Lavanya Lakshminarayan talks Interstellar MegaChef, Food, Video Games & More | SFF Addicts Ep. 130:
https://youtu.be/qpqc0rM2TbE?si=NeHNo...

3/5 🍩🍩🍩 for the writing and effort.

[Madison Pollard-Shore · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I saw the blurb of this book, I was immediately interested. I love sci-fi, I love food, and I love cooking competitions. I was expecting, and hoping, that this book would feel like ‘Love and Other Disasters’ but in space. I was wrong, and maybe that is on me.

The titular MegaChef appears right at the beginning, and right at the end, and isn’t anywhere as central to the plot as the title would suggest – it feels like a very convenient plot point that is just cast aside when it doesn’t suit the scene.

The amount of casual, and not so casual racism that the main character faces was not at all what I was expecting, and made parts of the book challenging to read.

I love the idea of the food tech that they build, and the sections going in to working on designing that are some of the highlights of the book for me.

The entire subplot of her family and Jog Tunga felt distracting and didn’t really add anything to the story. It all ended very abruptly, and makes me wonder whether they are hoping for a sequel, to tie up the few loose ends.

I desperately wanted to enjoy this book, and maybe someone else will. But don’t go in expecting an easy read.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Are there some hand wave parts that don’t work if you think too hard? For sure. Did they bother me? Not at all. Maybe it’s because I listened to the audiobook, which has a great narrator, so I felt swept along with the story rather than wondering more about the proverbial off-stage action.

I also loved the descriptions of the future food and attitudes about it. It seemed just realistic enough that I could imagine it but also still very different than our regular Earth food. A lot of it sounded very tasty but also weird enough that it didn’t make me hungry, which is kind of a plus because it can be challenging to listen to a long book that makes me hungry all the time.

It’s a fun book that still shares realistic challenges around difficult issues we face today such as bigotry and war and environmental issues. I see some reviewers found that to be too much, but it just helped ground the book for me yet didn’t trigger my real world anxieties about similar issues.

I’d probably give this a 4.5 stars, but I round up for queer content and POC authors.

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book made me SO mad. I only finished it because I read it for my book club. I'm going to enjoy tearing it apart.

If you want a peek inside my feelings on this book, keep reading.

The promised romance was a flimsy side-story that played out in a fast-forward montage in the last third of the book. The characters were one-dimensional, and I hated them, so I didn't care if they got together.

The Primians were all SO PRETENTIOUS. I hated them, too. Their food culture was pretentious, too!

"Ohh....let's extract some 'essence' from a cilantro plant and inject it into a gel and eat that instead."

Everyone on the planet had one of 9 names, making for a very confusing read. Also, every citizen's needs were taken care of, but they still had tech-bro capitalism? Saras's family had a deity in it AND were authoritarian rulers of Earth? What?

Don't even get me started about the ending. WHAT ENDING? Serenity disappears and Saras just goes up to a rooftop to look out over the planet. Um, okay? Nothing about Saras's family? Her next move? Her relationship with Serenity?

The worldbuilding was chaotic, the characters were flat, and there's a second book coming? UGH. I will not be reading it because I don't care what happens to these characters.

The audiobook narrator was very robotic. I switched to the paperback halfway through. It didn't help the story.

Also, the biggest spoiler of them all: the giant donut on the cover was also a low-down dirty lie. It was never mentioned. There were no donuts on Primus, only gel formations with donut essences. How dare you tempt me with a pink sprinkles donut and fail to deliver!!

[Crowinator · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

[Kasvi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was sooo ready for this book to be a new favourite, with the whole "Great British Bake Off in SPACE" marketed to me. I was hoping for something along the lines of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, but with much more cooking, but alas.

Interstellar Megachef just ultimately fell flat for me. The worldbuilding is superficially intriguing, featuring a socialist society with a diverse cast, yet it feels inconsistent and fails to reflect genuine progress after two thousand years. The characters, particularly Serenity Ko, lack depth and relatability, making it difficult to engage with their stories. The chemistry was also just not there, and felt very forced. The cooking competition is rushed, lacking rich descriptions that would appeal to food enthusiasts (i.e. me). Additionally, the prose is bland, and while the anti-colonial themes are evident, they often come across as heavy-handed. Overall, the book misled me with its marketing, and despite its potential, it didn't deliver an enjoyable experience. It might resonate with some readers, but it’s a pass for me.

[Willow]

DNF at 25%

The main characters were pleasant to read about... when they were present. There were just too many chapters that focussed on other parts of the galaxy. They were unnecessary side tangents that only added to the worldbuilding but didn't manage to properly support the plot or the characters. This made it hard to get a grasp of the world, as I became overloaded with information and became bored as I was waiting for the parts that I actually cared about.

And lastly, I was hoping to find Great British Bake Off vibes, but Interstellar Megachef is an American-style cooking show.

Thank you NetGalley and Solaris for giving me access to an e-arc for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

[Dr. des. Siobhán · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book!*

I absolutely LOVED this book. Interstellar MegaChef is The Great British Bake Off in space. But make it queer! And make Earth unpopular! And add a girl fleeing from her abusive family! Cooking! Intrigue!

Honestly, I wish I could continue reading right now. I love this universe, it's fascinating world building wise, I love our main character, the book made me hungry!

There's so much in this one to unpack but I'm too tired to do this now. But an amazing book...go pre-order it right now!

5 stars because I was looking forward to continuing reading it on my phone (which I usually loathe)

[Runalong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant - story that has a sweet and cosy structure of the underdog showing the universe they can cook and yet also a deeper exploration of the power of food and impact on our culture. Very strongly recommend

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Ronit J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on SFFINSIDERS.COM

I discovered this book on Twitter when the author shared the cover reveal. Seeing it available on NetGalley, I quickly submitted a request. Food, sci-fi, and an interstellar culinary show… a recipe for perfect entertainment if you ask me. But, did the book live up to its hype?

What I liked:
Right off the bat, you meet Saras, short for Saraswati Kaveri. She’s your typical protagonist, the intergalactic equivalent of a small-town girl who comes to the big city (Primus, a planet with a more advanced and abundant society) to pursue her dreams. She’s talented, but she’s also naïve and starry-eyed with seemingly not enough awareness of how Primian culture functions. However, Saras never gives up, powering through each challenge with the drive and ferocity of a person with dreams.

Saras was a huge part of why I loved Interstellar Megachef. The story throws everything at her, from passive discrimination to outright xenophobic hate, to failure and constant letdowns; Saras never baulks under all that weight. Yes, she breaks down as would anyone in her position. But she always finds it in her to get up. Even when her past catches up to her, and we are made aware of the far-reaching consequences of Saras’ actions—and potential discovery—she stays true to herself and keeps striving to move forward.

The second, and larger, reason for why I loved Interstellar Megachef was the food. Not all of it was familiar. In fact, a lot of the culinary scenes included Primian cuisine and a strangely hyper-scientific approach to cooking. Yet, the author makes it work like magic. The philosophy behind how Primians perceive food really tells a larger story of humanity and excess. Primian culture follows what Earth desperately needs—not just in the story, but also in real life. Earth, ironically follows what Primian culture has easy access to, yet chooses not to for ideological reasons. The parallels between first-world countries/rich classes and Primus are subtle, yet evident. It’s easy to look down on someone because of their culture, but very hard to really empathize with why that culture is the way it is. It’s easy to self-impose moderation when you have access to excess.

Lavanya Lakshminarayan uses food and the culinary world to explore a lot more than just culture. Coming from a country where even diet has been politicized in the last decade—if you’re Indian, you know what I’m talking about—this one hit close to home. Some cooking techniques are rejected on the basis of ideology, while some food items are banned because they might offend new allies; the people’s opinion means squat, as long as the party in power are satisfied. History, culture, philosophy, politics, Interstellar Megachef doesn’t hold back in its exploration of food through the many lenses of human identity.

This last bit is particularly important because the other story arc—Serenity Ko’s—takes everything and cranks it up quite a few notches. I won’t spoil it for you, because discovering it along the read was a fantastic experience. I will tell you this though—food has evolved with humanity and its technological advancements. The dominant norm on Primus is moderation and ras-based cuisine. But, what could be the next step? What connotations could it attract, and what consequences could follow it? Interstellar Megachef has some ideas, and they are as thought-provoking as they are divisive. Definitely worth pondering over.

What I didn’t like:
I will say this—and this is my personal opinion—the blurb and the marketing for this book have done some disservice to the author and the book. While the “British Bake Off in Space” aspect of the book is an integral part of the narrative, it’s not as big a focus. In fact, Saras gets kicked out of the show in round one and only returns for one special round in the end. The rest of the book is mostly her trying to survive as an immigrant/refugee whilst proving her culinary skills in a fine-dine restaurant, a xenophobic society, and a corporate-sponsored food-based tech project. Food remains the key element here, with the author’s love for food shining through each chapter and each scene. However, if you’re expecting a dramatized bake-off tournament, you might be disappointed.

Another thing I didn’t particularly like were the B, C & D plotlines. Saras was great, but I had a hard time connecting with Ko. I will admit, her change of heart and upliftment were impressive, and I almost had a soft corner for her by the end, but my feelings towards her remain mixed. Maybe that’ll change in the sequel, but I did find myself wanting to skim through her chapters in this one. And I’m saying that despite loving her story.

The political plot with Optimism Mahd’vi and the Khurshid twins were nice touches to build the world, but the characters themselves felt a little underdeveloped. Interesting additions no doubt, ones that complicate the politics and power dynamics of the larger world, but something felt wanting.

Lastly, and this is purely my bias, I did not like the sudden Saras-Ko romance. I mean, I knew it was coming, I just didn’t like the way it happened. I’m not a fan of romance, so don’t take my word for it. Honestly, I just feel that both these characters have a lot to offer individually than as a couple. Their dynamic in the book also didn’t work for me all that well.

Conclusion:
Interstellar Megachef is being marketed as “The Great British Bake Off in Space”, but it is so much more than that. If you ask me, Interstellar Megachef is the author’s love letter to food, the culinary arts, and the deeply important space food holds within the larger blanket of human experiences.

It is a fun-loving cooking competition sci-fi, culinary drama, but it is also a thought-provoking and reflective piece of writing that poses some very important questions, not just about food, but also about human society and identity.

TL;DR:
WHAT I LIKED: Food and how the author has used it to explore aspects of human society and personal experiences. Also loved hte world-building and politics.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: Some characters didn’t work for me, the “cooking show tournament” wasn’t as big a part of the story as I had expected.

[Debabrata Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Interstellar MegaChef" is a fascinating blend of science fiction and culinary artistry, set in a future where food becomes the bridge between vastly different cultures and planets. Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s story takes the reader on a cosmic journey centered around Saraswati Kaveri, an Earth-based chef, who dares to challenge the culinary norms of the galaxy by competing in the renowned cooking show, Interstellar MegaChef, on the planet Primus.

The narrative weaves together a vibrant and meticulously crafted universe, depicting Earth as a place clinging to what is considered "primitive" culinary traditions like cooking over an open flame, while Primus symbolizes the cutting-edge culture of synthesized cuisine. The story takes unexpected turns, delving deeper than the typical food competition. The futuristic world-building is both ambitious and immersive, though the writing style may initially feel a bit fragmented. However, once past the first few chapters, the complex world and character dynamics draw you in, creating a gripping narrative that’s hard to let go.

The characters are richly developed, with Saraswati and Serenity Ko as the standout leads. Saraswati’s journey from a humble Earth chef to a culinary sensation reflects themes of cultural pride and identity, while Serenity’s tech-driven mindset introduces futuristic possibilities, making the book not just about food, but about how innovation and tradition can merge. Both characters are portrayed as imperfect yet relatable, and their growth arcs are thoughtfully handled, touching upon themes of self-worth, belonging, and the human spirit's resilience.

One of the highlights of the book is its portrayal of Indian culinary traditions and their intersection with futuristic cooking methods. Saraswati’s defiance of synthetic norms by embracing Earth's rich, authentic flavors serves as a form of cultural commentary—food as identity and resistance. This resonates throughout the story, emphasizing that true creativity lies in honoring the past while embracing new possibilities.

Though the initial chapters may feel slightly disjointed due to the rapid world-building, her narrative stabilizes, offering a well-balanced blend of science fiction, food, and slow-burn romance. The descriptions of alien cuisines are vivid, and the cooking challenges will engage any reader who loves both food and speculative fiction. The story also smartly integrates humor, making it a delightful read that doesn't take itself too seriously.

In conclusion, this is much more than a food competition story—it's a celebration of cultural diversity, creativity, and the unifying power of food. She has managed to cook up a tale that's both light-hearted and deeply reflective, making it a must-read for sci-fi enthusiasts and food lovers alike. The book leaves you eagerly awaiting the sequel, promising more of the delightful interstellar chaos.

[Carter Montgomery · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really excited for this one, the title and blurb seemed like it was going to be a cooking romp set in space.
The story gets bogged down from the start with too many new story words that are explained too late or don’t add anything to the story. “nava” is nine days, and apparently how everyone measures time? “Masa” seems important to know to get a context of how long things have happened, but I either missed it or 70 pages in it wasn’t explained. The problem isn’t that they’re added and confusing, it is that they are added and confusing and don’t do anything for the story. There are three main languages with each supposedly being important as to who speaks what, but it is frequently unclear which ones the characters are using.

I thought the story would be redeemed if it had exciting or interesting descriptions of how everything was cooked, but it takes so long to get there (over 100 pages before we get our first taste), and then isn’t worth it. Its just literally every character stopping to say “earth sucks! fire???” (the whole room of intergalactic chefs who are actively being timed on a cooking show at one point stop to gawk at the majn character for cooking?) It doesn’t even make sense in the context of the story though, as everyone is xenophobic towards earthfolks, they should have slightly more understanding of what earthfolks do? If the common thing is ‘earthlings are so primitive they cook with fire’ then why are people surprised and shocked when the earthling is so primitive that she cooks with fire? This is also notably after she has to pause the whole competition to get cookware that can make a fire. They all already know and should be expecting this. There should be enough variety in galactic cooking methods where not *every* chef is flabbergasted and staring while they should be focused on cooking in this very rare opportunity.

The descriptions of the cooking process and judgments of the food are lackluster. The author didn’t seem like they were having fun with it. We get one description of another chef’s food.

Another main character incites a small-scale riot targeting her when she mentions she works for a big corporate company after buying them all drinks and dancing on a bar to thunderous applause. It’s just such an odd and extreme vibe switch.

Of all the diverse cultures and races on display, everyone acts the same.
I was hoping for a bit more interstellar and a lot more megachef.

[Deotima Sarkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lavanya Lakshminarayan's Interstellar Megachef (Flavour Hacker Book One) is an interesting sci-fic-culinary drama which explores the intersection of tradition and innovation through food. Here, on Earth, the practice of traditionally cooked foods clashes with futuristic synthetic cuisines, and at the heart of it lies Saraswati Kaveri, a passionate chef from Earth who gives her everything to hold onto her heritage.
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Saraswati is a very likeable and tough heroine, whose narrative of resilience and pride in her culinary culture serves as a powerful centre of focus. Her so-called 'fights' in the cooking competition provide insight into the richness of Earth food culture against the barren, synthesized diets of other planets. These are among the book's most interesting pages, offering exciting analyses on the cultural uses of food and resistance.
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Subplots and supporting characters were a bit underdeveloped at some points. While Serenity Ko, the other lead, is somehow interestingly transformed from a techie brain to someone bothered with emotional and deep personal issues, her arc was quite interesting, but her romance with Saraswati felt bit rushed and not fleshed out enough. Maybe in the sequel.
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World-building is one of the book's pro! The comparisons between Earth's flame-cooked traditions and Primus's new-wave gastronomy are extremely vivid and full of imagination. Yet, while keeping people psyched about what is politically and culturally up, sometimes the cooking competition that led me to the book played somewhat of a background role in the story 😞

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This was a very thought-provoking and creative book that combines food, culture, and sci-fi in a new refreshing way. While possible certain elements, such as the romance or even some subplots, could have been further explored, the premise of this book and the tenacious world-building make it an enjoyable read for science fiction fans as well as those who love culinary storytelling.
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Loved the fun cover!
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[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up from the new library book section since I liked Lakshminarayan's previous novel, Ten Percent Thief. Professional chef Saras Kaveri flees an uncomfortable family situation on Earth to compete in an interstellar cooking show on sophisticated cultural center Primus in the South Asian space future. Unfortunately, Saras will have more trouble than she expected on a planet that considers her Earth culture barbaric at best, not to mention the meddling presence of tech genius Serenity Ko and her ideas for a food simulation...

As someone who personally didn't get along with Valente's Space Opera, this was a lot closer to what I was looking for. Lakshminarayan pulls no punches depicting the genuine bigotry Saras faces due to her Earth origins, from her accent to her lack of familiarity with Primian-style cooking techniques. This is not meant to be a fluffy, fun cooking show book-- while the plot does pay genuine attention to the meaning of food and cooking, beware that very little of the pagespace is devoted to the actual cooking show. Instead, we're spending time with Saras' fraught family background, Primus history, and the budding relationship with scheming Serenity Ko and her app.

Unfortunately I found Serenity Ko to be the least interesting part of the book and disliked her POV sections. She was a deeply self-centered person, willing to trample over everyone in order to achieve corporate greatness at the tech company she works at, and I wasn't much interested in her learning to use slightly fewer slurs and be incrementally less cruel to people's faces arc. Alas, she is the love interest and no doubt will be recurring.

Pick this book up if you liked Space Opera but are looking for something a little more pointed.

[Mike]

Unlike some other books I've read recently, this one at least makes an attempt at worldbuilding, rather than just taking a contemporary milieu and transposing it wholesale into a supposedly different time and place for the sake, apparently, of the aesthetic.

Unfortunately, a lot of the worldbuilding just didn't work for me. The backstory is that 300 years from now, Earth gave up on nations and united, and sent out interstellar missions to colonize (though of course that word isn't used) new planets. Two thousand years later, Earth has somehow fallen back into a war-torn, environmentally degraded, human-rights-violating primitive hellhole looked down on by all its probably-shouldn't-call-them-colonies, and the self-proclaimed centre of culture is on another planet entirely.

Now, I could just have bought 300 years, even if some of the minor cultural features did seem a bit too close to our own present day. But I never believed in the 2000 years even for a fraction of a second. It seemed far too long for the small amount of change and the large amount of stability (including Earth being, apparently, in a stable state of internal strife and environmental degradation). And then there were so many small details that just didn't make sense to me. For example, it's somehow more environmentally friendly to expend what must be a huge amount of energy on the city's buildings constantly changing shape (using the technology of programmable matter), and compensating for this by the manipulation of gravity so that people inside them don't notice (and I didn't understand how that would work either). This doesn't appear to cause any negative psychological effects, even though humans rely on landmarks and other constants in their environments to give themselves a sense of stability.

Cooking is a key part of the plot of the book, and even there, there was a detail that seemed odd to me. From everything I've been taught, if you were making a fish curry, you'd start out by making the sauce to give it time to develop, and cook the fish only in the last few minutes, because it cooks quickly (that's to do with how fish muscles don't have to support themselves against gravity, like the muscles of land creatures). The cooked fish doesn't need to rest, for the same reason, or certainly not for very long. But when one of the main characters, a highly trained chef in a major cooking competition, makes fish curry in the course of an hour, she cooks the fish first and leaves it to rest, then starts the sauce, and finally cooks the fish some more in the sauce and then even more inside bamboo-leaf parcels. This, to me, sounds like an excellent way to have overcooked fish, but maybe I'm missing some nuance of technique.

At one and the same time, the economy of the distant planet appears to be communist (you can't choose where you live, you get assigned housing that's the same quality as everyone else's) and capitalist (there's a corporation that's been around for centuries, things it produces cost a lot and make a lot of money). I couldn't make sense of it.

I also consider the "easier to leave Earth than fix it" trope a potentially toxic one, in that it cultivates an attitude of helplessness in the face of our problems, and is arguably also not supported by the facts. That's a debate that can be had, and I do generally make allowance for tropes in genre fiction, and this one is necessary to kick off the story situation, but I'm noting that I don't love it.

The copy editing/prose is much better than average. I gather that the author was born in, and is still resident in, India; if this is the case, it seems the Indian education system is much better at teaching English than the British or American education systems, judging by the average products of British and American authors, or else this author is exceptional, or has had a very good editor. (I read a pre-publication ARC via Netgalley, and those are usually bad.) Just a few excess hyphens and a strange use of the word "hoarded". On the other hand, sometimes the prose is so exuberant and attention-seeking that it fails at its main job of conveying what happened and what things look like, especially early on.

The three viewpoint characters are not likeable. They are egotistical and nakedly ambitious and alienated. It's not, of course, compulsory to have likeable characters, but I personally prefer it in the books I read. The most likeable of the three (for me) is the chef, who comes from an awful family of corrupt politicians and became a chef partly to escape them and partly because she loves it; her main fault is that she's obsessively driven, which from what I understand is pretty standard among top-class chefs. The least likeable is the technologist, a rude self-centred diva who is absolutely determined not to have a relationship that means anything, and drives herself and her colleagues too hard out of ambition and existential emptiness. (That would be more plausible, by the way, if the company was a startup rather than being centuries old.) In the middle is the politician, who is willing to ignore the basic principles by which the polity is supposed to live in pursuit of cultural dominance by her own planet, and the fact that she wasn't the least likeable character should give you some idea of just how awful the technologist is.

Between constantly disbelieving the worldbuilding and not enjoying any of the characters, I took a break and read something else to give the book my "do I care enough what happens to these people to come back to them" test, and decided that I didn't. Perhaps they learn important lessons. Perhaps they improve the systems that have mangled them. I didn't choose to stick around to find out.

[laurel! · Rating 4 out of 5]

thank you to netgalley for the arc!

this was pretty solid! one of the main characters was likeable---the other DID have a character arc but it is clear that the arc-ing is not over yet. i was not aware that this was the first book in a series, but it worked pretty well anyway! one of the plot lines has a clear end at the end of the book, but most of the other questions are left open for sequels, including all of the character relationships (the sapphic relationship that i picked this up for AND the complicated family situation that saras has going on.)

the food part of this book is largely secondary to its commentary on colonialism and moral posturing, which was fine but if you're going into this book solely because you LOVE cooking shows this might not be for you!

[Heaven Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m giving this three stars slightly out of pity. I really wanted to like this book, but it did not need to be this long, so much and nothing happened all at the same time. There was way too much futuristic stuff that was just not communicated well to the reader. One of my biggest rating criteria is creativity, and this is super creative so it sucks to have to give it such a bad rating. This had the ability to be a super interesting commentary on how culture is suppressed with food and the shaming of tradition, and there was a lot of really good stuff in here, it just was not an easy read.

[Mela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had such a great premise and I was super excited to read it considering it was supposed to be bake off in space. However I was quite disappointed by it, due to the fact that the actual competition was barely there at all. The second MC was extremely spoiled and out of touch as well so all her chapters where unbearable to read. I’m so sad I didn’t love this, but thanks to netgalley and the publisher for giving me a e-arc copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Dylan Kramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mega chef more like mega FLOP. As in the contestant in the show in the book stinks at cookin’

Dinks: the romance, the food imagery, the world building of how things go together/how the people got to this planet from earth originally, more of that.
Stinks: book felt about 100 pages too long, I found myself glossing over as we had to have some checkboxes that felt like they had to be checked when I really was just invested beginning and end. The reality tv show bit that bought me in was used, however I wish it was used more
3.25 outta 5 Gateau’s