“Celestial Banquet is a magical and delectable adventure through a culinary landscape rich in East Asian tradition. It is also a very real look at family, home, and how food ties into both, with an empowered and resilient teen girl at the center. Equal parts action-packed and heartfelt, I cannot wait for readers to devour it.”
- Ayesha Curry, Sweet July Books, Sweet July Books
Iron Chef meets The Hunger Games in Roselle Lim’s dazzling YA fantasy debut, following a young noodle chef who competes in a cutthroat cooking competition for the gods.
ISBN
9781638931263
Language
English
Page count
320
Edition
Hardcover
Sale date
June 3, 2025
Dimensions
9 x 6
About the Book
Once every generation, the Major Gods hold a Celestial Banquet, inviting chefs from all over the Continent to prepare mouthwatering fantastical feasts. The winner is awarded the fabled Peaches of Immortality, along with a lifetime of fame and fortune. The losers perish per the whims of the fickle gods.
Hot-headed noodle chef Cai enters the competition with dreams of owning her own restaurant and supporting her impoverished Peninsula town. Along with the drunken Minor God Kama, her childhood crush-turned-friend Bo, and dreamy noble Seon, Cai must now compete against the Continent’s finest culinary masters in trials that range from hunting and serving up mystical sea serpents to preparing a magical omurice from the eggs of the legendary Jian bird.
Battling impossible odds and inconvenient feelings for both Bo and Seon, Cai is determined to prepare a feast fit for the gods—even if she loses her life. Set in a spectacular world inspired by Chinese and Southeast Asian folklore, Celestial Banquet is an ode to food, home, and family, wrapped in an epic and thrilling adventure.
Reviews
“A beautifully imagined world, a tenderhearted love triangle, and the most delicious of food descriptions, Celestial Banquet has it all! I flew through this magical adventure.”
“Roselle Lim serves a banquet of shimmering world-building and delicious adventure in her YA debut. Vivid and fun and intense, this epic fantasy will leave you hungry for more.”
“One of the things I love about a good book is its ability to transport me to another world. Another time. Another place. Roselle Lim’s Celestial Banquet is a feast for all the senses, quite literally. I could see and touch and taste Cai’s world, and I enjoyed every second of her journey.”
“A delicious tale of dangerous competition and delightful magic. Prepare yourself . . . you’ll be hungry when you read this book!”
“Celestial Banquet is a magical and delectable adventure through a culinary landscape rich in East Asian tradition. It is also a very real look at family, home, and how food ties into both, with an empowered and resilient teen girl at the center. Equal parts action-packed and heartfelt, I cannot wait for readers to devour it.”
Roselle Lim
Roselle Lim was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada as a child. She lived in north Scarborough in a diverse, Asian neighborhood. She found her love of writing by listening to her lola (paternal grandmother’s) stories about Filipino folktales. Growing up in a household where Chinese superstition mingled with Filipino Catholicism, she devoured books about mythology, which shaped the fantasies in her novels. Roselle Lim is the critically acclaimed author of Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune, Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop and Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club. She lives on the north shore of Lake Erie and always has an artistic project on the go
