Kai Ashante Wilson

A Taste of Honey is the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Theodore Sturgeon, and Locus finalist novella that N. K. Jemisin calls "a love story as painful as it is beautiful and complex". Find out why Wired named it one of the 20 Best Books of the Decade! Long after the Towers left the world but before the dragons came to Daluça, the emperor brought his delegation of gods and diplomats to Olorum. As the royalty negotiates over trade routes and public services, the divinity seeks arcane assistance among the local gods. Aqib bgm Sadiqi, fourth-cousin to the royal family and son of the Master of Beasts, has more mortal and pressing concerns. His heart has been captured for the first time by a handsome Daluçan soldier named Lucrio. In defiance of Saintly Canon, gossiping servants, and the furious disapproval of his father and brother, Aqib finds himself swept up in a whirlwind gay romance. But neither Aqib nor Lucrio know whether their love can survive all the hardships the world has to throw at them. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A Taste of Honey

Cloudface

At times his brother was so kind Aqib glimpsed the contours of a different childhood altogether: happier and shown the way, with a best friend and ally, his brother as the wise one who'd already blazed a trail from baby to boyhood to man, and knew all the hidden pitfalls, and knew the safe way through. Aqib never did, though, hit on a way to... earn that better brother. 

This short novel had an interesting structure, and the ending had a strong emotional impact. However, the worldbuilding was vague and the plot was hard to follow in the middle of the book, and while I didn’t mind the time jumps I could see them being off putting for some readers. The main character wasn’t especially likable (I liked him in the first chapter, but overtime the way he treated his staff made me uncomfortable). 

Overall, I was a little bored and confused during the middle of this book, but the ending pulled everything together in a way that made sense. I’m just not sure it was worth reading the whole thing. 

This short novel had an interesting structure, and the ending had a strong emotional impact. However, the worldbuilding was vague and the plot was hard to follow in the middle of the book, and while I didn’t mind the time jumps I could see them being off putting for some readers. The main character wasn’t especially likable (I liked him in the first chapter, but overtime the way he treated his staff made me uncomfortable). 
Overall, I was a little bored and confused during the middle of this book, but the ending pulled everything together in a way that made sense. I’m just not sure it was worth reading the whole thing. 

Laura Kehoe

I received a copy of A Taste of Honey from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There were a lot of reasons I was really excited to read A Taste of Honey: the premise sounded awesome, POC and LGBTQ+ characters, and there's a freaking cheetah on the front cover. With all that, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my excitement. 

A Taste of Honey centers around Aqib bgm Sadiqi, who falls in love with a soldier from a visiting nation, Lucrio. Now, I should say right off the bat, I'm not a fan of insta love. There are very few cases where that doesn't make me immediately cringe. So the fact that within the first two or three pages, Aquib and Lucrio are already pretty much in love with each other after having just met didn't sit well with me. Of course, it might have helped if I actually liked Aquib or Lucrio. But they both annoyed me so much it was hard to feel any sort of investment in their lives. 

Another issue I had was how disjointed the entire story felt. First off, there was very little world building. The synopsis of A Taste of Honey introduces this potentially amazing, rich world. But I hardly got the chance to see any of that world. Then there was the constant shift in time. The story jumped between when Aquib was a young man to when he's older and settled down in life. There was so much back and forward that I ended up feeling so mixed up about what was actually happening. 

This story had the potential to be so much more than it turned out to be. In fact, the only reason I didn't stop reading halfway through was that I kept holding out for things to start getting better. But they just never did. I wanted to like this book so much-I tried so hard to like it. But ultimately, I just couldn't get into the story no matter how much I tried.

Sahi K

I’ve been in the mood only for novellas for quite a while now, somehow just not finding enough patience to read longer books. So when I mentioned the same to my dear friend Nandini, she recommended me this Hugo nominated novella which I had never heard of before. And because I trust her recs a lot, I decided to give it a try. 

This is definitely one of those books which I would never read of my own volition. The writing wasn’t always easy for me to follow or understand, with the prose and the metaphors going above my head but I felt the emotion behind the story a lot - and that’s the beauty here. In a story of just about 160 pages, the author took me on a journey of beautiful love, the heartbreak of separation and paths not taken, the devastation of not knowing what could have happened (or even knowing it) - I felt joy and I also wept and I just about felt all kinds of emotions while reading. The world is also very fascinating with its gods, the magic being mixed with advanced science, affinities for animals etc and though it was kept mostly vague, it was enough to grasp the crux of the story. The story is also told in multiple timelines, so when the twist is revealed towards the end, I was just completely in shock. That’s some amazing twisty writing. 

I think I didn’t really read the blurb before I started reading because I didn’t realize it was going to be such a poignant romantic tale of two star-crossed lovers. Aqib and Lucrio’s tryst starts off as instalove on steroids but I didn’t mind that even a bit here - there’s just so much honesty in their love that I was mesmerized and then was distraught when I realized they wouldn’t get to be together. I don’t want to say anything else because I’m scared I’ll give away too much of the story and it really needs to be experienced. There are also a host of other characters whom I had all kinds of feelings for, and it’s really the author’s talent that he makes us feel invested in every single character’s arc in such short time. 

In the end, I can just say that despite being slightly out of my comfort zone, this novella enchanted me with its most memorable love story and I’m so glad I gave it a chance. We all have those moments of “what-ifs” in our life, when we ponder about missed chances and connections and wonder what other life we could have lived - this story brought all such thoughts vividly back to my mind and that’s why I know I’ll remember this for a long time to come.

Luke Kanies

A Taste of Honey is a fantasy novel from a different lineage than most I’ve read, camels instead of horses, sandstorms instead of blizzards. Like many of Sheri S. Tepper’s books, space travel was necessary for this one, but is at the same time irrelevant. It sets the scene, then leaves, with only vague echoes remaining.

This is really a study of a person, a story of the decisions that person makes, and how he ends up feeling about them. It’s a study in an interesting land, with interesting people, but it is all about him. Thankfully, the author does that well, and the person is worth studying.

If you like any fantasy, you should like this, and especially if you would like to keep reading fantasy, but maybe not just reread exactly the same stories again and again.

What would you trade to know you made the right choice?

A very unique, intricate little story is told in these pages. It sometimes got confusing and I almost quit, actually, because it was hard to follow. Then some things clicked and it all made sense. Definitely worth the read!

Magnus Dahl

Zoey Mikalatos

Long after the Towers left the world but before the dragons came to Daluça, the emperor brought his delegation of gods and diplomats to Olorum. As the royalty negotiates over trade routes and public services, the divinity seeks arcane assistance among the local gods. Aqib bgm Sadiqi, fourth-cousin to the royal family and son of the Master of Beasts, has more mortal and pressing concerns. His heart has been captured for the first time by a handsome Daluçan soldier named Lucrio. In defiance of Saintly Canon, gossiping servants, and the furious disapproval of his father and brother, Aqib finds himself swept up in a whirlwind gay romance. But neither Aqib nor Lucrio know whether their love can survive all the hardships the world has to throw at them. A Taste of Honey is a new novella in the world of Kai Ashante Wilson's The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps.

A Taste of Honey

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