Interstellar MegaChef

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.

I highly enjoyed this one. The world building here is so unique and rich, I became completely immersed in it. The book is about much more than just someone competing in a cooking show. In fact, that part takes up very little of the book. There's a lot going on here from xenophobia, to a secret underlying political agenda, new tech and the dilemma of how it may be used to change the world for better and worse, etc. I also really liked the cast of characters like Kili, and Starlight Fantastic, and I appreciate Serenity Ko's slow redemption arc in progress. Though the romance does need more build up in my opinion, I did still enjoy it and hope for more development there in the next book. Overall, this book was really interesting and entertaining to read, 4.8/5 stars.