(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.

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.

*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)

Once more, I'm astounded by the sheer imagination of Lakshminarayan. There's really nobody who imagines future worlds quite like they do - especially worlds in which you can see the problems of the current world as being the root of the imagined future so very clearly. I will never forget this world, that's for sure.

The character work is great in this story, giving great voice and great character dynamics that feel real. These are flawed characters with shady and uncomfortable backgrounds and we love them all the more for it, giving them room to develop as people, both together and apart.

Oh, and the "robot buddy" trope is strong here, which I loved!

There's technically a slow-burn romance at play, but I'm not sure that it's necessarily so much slow as it enters the story a bit too late for me to grow fully invested. This was possibly done to stretch it into a second book (because there will be a second book to tie up the plot). At the same time, there is indeed a culinary/baking show in the vein of TGBBO at play... but most of the plot doesn't actually take place in that atmosphere and setting, so if you want to read purely for the setting, you should know that this particular setting only makes up about 10-15% of the book. Characters from that setting will span the entire book, yes, but the majority of the plot itself will not be centered on that setting.

All in all, I wasn't let down by this book. I got what I expected (although, I had expected a bit more of the actual baking show setting, but this is mostly a marketing "problem", I think).

This book is a worthy contender to the first book that I ever read from this author (TTPT)!

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.

Pretty sure this is a me issue, but I couldn't wrap my head around the worldbuilding. While I was a little interested in what Saras was up to, Serenity Ko was just awful and out of touch immediately. I hope she got some kind of redemptive arc, but I was not interested in reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

DNF at 5%

I got 5% into this story before coming to the conclusion it was not for me.
The dialogue is awkward and clunky, and the writing feels amateurish. The technobabble is contextless enough that it draws you out of the story, forcing you to try and decipher what is happening. The food-based prose is too prominent to be charming, and instead comes off as gimmicky.

I will not be leaving a Goodreads review as I feel I did not get far enough into the story for it to be a fair review.

Interstellar MegaChef is the first book in the Flavour Hacker series. The cover was the first thing that caught my eye. A cooking show in space who wouldn't want to read it? But oh boy, that book is so much more than just a cute little show. One of the things that I love about it is the worldbuilding. It was so detailed and complex. The story is well written and funny at the same time. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it. I can't wait to read more of this story. Thanks to Netgalley and Rebellion | Solaris for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Interstellar MegaChef" serves up an intriguing blend of sci-fi and culinary drama that's more complex than its playful cover suggests. Lakshminarayan crafts a vivid, immersive universe where Earth refugee Saras Kaveri navigates xenophobia and cutthroat competition in an intergalactic cooking show. While the promised MasterChef-in-space concept takes a backseat to weightier themes of cultural imperialism and identity, the author's lively prose and diverse cast of characters keep the pages turning. The budding romance between Saras and the initially unlikable Serenity Ko feels underdeveloped, but their partnership exploring the intersection of food and technology is fascinating. Though some plot threads are left simmering for future installments, this first course in the series offers plenty of food for thought and leaves readers hungry for more.

I enjoyed the various POV and absolutely love the cooking competition vibes! It was the cover that also really drew me in. Overall: a good time!

🛸🍩 Interstellar MegaChef 🍩🛸
Flavour Hacker #1
By Lavanya Lakshminarayan
✨ Thank you NetGalley and Solaris for a copy of this eARC - Available November 5th!

🍩 Cooking competition
🛸 Solcialism
🍩 Xenophobia
🛸 Sapphic romance
🍩 Multiple POV

🛸 Characters 🛸
Starlight Fantastic was one of the high points - their character was something interesting and intriguing from the very first time you meet them.
However, most of the characters have multiple names or names similar to others and it makes it very hard to keep track of, and generally were a little hard to like.
There’s a touch of romance but it felt a little weird to me, the love interest isn’t loveable, morally grey works well if done well.

🍩 Plot 🍩
I went into this thinking I was getting a cooking competition … which I did … but not really? Idk, I guess I’m confused by the way this was marketed.
Politics and inclusion are big themes in this books, which is great. But it didn’t feel well done enough to make it impactful.

🛸 Overall 🛸
This world is incredibly immersive but also didn’t make sense completely. With so many different species of beings plus plants and animals, cities, etc you would think it would feel a bit more alien. Especially considering how distant in the future it took place I expected an otherworldly feel which wasn’t the case here. BUT there were moments when I really enjoyed the world building and atmosphere that this provided.
This is not a feel good story, despite what the cover may convey.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

The cover connotes a much more irreverent feeling than what's in this book. This is a true intergalactic space opera. If you're not on board for high tech sci-fi, skip it.

2.5 / 5

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.

Such a vibrant and colourful world, it was hard not to become enthralled within it all. Whilst I expected it to mostly reside within a cooking show/competition, it did still amaze.

(Thanks to Solaris and Netgalley for the ARC! This review reflects my unbiased opinion.)

Don't let the giant pink donut on the cover fool you: Interstellar MegaChef is not a silly confection of a book about antics of an alien Great British Bakeoff. The writing is lively and sometimes funny, but the story is more complex and the tone more serious than the cover led me to expect. The themes include cultural imperialism, colonialism, identity, the multiple cultural meanings of food, and simulated vs. actual experience.

Saraswati Kaveri had an award-winning restaurant on the barbaric, conflict-ridden backwater planet of Earth, but she arrives on the planet Primus as a refugee. Primus is the self-satisfied pinnacle of human culture in space, founded on lofty ideals and certain of its own perfection. (...Not that the Primians we meet seem particularly happy.) Saraswati bounces hard off the local food culture on Primus as she tries to escape her past and find a future that is worthy of her. She also bounces hard off Serenity Ko, a hard-drinking and hard-driven corporate entertainment developer and appalling brat. Despite their glaring differences, the two team up to develop a new concept: simulated food that neurotech links to your deepest emotions and memories.

It's very much the first book in what is presumably a trilogy, in that a lot of issues and plot threads are set up that don't pay off in this volume. That includes the developing relationship between the two main characters, as well as their personal character development arcs. The end of Interstellar MegaChef does bring us to a satisfying intermediate conclusion, however. I'll definitely be reading the next one.

Saras Kaveri is a long way from home, but she’s exactly where she wants to be - far away from her corrupt family who seems determined to manipulate her fate at every turn. With an altered appearance and an adorable helper robot in tow, Saras is ready to start her new life.

Here on the megatropolis planet of Primus, Saras can be who she wants to be - hopefully a highly respected culinary figure. On Earth, she ran a successful elite restaurant, but here, no one knows her reputation, and unfortunately Earthlings are rumored to be “primitive” and “savage” in spite of this planet adopting values of equality and inclusivity.

Saras wins a spot on the hit show of the galaxy - Interstellar Megachef. It’s like Top Chef, but in space! And the food technology is unlike anything she has encountered before. She’s intimidated, but determined to win the respect of her fellow chefs.

This proves to be much harder than expected. At the same time, tech genius Serenity Ko is also struggling to piece together her next innovative project - a simulated food experience. But first, she needs to learn the basics of cooking.

Saras and Serenity Ko can probably help each other - that is if they can get along. Serenity Ko isn’t exactly a social butterfly. But she is desperate.
Here, the scifi-for-foodies novel explores the way colonizer culture, xenophobia and performative inclusivity is prevalent in multicultural spaces - even in spaces that strive toward utopian social ideals. It’s like a cozy culinary fantasy folded into a space opera, sprinkled with a dash of romantic comedy and philosophical manifesto. Unique, to say the least!

Examining the moral, political, and socioeconomic impact of emerging technology (especially where it overlaps with consumables), Interstellar Megachef manages to be both fun and sharply poignant.

Thank you to @netgalley for the review copy!

DNF at 30%.

I received a copy of this through Netgalley. I was super interested in the premise of Great British Bake Off vibes but in the future, in space and queer?! Sounds right up my street. Unfortunately I only got those things on at the most miniscule level. It is not often that I give up on a book after 10% but before 50% just to give it a fair shot but I just couldn't imagine putting myself through even 20% more of this book. I just don't think this world was built well. I didn't understand the various parts of the world. I didn't understand the various characters. I didn't get the dynamics of the interstellar relationships between cultures/peoples/species. I didn't even get the cooking stuff. I couldn't even make it to the queer part because I just couldn't read anymore. I also thought the names were super confusing. Nothing felt well drawn out or established. What a bummer with the great buzzwords, cover and title. This might be for folks who are really well-versed in sci-fi and can really easily immerse themselves in new and different worlds even if the world building is less than stellar.

Interstellar Megachef was an enjoyable read, but it felt as if something was missing - it either didn't quite hit the mark, or was aiming for too many marks at once. As such, Interstellar Megachef sits somewhere between cosy sci-fi, humorous sci-fi (which the cover suggests) and its darker relations. I anticipated a found family dynamic, but the cast of characters wasn't sufficiently developed to allow this to happen. The world-building, likewise, was rather on the nose - there was a tendency to tell, rather than show. The dialogue in particular made me chortle aloud a fair few times, and the potential for emotional resonance was there if the characters were given more room to grow. The darker aspects of the novel are the least resolved and focused upon - many of the loose ends at the novel's conclusion arise from these - but they do cause some conflicting tone throughout. I'm assuming this is because this is the first in a series - and the ending felt satisfactory regardless. I may well try the next in the series, as I feel that there's a lot of potential here - it just hasn't all been achieved yet.

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!

Interstellar MegaChef takes the cooking competition to a cosmic scale with a satirical twist. Saras Kaveri, an Earthling chef, lands on Primus to compete in a high-stakes cooking show, while Serenity Ko, a tech innovator, is on leave and seeks to create a revolutionary food sim. The novel delves into xenophobia, cultural clash, and the ethics of technology, wrapped in a richly imagined sci-fi world. Though the initial world-building can be overwhelming, the story's exploration of food as a cultural and political battleground is both innovative and thought-provoking.