Seven Recipes for Revolution 🥩 Monstrous meals, magical recipes, and a rising rebellion… served with a side of societal unrest

Seven Recipes for Revolution is a bold and imaginative fantasy debut that blends magical culinary arts with sharp political commentary. Following the story of a young butcher-turned-revolutionary, this is a tale that simmers with rage, cooks up chaos, and leaves you hungry for more.

With its rich worldbuilding, layered themes, and a unique storytelling format, this novel is unlike anything else you’ve read, think Iron Widow meets The Bear and the Nightingale… but with kaiju-sized kitchen disasters.

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Seventeen-year-old Paprick is a common butcher, carving slabs of meat from gargantuan monsters so elite chefs can prepare magic-granting meals for the rich. But Paprick’s true passion is cooking, and if he can learn the secret art, his dreams of liberating his people and sharing the monsters’ magic with the world could come true. He steals the precious ingredients needed to practise recipes at home, but if he’s caught, he’ll be executed.

As his desperation grows, he ventures into the black market and uncovers a spice imported from unknown lands. Combining it with the last of his stolen meat, he cooks a dish the world has never tasted before, with side-effects he couldn’t have foreseen.

The dish’s magic grows Paprick to kaiju-size, and legends of his powers spread among the people. Immediately, the rulers arrest him, but Paprick convinces them to make him a chef’s apprentice―if they ever want to learn his Recipe. However, his exposure to the world of high cuisine reveals the rot at its centre, and with his new power, rebellion is only a few recipes away…

At the heart of the story is Paprick, a boy born on the wrong side of a divided society. Though passionate about food, his upbringing among the Commons means he’s destined for the factory lines until a forbidden spice changes everything…

Paprick’s journey from meat-processing grunt to student at the elite culinary Academy is full of emotional highs and devastating lows. Through him, we see how systemic injustice shapes people and how revolution starts small, often by accident.

The supporting cast shines too. His two mothers, whose fierce love anchors his early life. Academy friends, whose subtle sympathies challenge the Rare/Commons binary, whilst Academy not-so-friends reinforce it. And a rebel companion, whose influence adds urgency and danger to the story

Adult Paprick, narrating the story as a memoir to an archivist with history of her own, gives the book additional emotional weight and suggests he may not be telling the full truth as an unreliable narrator.

This world runs on recipes – literally. Magical meals crafted from monstrous creatures can do everything from removing exhaustion to creating chaos on a massive scale. When Paprick discovers a rare ingredient that transforms him into a legendary giant, he’s swept into a new life… and a growing rebellion.

The magic system is one of the most unique aspects of the book. The recipes are imaginative, the ingredients horrifying and grand, and the consequences often deadly. You get the sense that the world extends far beyond Paprick’s story, with political games and rebellion constantly simmering behind the scenes.

As the story progresses, Paprick becomes more involved in the revolutionary undercurrent, whether he wants to or not. There’s action, sabotage, betrayal, and loss. The final chapters leave plenty open for a sequel, and I’m already invested in where this messy, delicious rebellion goes next.

Written as a memoir, Seven Recipes for Revolution uses a clever frame narrative where an older Paprick tells his story to an archivist who may or may not trust him. There’s a constant tension between memory and myth, and the book is laced with hints that this story may be a version crafted for legacy more than truth.

The pacing is slower in places, especially during training scenes or deep dives into cooking methods, but it fits the tone and allows for proper worldbuilding. The writing style is gritty, thoughtful, and sometimes poetic without ever becoming pretentious.

The world of Seven Recipes for Revolution is split between the Rares (the elite, magical class) and the Commons (overworked and overlooked). With this, the book explores classism and propaganda, rebellion and systemic oppression, cultural erasure and violence and at it’s core power through food, culture, and memory

While there’s magic, it’s never used to soften the story. This is a world where inequality is violent, where power corrupts, and where even a miracle can be weaponised. There are also some graphic elements, including cannibalistic undertones and scenes of physical brutality.

This book comfortably sits in Epic Fantasy and borders into Grimdark territory. It’s heavy with themes of power, sacrifice, and survival, but told through the voice of a teenager trying to do the right thing in a world built to keep him down.

Overall it’s a richly imagined, emotionally layered fantasy with a unique magic system and a compelling, tragic lead. Deliciously dark and devastating in equal measure.

Positives of Seven Recipes for Revolution

• Unique and unsettling magic system based on magical meals
• Clever narrative structure with unreliable memoir tone
• Emotional stakes and rich character relationships
• Strong political themes without losing fantasy appeal
• Brilliant sense of worldbuilding beyond what we see on the page
• Perfect blend of personal story and larger rebellion arc

Negatives of Seven Recipes for Revolution

• Slow pacing in certain training/kitchen segments
• Some violent or disturbing content, including cannibalism
• Gaps in explanation for some political mechanics (left for sequels?)
• Readers may struggle with Paprick’s unreliability at times

I received Seven Recipes for Revolution by Ryan Rose from the publisher, Daphne Press, and Black Crow PR. This is an unbiased and honest review

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