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uranaishi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood
Minor: Toxic friendship, Outing, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Vomit, War, Violence, Confinement, Abandonment, Bullying, Alcohol, Classism, and Death
caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
- Like half the bookish internet, I am absolutely here for the blooming cozy fantasy genre. CAN’T SPELL TREASON WITHOUT TEA is for those of us who wish we had a hundred more books like LEGENDS AND LATTES.
- I loved Reyna and Kianthe’s dynamic. The ongoing thread of learning to let go of the idea that you need to prove your worth to be allowed the things you love is just beautiful.
- The town Thorne created is straight out of a cozy video game. We’re building things, we’re buying things, we’re finding lost items. On top of that, though, it what’s actually a really interesting political setup, and I hope future books from Thorne will explore what happens in that aspect of the world.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Alcohol and Sexual content
kayceeisbookish's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Death, and Fire/Fire injury
theaceofpages's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
If, like me, you like the idea of lower stakes fantasy but still need some stakes and a plot to keep reading, this one may be one of the better cozy fantasy options for you. I loved Visk. Easily my favourite character and I wish we'd gotten to see more of him. I did enjoy the other characters and getting to know them as well of course. I liked that the narrator used different voices and accents to distinguish them.
Despite my enjoyment I do feel like the plot suffers from a big event being solved far too simply, similar to how I felt in Legends and Lattes. I suspect this is largely to keep it low stakes but I was hoping for something bigger. While it definitely had lower stakes (mostly personal rather than the whole world is in danger variety) I felt like this book had done a decent job of dealing with them until this point. The journey in Can't Spell Treason Without Tea was still incredibly enjoyable for me though! The ending definitely didn't ruin the experience, even though I did find myself wishing for more. I'm definitely interested in picking up the sequel.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
Moderate: Violence and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Classism and Murder
arlaubscher's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, and Violence
Minor: Miscarriage and Alcohol
plume_de_renarde's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual harassment
lotte5322's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent
ifoundcallie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Vomit, Death, and Fire/Fire injury
strange_little_ranger's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.75
If it were a romance it skipped all the fun parts of the forbidden nature into the growing pains of the relationship where they move in together but don't really know each other that well because they've been sneaking away previously. So, no pining, they're in love but not quite the fluffy happily ever after love. One is the super powerful mage with a penchant for puns and is perpetually horny and loves reading (the brains) and the other is a palace guard who bakes and loves tea along with battle sense and quick analyzing skills (the brawn). They are very much in a ride or die mindset and it's a bit repetitive until the cast of character is expanded to include neighbors/townsfolk and start to develop more of a found family.
The world building was... Both sparse and complex somehow. Imagine some nuggets of lore just dropped and seeming like it means something but is never fully explained. That is the majority of the book and while some of it can be figured out with context clues, there's still a lot of questions and I suppose I am used to a first book in a series spending adequate time establishing everything to reduce confusion through the remaining volumes.
As for plot, there were so many threads everywhere and only one was really tied up. I presume more will be addressed in the future but it seemed like a lot of plot for a book that was vibe heavy.
Finishing this and all I can think is that it was fine. The things I have issues with weren't particularly bad but I might hesitate to read more in the series.
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Death, Abandonment, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Outing, Vomit, Violence, Confinement, Deadnaming, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Panic attacks/disorders