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vbzshenanigans's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Another incredible book from Hafsah Faizal - as I loved her other books, I was so excited for A Tempest of Tea!
Arthie is a force of nature and the drip, drip, drip introduction of her backstory is magnificently done rather than feeling like forced lore needed to understand the plot.
The secrets that unfold throughout the novel had me gasping and squealing with that classic mix of 'OF COURSE IT IS!' and 'OH MY GOD!' when reading an installment from a beautifully crafted world.
Arthie is a force of nature and the drip, drip, drip introduction of her backstory is magnificently done rather than feeling like forced lore needed to understand the plot.
The secrets that unfold throughout the novel had me gasping and squealing with that classic mix of 'OF COURSE IT IS!' and 'OH MY GOD!' when reading an installment from a beautifully crafted world.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
princessrory's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Grief, and Classism
Minor: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Trafficking
thethingwithfeathers's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Please just give me the sequel, Hafsah. I promise I won’t tell anyone. Please I need to know what happens
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Police brutality, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Trafficking and Death of parent
serena_hien's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death
Minor: Death of parent
midgereads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I didn’t really vibe with this book, but in its defense, I wasn’t always paying a lot of attention and maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for a heist. Overall, I thought it was cool, but not as good as I expected it to be.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: Gun violence and Death of parent
chainsawmochi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It is very, very rare for me to read a book so good that it leaves me dazzled at the end, craving more, the taste of it lingering on every fold of my brain. "A Tempest of Tea" is one such novel.
Heists. High Stakes. Vampires. Tea Houses. A government rotten from inside. Anti-Colonial Understanding and Exploration. A main character with more tricks up her sleeve than a magician, and a supporting cast so varied and beautiful that they make the perfect found family in the end.
Yet the ending left me in shambles.
"A Tempest in Tea" is the story of Arthie, of her adoptive brother Jin, and the teahouse they own and run together. It is also a story about lies and half truths, about finding the people you belong with, and learning to love them despite their flaws--or, perhaps, because of them. Arthie here plays somewhat of the part of King Arthur, bringing together a full round table of Victorian flavored fantasy knights. Each of them has their own role to play, their own reason for their actions, and all of them are expertly woven into the overall story by Hafsah Faizal's beautiful, tragic writing.
No words were lost upon this book. "A Tempest in Tea" is a delight to read, with pulse pounding action and a wonderful exploration of character. Faizal dives into the lives of multiple characters, with the majority of the main cast being PoC's living in a Victorian-styled, colonizing country. A land that is not their own, and a country that sees them as 'other.' A country where they have carved out a small piece for themselves and planted their hearts. The writing is delicious and tender at times, while being biting and blinding a moment later. Faizal has a way with words that paints a beautifully harsh world; a world so like our own that one could hold it up as a mirror.
This review may be all over the place, and for that, I apologize. I just spent the last hour or so devouring the last third of this book. While it starts off slow, "A Tempest of Tea" ends with a bang--and then another. I await the follow up with hushed breath, eyes wide and mind ravenous for more from this world and these characters. I cannot recommend this book enough.
Heists. High Stakes. Vampires. Tea Houses. A government rotten from inside. Anti-Colonial Understanding and Exploration. A main character with more tricks up her sleeve than a magician, and a supporting cast so varied and beautiful that they make the perfect found family in the end.
Yet the ending left me in shambles.
"A Tempest in Tea" is the story of Arthie, of her adoptive brother Jin, and the teahouse they own and run together. It is also a story about lies and half truths, about finding the people you belong with, and learning to love them despite their flaws--or, perhaps, because of them. Arthie here plays somewhat of the part of King Arthur, bringing together a full round table of Victorian flavored fantasy knights. Each of them has their own role to play, their own reason for their actions, and all of them are expertly woven into the overall story by Hafsah Faizal's beautiful, tragic writing.
No words were lost upon this book. "A Tempest in Tea" is a delight to read, with pulse pounding action and a wonderful exploration of character. Faizal dives into the lives of multiple characters, with the majority of the main cast being PoC's living in a Victorian-styled, colonizing country. A land that is not their own, and a country that sees them as 'other.' A country where they have carved out a small piece for themselves and planted their hearts. The writing is delicious and tender at times, while being biting and blinding a moment later. Faizal has a way with words that paints a beautifully harsh world; a world so like our own that one could hold it up as a mirror.
This review may be all over the place, and for that, I apologize. I just spent the last hour or so devouring the last third of this book. While it starts off slow, "A Tempest of Tea" ends with a bang--and then another. I await the follow up with hushed breath, eyes wide and mind ravenous for more from this world and these characters. I cannot recommend this book enough.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Body horror, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Racial slurs, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder
blewballoon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
On paper, I feel like I should have really liked this? This historical fantasy type setting usually works for me, heist plots are interesting, and I am a sucker for found family. I do think this book spent more time on the (lackluster) romances than it should have, but I could see myself not minding as much if I was in a different mood.
I think my problem is that more than anything I'm a character driven reader and I need to like the characters. Apart from Jin, I didn't really care for anyone, and so it was hard to care what was going on with them. Jin deserved better friends, honestly. He spent a lot of time having information kept from him and having to work around Arthie's love interests.
I wanted to DNF a few times, and I knew I was going to come away from this book displeased when I remembered it was the first in a series and seemed like the kind of book that was going to end on a big cliffhanger. That assumption was correct.
I think that if you're the type of reader who connects with the type of character that Arthie is, and you don't feel like the romance elements get in the way of the rest of the story, you may enjoy this. The audiobook narrator was okay, but it seemed like she was kind of whispering the whole time.
I think my problem is that more than anything I'm a character driven reader and I need to like the characters. Apart from Jin, I didn't really care for anyone, and so it was hard to care what was going on with them. Jin deserved better friends, honestly. He spent a lot of time having information kept from him and having to work around Arthie's love interests.
I wanted to DNF a few times, and I knew I was going to come away from this book displeased when I remembered it was the first in a series and seemed like the kind of book that was going to end on a big cliffhanger. That assumption was correct.
I think that if you're the type of reader who connects with the type of character that Arthie is, and you don't feel like the romance elements get in the way of the rest of the story, you may enjoy this. The audiobook narrator was okay, but it seemed like she was kind of whispering the whole time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Minor: Racism, Trafficking, and Stalking
gkaltam's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Blood
amschelly153's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
mousmoulo's review against another edition
3.75
WHY WOULD YOU END IT ON A CLIFFHANGER WHY
i generally enjoyed this, i wasn't exactly dying to read but it was easy to pick it up whenever i actually had time to read, which is a miracle because i haven't been reading a lot these past few months. i liked the world-building and the characters were interestingwhen they weren't being painfully heterosexual
my biggest grievance with this book was the romance sub-plots because i didn't like any of them :∆ there was no chemistry to be found between jin and flick or arthie and laith (though arthie and matteo were lowkey okay?) there was NOTHING in these romances except for physical attraction, and i'm very sorry to say this but some chapters were lowkey insufferable to read (aka most chapters from flick's pov, which is a shame because i loved her as a character)
(it also took them around 300 pages to pass the bechtel test, which is 300 pages too many methinks<3)
other than that though, the book was good! from chapter 47 onwards it took some wild turns and it was very entertaining. the plot twists were pretty good too. i also liked the themes of colonisation and imperialism and how they were used in the book.
that's all, now i need to pretend it didn't end on a cliffhanger and survive until the next book is out
i generally enjoyed this, i wasn't exactly dying to read but it was easy to pick it up whenever i actually had time to read, which is a miracle because i haven't been reading a lot these past few months. i liked the world-building and the characters were interesting
(it also took them around 300 pages to pass the bechtel test, which is 300 pages too many methinks<3)
other than that though, the book was good! from chapter 47 onwards it took some wild turns and it was very entertaining. the plot twists were pretty good too. i also liked the themes of colonisation and imperialism and how they were used in the book.
that's all, now i need to pretend it didn't end on a cliffhanger and survive until the next book is out
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Moderate: Violence and Death of parent