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A review by manola
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This book might help you get back into reading (it did it for me) but I was sadly disappointed by it. I'd heard raving reviews about this author's earlier works, so I thought I'd dive into the newest one, assuming it would be even better now that the author has experience in the genre. But the story simply feels too raw and unpolished. I assumed all throughout it to be self-published, and therefore lacking an editor, but found out it actually did have one (and a whole team, at that).
I liked the teashop. I think it was the thing I liked the most about this book. It's actually one of the most important things in the story itself, and what silently drives the plot in the end, but strangely enough, it's also something that when you step into you immediately leave. I feel like this book could've shined so much brighter if the author had wrung out all the potential magic everything had. Stephanie Garber actually came to mind when I read this; granted, not my favorite author, but she revels in the pure wonder her stories are dripping with, and I feel like A Tempest of Tea could've benefited so much from that. The teashop hinted at so much potential in that sense, I was disappointed to watch it mostly be sidled off of the narration.
Most of the characters felt really messy, in the wrong sense. They felt messily written. I found Arthie to be a potentially interesting, solid protagonist, but throughout the story her values blurred and fluctuated, and her decisions and opinions on what was happening in the plot and especially her feelings towards the cast of characters switched from one extreme to the other in a heartbeat. Which again, would've been really interesting as a character exploration (usually most cunning head-of-gang protagonists are too smart and put-together) but those qualities didn't feel intentional, mainly because the story wasn't exploring her from that standpoint. Arthie simply ended up feeling like the author's vessel to tell the reader how to feel and what to think about each character.
And I enjoy my romance subplots, but the romance was overused to a degree that became frustrating. Every single interaction that each couple had was romantic, or ended in such way, and it drained those relationships of all substance. Jin and Flicks' I definitely liked the most, because there was a previous history established for them (which, in any case, I also would've liked to see happen, and not to be told about it).
This story can be looked up closely still, and you'll keep finding weird knots and empty spaces. There was too much flimsy tell (and not show), the dialogue tended to strengthen and collapse, along with the foundation of the story. There were some really solid, strong chapters in the middle, and definitely hearty, meaty substance here and there, but all of it melted away pretty quickly.
Despite everything though, it did leave me wondering for its author's development as a writer. Hafsah Faizal lays out definite potential, I just don't think she hit the mark here. At least not for me.
I liked the teashop. I think it was the thing I liked the most about this book. It's actually one of the most important things in the story itself, and what silently drives the plot in the end, but strangely enough, it's also something that when you step into you immediately leave. I feel like this book could've shined so much brighter if the author had wrung out all the potential magic everything had. Stephanie Garber actually came to mind when I read this; granted, not my favorite author, but she revels in the pure wonder her stories are dripping with, and I feel like A Tempest of Tea could've benefited so much from that. The teashop hinted at so much potential in that sense, I was disappointed to watch it mostly be sidled off of the narration.
Most of the characters felt really messy, in the wrong sense. They felt messily written. I found Arthie to be a potentially interesting, solid protagonist, but throughout the story her values blurred and fluctuated, and her decisions and opinions on what was happening in the plot and especially her feelings towards the cast of characters switched from one extreme to the other in a heartbeat. Which again, would've been really interesting as a character exploration (usually most cunning head-of-gang protagonists are too smart and put-together) but those qualities didn't feel intentional, mainly because the story wasn't exploring her from that standpoint. Arthie simply ended up feeling like the author's vessel to tell the reader how to feel and what to think about each character.
And I enjoy my romance subplots, but the romance was overused to a degree that became frustrating. Every single interaction that each couple had was romantic, or ended in such way, and it drained those relationships of all substance. Jin and Flicks' I definitely liked the most, because there was a previous history established for them (which, in any case, I also would've liked to see happen, and not to be told about it).
This story can be looked up closely still, and you'll keep finding weird knots and empty spaces. There was too much flimsy tell (and not show), the dialogue tended to strengthen and collapse, along with the foundation of the story. There were some really solid, strong chapters in the middle, and definitely hearty, meaty substance here and there, but all of it melted away pretty quickly.
Despite everything though, it did leave me wondering for its author's development as a writer. Hafsah Faizal lays out definite potential, I just don't think she hit the mark here. At least not for me.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent