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jelkebooks 's review for:
A Tempest of Tea
by Hafsah Faizal
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book was a journey. I started of really liking it. It took me a little getting used to it, but I thought the world was incredibly interesting. The set up of the story was also really intriguing, and I loved how there was this undercurrent to it all that showed bigger things were going on in the background as well. Arthie is such a badass main character, and I immediately loved following her. The only issue I was having is that I didn't think the different POV's were distinctive enough. Ultimately Flick was fine, but Arthie and Jin's voices were just really similair to me, and I constantly had to reffer back to the chapter header to see who's POV I was reading from. That was especially odd though because Jin and Arthie are two very different characters.
However, once our set up is done, and we have assembled our team and are getting into the heist this book just hit a slump for me. I couldn't really explain it. I was still really intrigued about what was going to happen, but all the prep work for the heist just couldn't capture my interest. I realised quickly though that that was because I just didn't feel like I knew these characters. They just were never really properly developed beyond their initial introductions. Therefore this book just never really pulled me in, and ultimately I just never got fully invested. This is also the part where the romances start to kick in, and I have to say that I found those extremely underdeveloped as well.
Then we get into the actual heist, and this book picks back up again. I still wasn't fully engaged in the book, but the plot got really exciting. The way it progressed was just masterfully crafted. It also took some turns I did not see coming at all, and definitely had me completely gagged. I still can't believe some of them, just absolutely jaw dropping. I also thought the way those earlier nuggets I picked up on were put together to just make an epic finale. I already can't wait until the day the sequel comes out, so I can finally know what is going to happen next.
However, once our set up is done, and we have assembled our team and are getting into the heist this book just hit a slump for me. I couldn't really explain it. I was still really intrigued about what was going to happen, but all the prep work for the heist just couldn't capture my interest. I realised quickly though that that was because I just didn't feel like I knew these characters. They just were never really properly developed beyond their initial introductions. Therefore this book just never really pulled me in, and ultimately I just never got fully invested. This is also the part where the romances start to kick in, and I have to say that I found those extremely underdeveloped as well.
Then we get into the actual heist, and this book picks back up again. I still wasn't fully engaged in the book, but the plot got really exciting. The way it progressed was just masterfully crafted. It also took some turns I did not see coming at all, and definitely had me completely gagged. I still can't believe some of them, just absolutely jaw dropping. I also thought the way those earlier nuggets I picked up on were put together to just make an epic finale. I already can't wait until the day the sequel comes out, so I can finally know what is going to happen next.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Grief