A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal Series: Blood and Tea #1
on February 20, 2024
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Fantasy / General, Young Adult Fiction / Vampires
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780374389413The first book in a hotly-anticipated fantasy duology teeming with romance and revenge, led by an orphan girl willing to do whatever it takes to save her self-made kingdom.
On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by night, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—she can’t do the job alone.
Calling on some of the city’s most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the sinister, glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.
It was only about 20 pages in when I started thinking up designs for a tattoo for this book! (For anyone curious, I’m thinking old fashioned tea cup with the Spindrift logo on it).
I loved everything about this book! The characters, the relationships, the plot, the atmosphere. I obviously could go on and on.
Arthie is such a complicated character, and I love her! I want only good things for her. Even more than that, I love her relationship with Jin, her brother by choice. Ugh, the back and forth between these two gives me so much life. They both have traumatic pasts but how they chose to deal with it is so fascinating to read, especially their inner thoughts with third person point of view chapters. Faizal did an excellent job in writing these two character backgrounds and their relationship between them. Which is why I hate to say this but it did come at the cost to the other characters. Flick is another point of view chapter and it was fascinating to see her arc from wanting nothing more than to please her mother to seeing how horrible and uncaring her mother is. But at times, her character did fall a bit flat for me. I would’ve liked a more in-depth background for Flick and maybe even a flashback scene for how her mother treated her before all of this. I’m definitely curious to see what happens with her character in the next book.
The other two characters in the heist crew are Laith, a member of the horned guard who’s on a mission to destroy the King (the Ram), and Matteo, a famous painter who’s secretly a vampire. As with Flick, these two don’t get as flushed out as Arthie and Jin. Matteo seems to be there for funny barbs and comebacks, which I definitely enjoyed. However, I am hoping that in the next book they both have their own point-of-view chapter, especially Matteo. With how it ended, I’m not entirely sure Laith will be accepted into the crew anymore.
The plot itself was so fascinating and atmospheric. I love the way colonialism plays a role in this fantasy novel, including the nods to England’s own past (the East Jeevant Trading Company as a stand in for the East India Company). The first part of the novel was a pretty steady pace, there were times were it got a bit boring and I was ready for the heist, but it did lay out the rest of the novel quite well. The second and third parts of the story were faced past that I was ready to tear apart my cuticles (I’ve been trying to stop this habit).
The ending did and didn’t take me by surprise. Trying not to spoil anything, but if you want to read it, I’d stop here. The reveal of Arthie’s secret and the Ram I called from the beginning. Of course, there was going to be a cliff hanger because it’s a series and that’s standard now. However, I didn’t expect the wolf to make an actual appearance, talked about and alluded to, yes, but actually appear at the end, nope!
I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in the series and seeing what happens!
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