Hello there! I'm pulling myself out of a month long reading slump with what was a highly anticipated read of last year that I just never got around to. I've been struggling a lot with committing to a book once I started and had initially picked up A Tempest of Tea when it first came out and I'm glad I finally got around to finishing it (even if it's now one year later).
pages: 338 | source: ebook, netgalley/tour
publication date: February 20th, 2024
tags: fantasy, young adult, historical, vampires
rating: 6.8/10
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A Tempest of Tea is set in a unique world that blends the supernatural with historical Victorian England vibes and explores themes of family and identity, as well as power and loyalty in such a fascinating way. While I haven't read the ever popular Six of Crows duology, I've read countless reviews that have compared the two heist crews together which definitely piqued my interest from the start.
The story is told through three POVs: Arthie, the no-nonsense leader of the crew, her brother Jin, and Lady Flick, the forger of their crew. I really enjoyed how we got to observe the makeshift crew interact with each other through the different perspectives and it's something that Hafsah Faizal really excels at. Her portrayal of the found family aspect dives deep into the past and one's upbringing shapes the relationships they form with the people around them and what starts as an alliance of survival starts to transform into something deeper. The themes of learning to trust and sacrifices are woven into each character's individual arc. As much as I enjoyed the characters and their relationships, the dialogue sometimes confused me because the characters spend so much time discussing and planning for the heist that I felt like I was just spinning around in their conversations. The build-up itself took a bit but when things got rolling towards the end, it definitely made the preparations worth it.
With such a unique world and a complex history, Faizal doesn't shy away from addressing socio-political issues of colonization and the imbalance of power. The story includes commentary on the systems of oppression in place by the Ettenian government as well as the vampire society. The characters also have so much history with how they were treated based on their backgrounds. It's definitely treated with a lot of respect and calls for resistance (however big or small) against systemic injustices that seek to exploit and create barriers between people. While the story itself took a while for me to fully become invested, the ending easily stole the show and makes me all the more excited to see how everything will play out in the sequel.
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| a little journal page with some of my favorite quotes :) |
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| a huge thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours, Hafsah Faizal, and Macmillan for the digital copy and opportunity to read/review + participate on this tour! all thoughts shared are 100% my own |
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