A review by booksalacarte
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

adventurous emotional hopeful informative mysterious tense slow-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? No

3.5

A tempest of tea 3.5⭐️ 1.75🌶️


Fantasy
Gender swap King Arthur reimagining
Vampires
Peaky blinders vibe
BIPOC
Multi POV
Heist
Secrets
Treason


The premise was interesting. With a reverse gendered King Arthur/Excalibur retelling focusing on immigrants and the seedy underbelly of this kingdom, I was initially it reached. However I quickly grew bored. A whole lot of nothing happened for the first half of the book. I was at 39% and completely baffled that they had only just finalized the heist plan.  I was underwhelmed… but that ending hooked me in. I love a god mysterious identity character.

The characters borrowed heavily from Peaky Blinders and the dynamics from that show, only with different immigrant dynamics. I was less interested in that than I was the problems the characters needed to solve. I also worry that because I haven’t read we hunt the flame, that I’m missing information.

The magic system was a fairly standard for vampire lore, with an interesting little twist. I liked that aspect of the book.

That ending had me more interested in the sequel than I was for 40% of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and McMillin’s Children Publishing Group for an Advanced eReader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.