Reviews

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

alexvb's review

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4.0

If you love Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo then you'll definitely love this one!

Some of the twists at the end felt a little OTT and not foreshadowed (but that could be because I'm a dumb and because I feel some of the twists could've been saved for later books), 
BUT I really enjoyed the plot, the setting, and the cast of characters! I am interested to see what happens next in this world. 

Also, the romance felt very heavy handed (I am not a romance girlie) 
BUT it didn't take away from my enjoyment of everything else in this novel. 

Faizal wrote some banger lines too that were delicious to read.
This is the first book I've read written by Faizal and I fully intend to read a few more.

Although, I do have one tiny writing gripe which is; I really dislike when characters are like "I couldn't stand when he..." or "He always does this" but they met like 48 hours ago. It really bothers me and it happened once or twice in this novel. When the characters have known each other months or years, I can understand using this language but it really irks me when this language this used but the character have only just met.

memesica's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

serrendipity's review against another edition

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2.0

2.5, rounding down.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it…just disappointed.

I saw it described as “Six of Crows” meets “Peaky Blinders” with vampires, and that was probably a mistake.
Six of crows is a masterpiece, and very few books can live up to it.

But here, the heist was underdeveloped (almost boring), we only got 3 POV characters, so it was obvious that things were being withheld, the “twists” weren’t very surprising, and when they were, I found myself not really caring or invested because the characters were all a bit one-dimensional.

*sigh*
I have been let down by a lot of my fantasy reads this year…

kait_rose_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

annica_fourie's review against another edition

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This fell flat for me. I was trying to push on a little further, because everyone who recommended it to me raved about it.
The characters are bland, and there are a lot of random references written into this story that feels unnecessary. 

I might try this again at a later date, but for now this is a DNF.

hopeless_ash's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was sadly a pretty big letdown for me personally. It had a lot of hallmarks of things I enjoy, but none of them really panned out in a way that I loved. Way too much time spent around the heist, not enough on the heist, and a decent chunk of the romance just felt oddly forced. The ending was pretty solid all things considered.

annaluzia04reads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

annkayla's review against another edition

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2.0

I expected vampires since it’s marketed as a vampire book

didipooka's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

bookishbelle_bristol's review against another edition

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5.0

Hafsah Faizal blew me away with her first series and I think this one is going to be even better ☺️

Love the setting - think victorian/peaky blinders/six of crows but diverse and better! Genuine twists and turns that I couldn't have predicted, and well thought out fascinating characters. Arthie and Jinn are absolutely ICONIC.