A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah FaizalMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
It's been a few years since Hafsah Faizal wrote a new fantasy novel, but it's definitely been worth the wait for this one. Coming pretty close to the same trajectory as Leigh Bardugo took with the Grishaverse, Faizal follows up on her initial series, the Sands of Arawiya, with the start of a new series focusing on a highly diverse ensemble cast carrying out a heist. A lot like Six of Crows this story becomes, set in not-London instead of not-Amsterdam (White Roaring, capital of Ettenia), but with a few extra elements to really make it a memorably new experience. This book features vampires existing in the shadowy underground of White Roaring, including a Jack the Ripper analogue. Most of the ensemble cast are people who've come from other nations in this universe - including Arawiya, of course, but also parallels to different Asian nations. Ceylan, Qirilan, Jeevant Gar, all with lots of natural resources which the colonizing Ettenians have sought to exploit for generations - which helps motivate the likes of Arthie, Jin, and Flick to challenge the status quo. Along the way, they make a ton of shocking discoveries about Ettenia's plans for the future, all leading up to a pretty solid cliffhanger that makes me hope Faizal doesn't take as long to present the second book in this series - which I suspect will be another duology conclusion, but we'll see soon enough, I suppose.
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