Blood and Tea Duology
by Hafsah Faizal

Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted August 20, 2025
Edits and Addendum on September 13

1. A Tempest of Tea / 2. A Steeping of Blood

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I have an advance review copy of the second book in this series which publishes next month. I'm not positive, but I think it will be just a duology, as her first series was. I have been aware of Faizal for several years, but A Tempest of Tea is the first of her work I have read. Her first novel has been on one of my varied wish lists since I heard of it, even before We Hunt the Flame won an Ignyte Award in 2020, but I still haven't gotten to it. Maybe one of these days. Hafsah Faizal is an American Muslim woman of Sri Lankan and Arabic descent, born in Florida, raised in California, currently living in Texas. Her books have been marketed as Young Adult, but that does not mean there are not serious themes addressed. There is a bit of romance, but it is low-key, a slow burn, nothing explicit, mostly sly looks and brief kisses, or just the private thoughts of the characters.

This is a secondary world fantasy, but with historical referents. The author's parents are immigrants from Sri Lanka, an island nation once known to others around the world as Ceylon, the British colonial designation. The main character in this book, Arthie Casamir, is from Ceylan, which had been colonized by Ettenia. Her parents had been killed, but she escaped, and now resides in White Roaring, the capital city of Ettenia, which may or may not be this world's stand-in for England, with White Roaring being London. One thing that indicates it might be is Calibore, a breech-loading revolver which legend said could only be wielded by Ettenia's true leader. It was embedded in a stone in the city square for many years, no one able to extract it, until Arthie discovered its secret. She has another secret not revealed until much later, although astute readers might guess it ahead of time, as I did. The ruling council of White Roaring selects their leader, a person who is always masked and unknown to the public, the current one being the Ram. Their identity was also something I guessed correctly, but I won't reveal it here.

A major fantasy element is that of vampires, hence the blood in the series' title. They are known to exist by everyone, even accepted by many, since in this case their thirst for blood is tempered by consent. Arthie and her adoptive brother Jin, whom she met just after the death of his parents, operate Spindrift, a tea shop during the day, but a meeting place for vampires and their willing partners at night. Her clientele are poorer vampires, those not accepted into the high society of vampires who meet in the Atherium. There are flashback sequences of Arthie's experiences on Ceylan, her meeting Jin outside his burning home in White Roaring, their growing friendship, and their partnership in Spindrift. Things become more perilous for them when she is visited late at night by one of the Ram's Horned Guard officers, a man named Laith, who presents her with a plan to usurp the Ram's power by stealing a ledger that would prove scandalous for the Ram and the whole council. To obtain the ledger they must infiltrate the Atherium, as closely guarded and hard to enter as any castle or prison. Arthie chooses two others to help them, a vampire many in the city are not aware is a vampire, plus a young woman currently under house arrest for forgery. That woman's mother is the head of the East Jeevant Company, this world's equivalent of the East India Company.

I liked several parts of the book, particularly Arthie and Jin, but other things felt off. Their preparations for getting into the Atherium involved stealing items, forging duplicates, as well as other encounters that should have been more difficult, and should have set off alarm bells among the Horned Guards, the Council, if not the Ram themself, as well as the leaders of the Atherium. Action sequences were less than believable, both the description of places and movements of characters, and that goes double for the ultimate confrontation in an Atherium meeting room. Either that room was much larger than I thought, or the action was a lot like in movies with hundreds of combatants, but the main adversaries still have freedom of movement, not to mention time for banter. There are unexpected consequences, betrayals, and revelations of secrets which threaten to break alliances. I can't give this a strong recommendation, but acknowledge others might like it more, and I'm still interested in the follow-up. It ends on a cliffhanger of course, but I have no idea where things will lead, especially if Arthie is supposed to be a stand-in for Arthur. I will hold off on revealing Calibore's special properties for now..

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Posted September 13, 2025
A Steeping of Blood will be published in ten days, but I received a digital review copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. There were a few times early on I thought this would be an improvement on the first book, but it eventually suffers from the same problems. Stilted dialogue, with illogical or contradictory statements, and some of the action scenes are even worse. At one point the main characters are in the midst of a horde of guards from the opposing force, then a short time later those guards seem to have drifted away, allowing the protagonists to investigate a supposedly impenetrable fortress. Even if this is a parable of the British Empire, with Ceylan a stand-in for Ceylon/Sri Lanka, the world map is completely different. At one point Arthie and her crew sail to Ceylan, and it only takes them two days. There they find the "impenetrable" fortress, and rescue Jin's still alive parents, who had been conducting experiments for the Ram.

It is possible I misread some things in the first book, one of which was I thought the Council knew who they picked to be their monarch, in this case the Ram, although they are unknown to the general public. Now it seems the Council was surprised to find out the true identify of the Ram, so who selected them, and by what process? Another thing that was confusing was the notion of half-vampires. A true, full vampire was created only after the human was dead, but then fed the blood of a vampire. A half-vampire was created by consuming vampire blood, but not after death (or even near death?). Jin's parents had been experimenting in one direction, then they were kidnapped by the Ram and their work redirected to another purpose, none of which made sense to me. Written in third-person, in very short chapters, the perspective switching from Arthie to Jin and back, with one other character focus. Chapters usually end on a mini-climax, one of which has Arthie struck on the head and taken captive. Another person working with her was in the room at that time, but the next time he shows up he is with others of Arthie's crew, so it seemed obvious he was a turncoat working for the Ram, but then he wasn't?? No mention of how he got out of the situation inside the Ram's stronghold.

In reference to the first book, I mentioned how the fight in the Atherium was not well described, with several characters having time to quarrel and banter while the mayhem was going on all around them. Now Arthie and some of her crew are in the Ram's undergound bunker, with vampires in the tunnel heading straght for them. It sounds as if they are RIGHT THERE, ready to pounce, yet Arthie and another have time for a few words, and a final kiss (?!?), then he jumps into the group of vampires while Arthie and the others make their escape. And that is after the vampires have been described as moving exceptionally fast. Just one more thing that doesn't ring true. I always want to like every book I read, and I do not like to write negative reviews, but in this case I feel I should. I cannot recommend it.

 

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