Today I’m excited to be sharing my review of A Steeping of Blood by Hafsah Faizal. A Tempest of Tea was one of my favourite reads of 2023, so my expectations for the sequel were sky-high. How did it stack up?
This review originally appeared on The Nerd Daily.
White Roaring is sharpening its fangs after the deadly night that left the city in shambles. The press are dead, the public is calling for justice, vampires are in danger, and amid the turmoil, the Ram announces a celebration.
Still reeling from the bloodshed, Arthie Casimir has no time to mourn anyone’s death, let alone her own. She has no time for love, either, even though it saved her life. As Arthie navigates new emotions and new allies, she must reassemble her scrambled crew and scrape together what little they have left to fight one last time—and she will need to face the ghosts of her past to do it.
In Ceylan.
Publication Date: 25th September
CW: death, murder, violence, shooting, colonialism, racism, torture, sexism, injury, blood, imprisonment
My Thoughts:
A Steeping of Blood is a no-holds-barred conclusion to a duology that is not afraid to bare its teeth.
A Tempest of Tea was a beguiling, beautifully written and brutal read. It was a smoking gun of a book —powerful, incendiary and finishes with one hell of a bang. This sequel lives up to the heady expectations set by its predecessor, delivering even more twists, turns and treacherous deeds. If you haven’t started, I would strongly recommend stopping this review, picking up A Tempest of Tea and devouring it immediately before coming back.
This duology is fiercely angry, which is well-earned and feels like it is a timely reflection of the world around us. At the same time, it is also a cautionary tale about the thin line between justice and vengeance, no matter how righteous, and how anger can be an all-consuming force that can destroy you. This is encapsulated by Arthie’s journey, which may be one of my favourite character arcs I have read recently.
She burns so bright on the page and makes sure you will never forget her. Her genius, bravery and scheming is impressive, but so is the way she will do anything for those she loves. That sense of recklessness comes from a place of losing everything and then building a wall against letting anyone else, only to have people gradually break that down. The exterior she presents to survive is to protect that vulnerable, scared child who had her world ripped from her in bloodshed and violence. Around her is the found family forged in the fire of the chaos and blood spilt in book one. This is one of my favourite tropes and Faizal uses it excellently with a lovable build-up that is now fractured as we start the new story. Their dynamics have changed massively and you are invested in knowing where these might end up. Overall, the characterisation is a definite strong point of this duology. This is a ragtag bunch of rogues that you end up finding space in your heart for. I loved getting snippets of their perspectives and how this aligned with the wider picture of the plot slotting together. It feels like a rich tapestry and Faizal has a wonderful eye for detail that I relished.
In A Steeping of Blood, we reunite with our gang and a few new faces, but the events of the previous book have changed everything. Allegiances have shifted and lives have been transformed irrevocably. Faizal ensures that the actions of the first book have keenly felt consequences in the follow-up. That explosive ending cannot be ignored and the way the ripple effects are felt until the very last chapter is exquisite. It feels like such a cohesive story with twists and turns that are the type that make you throw a book. They are well-earned in the story itself with plenty to discover upon a second read. These twists are shocking but they also feel somewhat inevitable in the story eventually.
The blood and violence underscore that anger and give it a wider context. Colonialism has such long-reaching consequences that still reverberate today, especially when weaponised in certain political contexts. That sense of ostracism and displacement from a community has affected all of our central characters in different ways and ties them together, outcasts drawn together by a goal that becomes ever more important as the pages keep turning. It is a heist book and has all the charisma and style you would expect, but there are real-life monsters it is confronting through the daring deeds. The monstrousness of humanity is on full display, especially following the revelations of the previous book. Also, we get to explore even more of this vast and expansive world. This levels up from the first book with gorgeously imagined settings and new locations to get caught up in. Without spoiling anything, Faizal carries over that emotional destruction from the first book with a final act that sears itself into your brain and tears out your heart.
A Steeping of Blood is an exceptional evolution and an explosive ending to a fascinating duology that cements Faizal as a must-read author in this space.
A Short Book Lover 
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