Rating: 1.5/5
Ever wanted to read a story about the daily routines of life? To take a break from all the monster slaying and epic quests and enjoy a nice cup of tea before a warm fire? Well look no further because Rebecca Thorne’s Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea (2024) has you covered. But only if you’re into that kind of thing.
After my introduction to the world of cosy fantasy through Emily McCosh’s Under The Earth Over The Sky (2022) I thought I would be ready for the first book of Thorne’s Tomes and Tea series. However, after reading this, I’m realise I do not want to fall further down the proverbial rabbit hole. As hard as it may be for some to hear, Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea isn’t as perfect as it’s cracked up to be, providing a story with bland characters and too many unresolved plots and subplots for a reader to handle.
In Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea readers follow couple, Reyna and Kianthe who decide to forgo their responsibilities to open a book/tea shop. To do this they will have to evade the queen’s investigative soldiers, powerful mages, slow-witted bandits and vengeful dragons. A recipe for chaos you would think. But alas while there is chaos, it is not the entertaining kind.
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea is one of those stories where the overall plot sounds appealing but the execution does not deliver. When I read the synopsis of this book, I thought I would be getting a humorous tale with a dash of Terry Pratchett and Nicholas Eames’ humour. But ultimately the outcome is a humourless step by step guide, of the mundane tasks from which you are trying to escape. It is not helped by its main leads.
Reyna is a typical swordswoman, hard-working and by the book with a secret love for tea. Kainthe is a powerful mage with a love for books and is the ‘princess’ to Reyna’s knight. Their characterisations are not exactly original and Thorne was clearly going for a cute, polar opposites look. While I do prefer characters with dark originals, I’m open to the light-hearted fun kind. However, that being said, Thorne’s failed to place these characters in situations that would make their experiences of self-doubt more substantial. There is a lack of chemistry and quite frankly their representation as a LGBTQ+ couple was uninspiring. I don’t mean it as an insult, but having a lesbian couple as the main leads seemed to be more about ticking the box on the list of publisher’s requirements. I’m certain that was never Thorne’s intention and she genuinely envisioned them as such. And I get it. This is supposed to be a cosy fantasy, so having your main leads jump into glorified battles and political intrigue isn’t going to be a common theme. But I still believe it’s necessary for something to happen in a story, for something to truly challenge its characters. Which brings me to the main issue. Rather than keep the plot simple, Thorne decided to overwhelm readers with a multitude of sub-plots, leaving little opportunity to solidify Reyna and Kianthe’s characters. The plots points had either anti-climactic conclusions or were left unresolved, held hostage for a later date, aka Thorne’s planned sequel, A Pirate’s Life is Tea (2024)
Case in point, one of the challenges they face are the dragons plaguing the town in which they decide to settle. Upon making a deal with those dragons, their fire breathing neighbours simply bugger off, giving no deadline to their demands because apparently dragons have no concept of time? A very unusual idea but with no risk for the heroes it made such a task seem like a walk in the park. And a bit of a cop out for readers.
A shame really because I do feel Can't Spell Treason Without Tea had the potential to be something if there had been a little less pre-planning for the series' future and more focus on the impact of the first book. Instead Can't Spell Treason Without Tea leaves readers a lukewarm feeling that will do little to satisfy the thirst of most readers out there.
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