I’ve been anticipating this book for a while, and it was worth the wait! Arthie and her brother Jin run a teahouse in White Roaring, but at night, Spindrift turns into an illegal bloodhouse for vampires. Under scrutiny by the Ram (an anonymous political figure in the city), they’ve narrowly avoided being caught and shut down by the Ram’s militia, the Horned Guard. Arthie and Jin have made sure to dabble in peddling secrets of the city’s elite. One day, Arthie is approached by someone unlikely who gives her an ultimatum: steal sensitive political documents, or lose Spindrift forever. She assembles a crew of five cohorts for this undertaking, but this job will cost her everything she holds dear…and some secrets of her own.

I loved each of these characters (Arthie, Jin, Mateo, FLICK). Faizal does an amazing job creating characters that live rent-free in readers’ minds. The setting was so vivid that I felt I was walking the streets of White Roaring with Arthie. I absolutely adored the description of flipping the bloodhouse back into the teahouse - every detail was intentional, and it’s that level of care that Faizal brings to every element of this story. Even though setting the groundwork and preparing the logistics of the heist took up a good chunk of the novel, I thought it was well-paced. Having the multiple POVs during the heist was HUGE in understanding just how everything panned out in the moment. The aftershocks of these events led to some very big reveals that will play a huge part in the next book (the reveals were too big not to be a central focus in future plotlines)!

Some extra details that made me smile: there’s a Stoker Lane in White Roaring, which made me wonder if this was a nod to Bram Stoker and Dracula (very fun detail, if true). There are descriptions of humans turning into vampires that were very reminiscent of the turning process from the Twilight series (no sparkly skin here, though!). The descriptions of the tea were SO GOOD. You can tell how much care Faizal put into learning about teas (or put her knowledge of teas to use). For heists, clever characterization, vampires, and intricate plots: read this!