Fiction Reviews
Alchemy and a Cup of Tea
(2025) Rebecca Thorne, Tor, £14.99, trdpbk, 311pp, ISBN 978-1-035-03150-4
With Alchemy and a Cup of Tea, we reach the conclusion of Rebecca Thorne’s 'Tomes and Tea' series of cosy fantasy adventures with arch-mage Kianthe and soldier-queen Reyna.
The preceding novels – Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea, A Pirates Life For Tea and Tea You At the Altar – have all been reviewed with increasing approval on SF² Concatenation. Curious readers should start at the beginning with Treason and work their way forward; Alchemy is a book for those already invested.
When last we caught up with Kianthe and Reyna in Tea You At The Altar, the lovers had finally tied the knot while also ridding the realm of the eccentric-going-on-homicidal Queen Tilaine. This victory came at a cost. Reyna reluctantly allowed herself to be appointed a temporary monarch while a new government was put in place – a promotion which is starting to look increasingly permanent.
And what’s worse than new responsibilities? Tourists.
Kianthe and Reyna’s book- and tea-shop sanctuary is being invaded by visitors keen for a glimpse of the new queen behind the counter or looking for a new life in the remote northern town of Tawney our heroes call home. Can they keep their home and source of domestic tranquillity while also being figures of renown?
Against these tensions, Reyna’s kidnapping, uncovering the plans of renegade alchemists and preventing mysterious forces from draining the source of arcane magic would almost be a relief! It’s these more conventional fantastic concerns that drive Alchemy’s plot forward, while the drama of potentially having to abandon one’s first home together provides the emotional content that is Thorne’s speciality.
And when it’s good, it is very good. The novel opens with Reyna’s abduction; this, and the following sequence in which she turns the tables on her captors in an unexpected manner, is rather delightful. Her relationship with Kianthe remains a joy, as it has done throughout the series.
We also finally get to visit the Magiciary (the magic mountain of magicians) after four books, where Thorne helps us understand why Kianthe was so desperate to leave after a traumatic education, but also conveys a sense of genuine enchantment and wonder.
However, by the author’s own admission, this was a novel written in nine days. This may show in some of the choices made and not then sanity-checked at leisure.
For example, perhaps it might have been decided that a comic interlude in a remote town specialising in celebrating
ChristmasMid-Winter all year-round was unnecessary and a little jarring. Or that an Alchemicor (chief alchemist) who had changed their name to Albert Chemicor was a joke that didn’t need to be told. Thorne has a lightness of touch and a sense of fun that has lifted this series, but these heavy-handed jokes just weren’t needed.The plot too, feels a little shaky in places – the villain’s motivations may be clear, for example, but the sequence of actions they take less so.
Despite these reservations Alchemy and a Cup of Tea remains a satisfactory ending to an enjoyable character-led series that has stuck to its guns and given Kianthe and Reyna a happy ending four times over.
Thorne also throws in a bonus short story of the continuing romantic adventures of the star-crossed police officer and pirate Bobbie and Serina from A Pirate’s Life For Tea. Spoiler alert: it’s another happy ending!
Tim Atkinson
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