All the Tea in China

Mack has returned to his heroes, Nate Bidwell and William Gunn, sending them across the globe once more. This time, they have been tasked with going to China to retrieve tea plants for the English Crown. It is, once again, a fast-paced adventure that attempts to capture the spirit of Indiana Jones and other movies in that style. Mack delves into the history of Britain and China’s relationship leading up to the Opium Wars and weaves a tale of both domestic and international espionage.

There will certainly be an audience for it among those who enjoy adventures and exotic lands and fans of the first book. I was lukewarm on the first book and found myself less than impressed with the second. The story itself is interesting, but the way it was told drained that enjoyment for me. The short scenes didn’t give me much chance to get invested in the narrative, and I kept coming across awkwardly constructed sentences. The story moved quickly from one beat to the next, and there wasn’t much chance to care about the characters. I would only recommend this book if you care more about an exciting plot than anything else.