REVIEWS; We Hunt The Flame / We Free The Stars

Title: We Hunt The Flame
Series: Sands Of Arawiya
Author: Hafsah Faizal
Genre: Fantasy, romance.
Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

People lived because she killed. People died because he lived.

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya–but neither wants to be.

War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds–and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.

Hi, what’s up, I’m absolutely fine, completely okay and normal about these two.

‘If this is what it felt like to be lost to the darkness, she never wanted to be found again.’

Falling into a reading slump that scanned /years/ while reading this book was never the plan. Each time I picked it up, I got sucked right back in – but between kids and medical things happening, the reading of a story I needed all my attention for never lasted long.

Until now – thank you brain for finally letting me – and boy, was it as good as I expected. The world building is rich, the characters complex and wonderful, the story full of twists that are foreshadowed and still leave me breathless anyway. Zafira and Nasir are The Characters but Altair? My love, Altair? Chef’s kiss.

(I’ve forgotten how to write book reviews, clearly.)

There is nothing quite like finally finishing a book you know you’ll love and IMMEDIATELY wanting to crack open the sequel. Which is what I plan to do, because I need to know what happens next! These characters that I’ve followed on their journey through Sharr, who have grown to reluctantly trust one another and now are willing to fight Absolute Evil Himself for each other, still have so much to do.

Finishing the quest they set out on did not make everything fixed, they’ve still so much to do and AHHHHH.

I love the dimensions and dynamics to the characters and their relationships, and the evolution of such throughout the novel. Each character is flawed and multi-faceted and they unfold across the pages with the story, and I just want to know all about them.

Title: We Free The Stars
Series: Sands Of Arawiya
Author: Hafsah Faizal
Genre: Fantasy, romance.
Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The battle on Sharr is over. The dark forest has fallen. Altair may be captive, but Zafira, Nasir, and Kifah are bound for Sultan’s Keep, determined to finish the plan he set in motion: restoring the hearts of the Sisters of Old to the minarets of each caliphate, and finally returning magic to all of Arawiya. But they are low on resources and allies alike, and the kingdom teems with fear of the Lion of the Night’s return.

As the zumra plots to overthrow the kingdom’s darkest threat, Nasir fights to command the magic in his blood. He must learn to hone his power into a weapon, to wield not only against the Lion but against his father, trapped under the Lion’s control. Zafira battles a very different darkness festering in her through her bond with the Jawarat—a darkness that hums with voices, pushing her to the brink of her sanity and to the edge of a chaos she dare not unleash. In spite of the darkness enclosing ever faster, Nasir and Zafira find themselves falling into a love they can’t stand to lose…but time is running out to achieve their ends, and if order is to be restored, drastic sacrifices will have to be made.

Lush and striking, hopeful and devastating, We Free the Stars is the masterful conclusion to the Sands of Arawiya duology by New York Times–bestselling author Hafsah Faizal.

IT TOOK ME SLIGHTLY MORE THAN A WEEK TO FINISH THIS I BEHEMOTH OF A BOOK I LOVE THESE CHARACTERS SO MUCH. And look. Look, I read no reviews going in, and I finished the first the day I started this so it was a treat to just – see the connections continue, the plot beats laid out satisfactorily be concluded.

I really enjoy when stories don’t throw in unnecessary twists. I managed to predict at least ONE thing that happened because it was definitely foreshadowed and it felt like validation when it did. But there were other things that surprised me, but felt natural to the characters.

(I really, really remember how to do reviews, huh?)

Spoilers ahead! Because as I was reading this, as I finished this, I had Thoughts about how the story ended and my reactions were such that I had to take them down. Instead of a coherent review, you get just this because I can’t even put how much I enjoyed this book into words.

• Lana didn’t die! SUCCESS. Also absolutely love her snark, her confidence and growing equal relationship with her sister
• I felt for Misk’s death only because Zafira hurt for Yasmine BUT this opens up possibility of enemies to lovers Altair/Yasmine. LMAO let a girl dream.
• ALTAIR MY BOY IS KING LIKE I THOUGHT HE WOULD BE!!!
• The brotherly bond between Altair and Nasir – I would die for them and the love they have for each other and how much they pretend to have reluctantly embraced being brothers but actually would die for each other and everyone knows it.
• Look, Zafira is Traumatised but also Nasir sees it – and is also Traumatised – and they accept the darkest parts of each other and I love them.
• The Lion is actually such an interesting villain and the Sisters are only sentient and not Gods and I love that we end on a note of doing better than the predecessors because that should always be the case, leave the world better than you found it for everyone. Very Jedi coded.

This duology reminded me how much I love an intense well-crafted story with such a vivid world, and so evocative language. I cannot wait to read Hafsah’s newest book now. I know it’s in a different genre, but I’m sure I’m going to enjoy it.

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