Reviews

We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal

bbaxley21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

hayleybrathwaite's review

5.0

This book is about to be my Roman Empire the way it had me in a chokehold the entire time. All the characters were written beyond perfect; Nasir and Zafira’s loyalty to each other, Altairs sarcastic humour, even down to Lana who was the best little sister. The story itself had me on the edge of my seat the entire time so I devoured this book in 2 days. WHEN I THOUGHT ZAFIRA DIED I WAS SO SHOOK idk why I’m so gullible but I genuinely believed she was dead and I just sat in my bed for 10 minutes contemplating life. Wow.

halfacenturyreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

vampandcoffee's review

2.0

I try to keep myself short:

After debating my rating for the first book, I gave the sequel a chance. A mistake, because as a very pragmatic reader, DNFing a book is a big no-go for me.
Pulling through it was, and boy - was it exhausting.
.
Everything in this book is, simply said, exhausting:
From the weird pacing to the flat characters and lastly to the obvious ending. Even the entire love subplot falls flat because the characters are so underdeveloped that the reader does not care about their struggles or well-being.
A character dies? Ok, let’s mention them in a short paragraph and move on

kaylee_2182's review

4.0

3.5 rounded up. I loved the story but the pacing really did it in for me

ella_bibliophile_98's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Loved this series - had never read fantasy before this but thought it was really well written, well rounded characters with good development, and a interesting plot to match 

ruby_99's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

crimsoncor's review

2.0

I went into this optimistic. Didn't love the last book, but it was a first book and maybe this was going to be better. And it kinda seemed that way. And then it meandered into the middle of the book and it dragged on and on. Ask the characters continued to talk exactly the same (there was a great Reddit post recently on the difference between strategically used bathos and constant quippiness with joss whedon's marvel movies held up as the example where everyone just talks the same as the autuer and it feels so applicable here too). Character arcs tend toward the indecipherable. I still have no idea of why Aya did anything other then the author needed a way to move the story forward. Characters routinely face overwhelming odds and yet remain alive for no discernable reason. There are moments, however brief, where it feels like it might pull something enjoyable out, but it never does. The fight scenes are all gloppy messes, especially anything related to archery, which seem completely inspired by the Legolas nonsense in the LotR movies.

ekimrey's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

shikanis's review

5.0

Everything about this sequel was captivating and filled my heart with so much joy! It was such a good read to see the zumra grow in strength and love despite how much the odds were stacked against them.

Definitely one of my top reads to date, Hafsah Faizal you’re a literal angel! Of course this book, alongside it’s predecessor, deserves 5/5 ✨