Reviews with content warning for Blood - We Hunt the Flame

I loved it! That being said it is a very classic fantasy book - a group of people going on an "impossible" quest to retrieve a stolen artifact, but there were a couple things that made it stand out enough for me to give it a five star review.

First of all I loved the inspiration from ancient Arabia and how it reflected on Zafira's world, the language, the culture, and the character design. I love to see woc authors winning.

Zafira is such a strong female lead with a lot of heart. I can't help but love her. She doesn't seem to be afraid of anyone on the outside, but reading from her perspective revealed the hidden vulnerabilities that made her relatable and so easy to root for. I loved the whole conversation about how there is nothing inherently powerful in pretending to be a man. Zafira embracing and revealing that she is a woman is one of the bravest things she does in this book. Her strength in fighting, intelligence, and resilience are allowed to coexist with her more feminine and vulnerable traits, like her growing sympathy for Nasir and the other characters. It's a refreshing perspective when YA literature is increasingly pushing the narrative that strength is defined by a proximity to maleness. But my favorite thing ever is how the others are so afraid of her:

“Don’t think,” she snapped. (p. 211)

Did she stutter? If I were them I would never speak again. And then there's THIS:

Her eyes dimmed. “Did you think I expected you to marry me after a kiss, Sultani?” Her voice was torn, satisfying him before her words registered. “The last man who proposed to me didn’t even get to kiss me.” (p. 431)

OHH MY GODDD. I love her so much. Also this scene was so painful but it's ok because Miss Faizal blessed us with this line.

Of course I have to take this opportunity to talk about the second lead, Nasir. I like to think it's pretty hard to get me to actually like a male lead in a YA fantasy, but I have to say I spent at least a fourth of this book just feeling so incredibly sad for him. I never thought I would say this but can this man have one moment of fleeting happiness?! His character background so interesting because he's such a perfect example of a good morally grey character. Can a person with this much blood on his hands ever be truly forgiven? Was Altair right to blame him for the torture Kulsum endured? His inner conflict between being ruthless and loving is so heartbreaking. He's so dedicated to putting on this image of being cold and untouchable, but Zafira completely undoes that:

He paused and met her eyes. If a poet were to describe them, he would say to look into her eyes was to see the sea’s first glimpse of the sun, drinking its reflection with endless ripples. Or something like that. Nasir was no poet. And though she held his gaze unflinchingly, some part of her had retreated. Did his scars repulse her? Did he repulse her? (p.294)

First of all Nasir yes you are a poet. Second of all HOW COULD HE SAY THIS. I am on the floor.
Then the plot twist with the Silver Witch being his mother.

He had endured it all, every fabricated instance of love and respect and emotion. Because no matter what, his mother’s love had always been real. (p. 415)

And then it wasn't real! Well technically it was. But he felt like it wasn't. Either way please give this dude literally one good thing. Ok one more quote of me just feeling bad for Nasir:

“Do you intend to kill me?” he asked. The sadness returned, pulling at his heart. Was there no one who truly loved him? (p. 431)

Sobbing and shaking! <3

Final general thoughts on the book. The ending has me thinking Altair's character is going to change A LOT in the next book - maybe he's driven a little insane/evil from being imprisoned by the Lion guy. Yasmine's pledge to kill him??? First of all yes queen you are so right to feel that way. Second of all NOOOO. Something's definitely going to go wrong there. This was a great YA fantasy with beautiful writing, definitely a little slower paced than I'm used to and more character than plot driven. So excited to read the next one. 5/5 stars!!!

Content Warnings

aklovekorn's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

tomoonarmy's review

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adventurous challenging dark funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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book_loving_dragon's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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bri__'s review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book, the chapters are versatile being both long and short and the dual pov was captivating. I was deeply enraptured in the writing style and main relationship of the characters. I will say I did not expect the plot twists and I found the main conflict scene to be very fast paced compared to the build up but other than that I found this to be an entertaining read and im anticipating the pure pain of the next one.

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edilyaaang's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

I was so excited to read this book because it got so many good reviews only to be disappointed by the story. At first I disliked Nasir. How can someone be an assassin and be so weak-willed at the same time. My blood boiled when he said the lines "I wanted my father's approval so I became a monster" like wtf is wrong with you! I know he had a terrible time growing up but it's not like he lost his compassion. He still knows what he is doing for his evil father was wrong and it breaks his heart evertime he kills someone innocent but he does it anyway so that his dad can love him wtf. I got soooo tempted to drop the book a third of the way but then things got exciting so I pushed through. But then I started disliking Zafira. It's like she just can't make up her mind. She's all for camaraderie one moment then cold and angry the next. Despite everything the gang has been through, she just can't trust anyone and is always full of suspicion which in turn affects the groups dynamic. Not to mention she was sooo useless at the battle in the end, she can't even keep the Jawarat safe for pete's sake! There were tons of times that I wanted to just throw the book out of frustration and give up on it but I was nearing the end so I just gritted my teeth and tried my best to finish the book. Whew, what a journey. I heard the 2nd book is waaaaaaay better than this though so I look forward to reading that but this one drove me nuts. Lol

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yamooz's review

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adventurous challenging funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

Okay, I had high expectations from this book but I was let down. I'm not sure whether it's because I'm In a reading slump or something but the book wasn't extraordinary in any way whatsoever. I understand that YA books have repeated tropes but reading this book made me think of Hunger games or it made me think of it after my sister pointed it out to me. While I read this book, I kept on thinking "Have I seen this before somewhere" and "This feels so familiar"

After it was pointed out that the books characters are quite similar to hunger games one's, I got kinda tired of the plot...

There wasn't much connection with the characters, the characters weren't THAT well written, definitely there's room for improvement. I honestly didn't like zafira and Nasir that much. As main characters, one would expect them to be very well written but they just weren't... I couldn't connect to them at all, especially Nasir. Yes he's hot, Yes he's traumatized, He's sad and all but the connection! It just wasn't there. I honestly connected more with Dean ( who had so little screen time in the book) and Altair more than the main leads. Benyamin and kifa( I'm not use if the spelling is correct) weren't that bad but again, hardly any connection. They were badass for sure but what's the point if I don't feel anything towards the characters. While we are at connections, there wasn't much connection and chemistry with the characters too, I honestly didn't feel much chemistry between Nasir and Zafira, it felt... forced? Idk ig I ship them but it didn't feel like they were meant to be...

These are things that I didn't like about the book but it's not all bad.
The language is beautiful, I loved the books settings. Loved the detailed description, I felt like I was In the book, right there with them.The plot twists were great, loved them.

This book wasn't something I read in one sitting, the first half was pretty slow, it could be that I'm in a reading slump, that's why I didn't read it in one sitting but still, the book definitely lacked a few things.It's a book I wouldn't recommend to people who are looking for past paced one.

Over all, the book wasn't bad, just devoid of things... here and there ( does this make sense, lol 😂), I'm still gonna read part 2 of this book though. Much love to faizal, hopefully you improve ❤

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kbairbooks's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This book gave me strong high fantasy vibes. I spent the first while confused because so many names, nicknames, words, and languages were thrown at me and although I got more used to it as the book went on even by the end I was still confused. That’s on me I’m sure as the reader but I also didn’t enjoy the romance (either of them) or the characters, or the fight scenes.. I dunno this was a dark high fantasy but I didn’t connect to any of it and the constant pov change and many tiny chapters felt exhausting to me.

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