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cerilouisereads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Torture
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism
lunep's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
4.0
Funny how the two times I've started this book it was in July
Anyway
I remembered this book as a solid 3 ⭐, I liked it but actually didn't understand the hype...but I always wanted to read the second one anyway, and with Hafsah publishing another book recently I recided to re-read this one, read the second one and read her new book, and boy am I glad that I did it. This time around I definitely liked it more!
At first I felt it was a little too trope-y but nothing unbearable and I said to myself "well, arent most debut books a little trope-y anyway? specially with young authors" (specially having re-read the Eragon series this past 6 months lmao) so I decided to try and not to focus on that (tho just to mention, I felt Zafira at the beginning of the book,when she started working with Nasir and Altair to be a little not-like-other-girls) and eventually I stopped feeling that way
Another thing that bothered me a bit was how it didnt make sense to me that only the Ra'ads knew that she was the hunter: 1) they live in a village in a culture that's very much oriented around helping each other and community (Yasmine's wedding comes to mind), so I assume everyone knows everyone, specially because it sounds like it's a small village, 2) everyone knew the Ra'ads were close to the hunter, and Zafira's POV mentions multiple times playing with Yasmine and Deen a lot when children, 3) everyone must have known Zafira's family consisted only of her, her little sister, and their ailing mother, no men 4) Zafira uses the same horse as Zafira and as The Hunter, and 5) the day of the voyage she arrives at the Arz as The Hunter, on the Iskandar's horse, with Lana bint Iskandar and the Ra'ads...like cmon, make it make sense. I will blame it on it being Hafsah's first book that she wrote when she was 19, and it's not like, a HUGE deal, but it was a little hard to suspend my disbelief on that specific thing
However, I really liked the characters, I liked the development of Zafira and Nasir's relationship, and how everyone interacted with one another. I specially liked the female friendships, tho they don't have a lot of page time, I felt Zafira and Yasmine's bond was very sweet (also, I went a little mad in the first 200 pages because I couldnt believe no one had written Zafira/Yasmine fanfiction with THAT goodbye scene), and Zafira and Kifah's bonding was also really nice, I hope we see more of that in the second book. And I enjoyed the story overall, it kept me hooked, and I felt intelligent because I saw a couple of the plot-twists coming lmao (others I didn't, but I really should have, hindsight is 20/20). I remembered very little of it, so it was basically like reading it for the first time
I'm DEVASTATED about Deen's death, at first I wasn't sure if it had been necessary, it felt a little like a "oops, I made my MC who will fall in love with another man promise this man she would marry him after this mission, what to do?" cop-out, but a lot of stuff would have been had to be changed if he hadn't died (am I convinced he HAD to die tho? still not, but I get it would have changed things)
Also absolutely depressed about Altair growing up feeling like second-best, a dirty secret to the whole kingdom, and then feeling like the zumra willingly abandoned him 😭😭 and the fact that it was his own MOTHER who told the zumra not to go back for him?? kill me dead please
And...did Misk, Yasmine and Lana leave Zafira and Lana's mom in the village when they were gassed?? I-- speechless, I imagine if the answer is yes it's because they quickly got a ride with the Caliph's men, barely escaping, but STILL, what the fuck man
Anyway
I remembered this book as a solid 3 ⭐, I liked it but actually didn't understand the hype...but I always wanted to read the second one anyway, and with Hafsah publishing another book recently I recided to re-read this one, read the second one and read her new book, and boy am I glad that I did it. This time around I definitely liked it more!
At first I felt it was a little too trope-y but nothing unbearable and I said to myself "well, arent most debut books a little trope-y anyway? specially with young authors" (specially having re-read the Eragon series this past 6 months lmao) so I decided to try and not to focus on that (tho just to mention, I felt Zafira at the beginning of the book,
Another thing that bothered me a bit was how it didnt make sense to me that only the Ra'ads knew that she was the hunter: 1) they live in a village in a culture that's very much oriented around helping each other and community (Yasmine's wedding comes to mind), so I assume everyone knows everyone, specially because it sounds like it's a small village, 2) everyone knew the Ra'ads were close to the hunter, and Zafira's POV mentions multiple times playing with Yasmine and Deen a lot when children, 3) everyone must have known Zafira's family consisted only of her, her little sister, and their ailing mother, no men 4) Zafira uses the same horse as Zafira and as The Hunter, and 5) the day of the voyage she arrives at the Arz as The Hunter, on the Iskandar's horse, with Lana bint Iskandar and the Ra'ads...like cmon, make it make sense. I will blame it on it being Hafsah's first book that she wrote when she was 19, and it's not like, a HUGE deal, but it was a little hard to suspend my disbelief on that specific thing
However, I really liked the characters, I liked the development of Zafira and Nasir's relationship, and how everyone interacted with one another. I specially liked the female friendships, tho they don't have a lot of page time, I felt Zafira and Yasmine's bond was very sweet (also, I went a little mad in the first 200 pages because I couldnt believe no one had written Zafira/Yasmine fanfiction with THAT goodbye scene), and Zafira and Kifah's bonding was also really nice, I hope we see more of that in the second book. And I enjoyed the story overall, it kept me hooked, and I felt intelligent because I saw a couple of the plot-twists coming lmao (others I didn't, but I really should have, hindsight is 20/20). I remembered very little of it, so it was basically like reading it for the first time
Also absolutely depressed about Altair growing up feeling like second-best, a dirty secret to the whole kingdom, and then feeling like the zumra willingly abandoned him 😭😭 and the fact that it was his own MOTHER who told the zumra not to go back for him?? kill me dead please
And...did Misk, Yasmine and Lana leave Zafira and Lana's mom in the village when they were gassed?? I-- speechless, I imagine if the answer is yes it's because they quickly got a ride with the Caliph's men, barely escaping, but STILL, what the fuck man
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Torture, Child abuse, Confinement, Blood, Violence, Murder, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Self harm, Child death, Death of parent, and Mental illness
Minor: Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Physical abuse, and Vomit
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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
4.5
This book is fantastic. The worldbuilding is intricate. The characters are compelling. The prose is poetic.
Zafira and Nasir are both so multi-layered and I love how their stories converge and intertwine. Actually, one of my favorite things about this book was the way the narration supported that. We go from alternating point of view chapters at the beginning of the book to flowing seamlessly between the two POVs later on when the characters grow closer (and of course that’s only possible once they’re literally in the same place).
The supporting cast was wonderful, too, and I’m excited to see where Faizal takes them in the sequel!
I took off .25 stars from my rating because the plot feels unnecessarily convoluted for a large chunk of the book. I also think the middle section would have been hard to get through if I’d been reading a physical book.
Also, there is far too much queer energy here for a book with no canonically queer characters.
Zafira and Nasir are both so multi-layered and I love how their stories converge and intertwine. Actually, one of my favorite things about this book was the way the narration supported that. We go from alternating point of view chapters at the beginning of the book to flowing seamlessly between the two POVs later on when the characters grow closer (and of course that’s only possible once they’re literally in the same place).
The supporting cast was wonderful, too, and I’m excited to see where Faizal takes them in the sequel!
I took off .25 stars from my rating because the plot feels unnecessarily convoluted for a large chunk of the book. I also think the middle section would have been hard to get through if I’d been reading a physical book.
Also, there is far too much queer energy here for a book with no canonically queer characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence
martereadsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Sexism
bright_eyed_and_bookish's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Torture, and Death
nefariousbee's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Torture
coolbeancat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Death of parent
steeped_in_books's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
Tbh, I found it hard to stay focused on the audiobook, so I feel like I missed a lot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Torture, and Violence
lainiereads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
This book was BEAUTIFUL. I knew it was gonna be good, but I didn't expect to fall in love with the characters and writing as fast as I did. After getting past the initial confusion that comes with starting a new fantasy series, I was completely engaged and wanting to know what would happen next. Seeing all of the characters develop and getting to learn more about them slowly as the story progressed was SO rewarding! I loved them all and I am so excited to see more in the next book.
Now, obviously, there is a major factor that made me love this book so much- ZAFIRA AND NASIR'S ROMANCE, OH MY GOD. They are so cute??? I love them so much!!! All of the enemies to lovers, slowburn tropes you could ask for were found here, and they were done perfectly. Since the tone of this book is pretty serious, I wasn't sure if there would be any major cutesy, swoon-worthy moments, but oh my gosh was I wrong. I found myself having to look away from my book and gush about how amazing their interactions were. Something that really made their relationship as perfect as it is, was being able to see everything from both perspectives. It was so fun to see the contrast between Zafira's description of herself and how Nasir views her. It made the developing feelings so much more believable and worth the slow buildup.
Speaking of Zafira, I love her so much, she is the best. She had the perfect mixture of kindness and anger and wit and bravery and every other good trait possible. Seeing her grow throughout her journey was one of the best parts of the book, and I am really looking forward to seeing how strong she is in We Free the Stars.
Love you Hafsah Faizal, you are a queen.
Now, obviously, there is a major factor that made me love this book so much- ZAFIRA AND NASIR'S ROMANCE, OH MY GOD. They are so cute??? I love them so much!!! All of the enemies to lovers, slowburn tropes you could ask for were found here, and they were done perfectly. Since the tone of this book is pretty serious, I wasn't sure if there would be any major cutesy, swoon-worthy moments, but oh my gosh was I wrong. I found myself having to look away from my book and gush about how amazing their interactions were. Something that really made their relationship as perfect as it is, was being able to see everything from both perspectives. It was so fun to see the contrast between Zafira's description of herself and how Nasir views her. It made the developing feelings so much more believable and worth the slow buildup.
Speaking of Zafira, I love her so much, she is the best. She had the perfect mixture of kindness and anger and wit and bravery and every other good trait possible. Seeing her grow throughout her journey was one of the best parts of the book, and I am really looking forward to seeing how strong she is in We Free the Stars.
Love you Hafsah Faizal, you are a queen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Torture, Sexism, Murder, and Misogyny
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping
Minor: Alcohol and Child death
kindredbears's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Torture
Minor: Incest, Child death, and Pedophilia