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abnerbee's review
4.5
Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Miscarriage, Body horror, Murder, Slavery, Addiction, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexual assault, Blood, Drug abuse, Rape, Drug use, Death, and Grief
porcupine_girl's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Ableism, Genocide, Alcohol, Gore, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, Body horror, Cursing, Alcoholism, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical content, Torture, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Murder, and Police brutality
Moderate: Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence
Minor: Sexual content, Infidelity, and Animal death
lisacanteven's review
- 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
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, War, and Colonisation
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse
azrah786's review against another edition
4.5
**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, blood, injury, death, child death, murder, miscarriage, body horror, self harm, addiction, drug use, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual assault, torture, confinement, religious bigotry, colonisation, slavery, medical content
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A good sequel expands the world, continues the story on from what came before and keeps you engaged. The best sequels twist the additional world building and the new direction of the story in such a way that it circles back to everything that came before and sneakily links everything together so perfectly that you’re left floored. That is exactly what Saara El-Arifi has done here.
The Battle Drum is a phenomenal follow up to the fantastic The Final Strife.
We return to the Warden’s Empire and the malevolent Tidewind with a handful of new mysteries unravelling, splitting the 3 primary protagonists on journeys of their own. Anoor as the newly appointed disciple of her mother, the Warden of Strength, wants to use her position to help all the people of the nation, not just the ruling class, but suddenly gets accused of a murder and has to work to prove her innocence. Hassa, as ever working in the shadows is also still in the Warden’s Empire and stumbles across another string of dead bodies with their own mystery. And Sylah has of course set off beyond the borders of the Empire to uncover the secrets of the outside world and hopefully find help to stop the Tidewind before it destroys all.
“The world is broken, but like an eggshell, life can bloom from broken things.”
Rejoice because there is a handy recap at the beginning of the book to catch us up to speed with the key events of book 1! Though I personally felt all was immediately familiar anyways as El-Arifi’s storytelling immediately sucks you back in. Through Sylah’s mission as well as Anoor and Hassa’s personal quests we’re introduced to new places, new faces and new reveals about the deeply rooted history of the world and it is all wonderfully compelling.
There are some additional perspectives added to the mix too, one being a known character who supplements Sylah’s chapters well and another point of view from a character all new, an outsider, who adds much in terms of intrigue, worldbuilding and the magic which is meticulously expanded on in this sequel.
It’s always fascinating to see when an author shows how multifaceted their magic system is through how it is interpreted and used differently across cultures and locations in their stories. At times it did feel like there were a lot of moving parts in this book but trust me the way everything falls into place is so so clever just be patient with it, I’m definitely not getting over it anytime soon!
Some things to expect from the first book that are the same here are that sometimes the chapters aren’t chronological and will take you back in time a little but this doesn’t throw you off too much. In fact past and present work hand in hand beautifully in the story but I shall say no more.
“Forgiveness should never be requested. Only granted. Work for it.”
The characters and their development are again equally frustrating and fascinating to follow. Anoor probably annoyed me the most out of everyone with how naïve she seemed at times but as I mentioned before when everything clicks into place just wow I have so much to say but also want to keep my mouth zipped because spoilers…
Hassa is still my favourite character and I thought I’d end this review by stating that Saara El-Arifi I do not forgive you for chapter 50, HASN’T MY BABY SUFFERED ENOUGH!?
Anyways, I enjoyed this sequel immensely and will now be eagerly awaiting news on the big finale that is book 3 because it is without a doubt going to be epic!
Final Ratings – 4.5/5 Stars
Graphic: Self harm, Drug use, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Torture, Slavery, Addiction, Child death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical content, Murder, Body horror, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Confinement, Violence, Blood, and Miscarriage
nightworldlove's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, and Murder
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Torture, Child death, and Sexual violence
Minor: Rape, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Acephobia/Arophobia, Misogyny, and Pregnancy
jashanac's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
WHAT A SEQUEL!
I cannot express how much I love the world-building here. I am ENTHRALLED with the history and lore that the author has created and am having so much fun trying to put all of the puzzle pieces together.
The religious zealotry and cult explored here is fascinating and terrifying. There were SEVERAL moments that made me shout out loud and get shivers all over, from the absolutely horrifying gory scene on the page.
Anoor was fairly frustrating throughout, due to her naivety and being SO gullible, my god. She hasn't seemed to learn from her lessons and it was really irritating a couple of times. Where her storyline leaves off at the end makes me nervous for how frustrated I'm going to be in the final book... but we'll see!
I love that Hassa is so no-nonsense with Anoor, though. She is an understanding, emotionally intelligent person, but she's not afraid to knock some sense into Anoor and doesn't coddle her. I love that, because good god Anoor needs it. I'm SO curious to see what happens with Hassa in the next book.
Graphic: Miscarriage, Body horror, Gore, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Torture
Moderate: Colonisation and Slavery