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ssjd411's review against another edition
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Abandonment, Addiction, Body shaming, Classism, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Hate crime
Moderate: Police brutality, Slavery, Violence, Racism, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
porcupine_girl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Drug abuse, War, Addiction, Blood, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Genocide, Violence, Body horror, Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Slavery, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Medical content, Self harm, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Ableism, Blood, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, and Fire/Fire injury
musebeliever's review against another edition
1.0
I really liked the idea of the two protagonists being swapped at birth and was curious about how it would play out in their lives. However, I was not at all on board with the magic system relying on a biological element. This has big chosen one and essentialism vibes, which I just could not deal with.
I also struggled with the writing style and the characterisation. The fact that we are privy to every single thought created, in my opinion, very unidimensional characters. Despite this shower of information, some of Sylah's actions just do not make sense to me, and too much of the plot relies on Sylah's poor choice or negligence. I can understand this happening once or twice, but how am I to believe that we are in the presence of the person who will overthrow an empire. This did not work for me.
I found everything very bleak, which makes sense for a dystopia, but also extremely heavy-handed. This read like YA to me, which is not my favourite writing style. The clues as to where the plot is going are underlined and surrounded by blinking lights.
I was also taken aback by the inconsistence in tone. There is a moment in the book when Sylah reminisces her tragic past while she watches the new tyrants of the Empire being chosen. She looks at one of them and thinks, "68 never looked so good." This sounded taken out of a gossip instagram reel commenting the Met gala. It felt really out of place. There were many moments like this when I was thrown off by sudden tone changes that did not match the atmosphere of a chapter. It feels like the book has not been edited.
Finally, fatphobia and foodshaming are frankly painful to read and so unnecessary. Sylah calls Anoor the lump, foodshames her, finds her dresses ridiculous because they are big. She seems to justify her fatphobia because she thinks that Anoor is fat because she is rich and privileged. This does not seem to be coherent as Anoor is mocked by her peers. The author also depicts her as a bit silly. Someone who chooses her seat in a room to have a better view on the dishes that are being served. We are clearly supposed to find that funny. Let's be serious one minute.
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Body horror, Gore, Bullying, Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, Murder, Slavery, Fatphobia, Genocide, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Torture, Blood, Hate crime, and Violence
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Blood, Colonisation, Genocide, Classism, Death, Addiction, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Child death
Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Vomit, and War
Minor: Bullying
moonchild_cos'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Classism, Drug use, Addiction, Blood, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Ableism, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Grief, Sexual content, Vomit, and War
just_one_more_paige'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? No
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Grief, Classism, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Violence, Child death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Trafficking, and Toxic friendship
_james_'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: Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Violence, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Torture
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Cursing, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Excrement, and Toxic friendship
gagereadsstuff's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Drug abuse, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Hate crime, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Addiction, Cultural appropriation, Police brutality, Racism, Self harm, Classism, Colonisation, Death, and Drug use
Moderate: Vomit, Torture, Excrement, Grief, and Kidnapping
nefariousbee'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? Yes
5.0
The world building, the characters, the writing, all spectacular. There's quite some naiveté to it all, which I thought I would mind, but I did not, actually. It's satisfying to see the characters and the plot not to feel like they need to be down to Earth. I enjoyed it very much.
I think I'm gonna go and pre-order the next book in the series now.
Graphic: Confinement, Drug abuse, Violence, Addiction, Bullying, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Slavery, Gore, and Murder
kaela_readsnwrites's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The story begins with Sylah’s viewpoint and at the start, she is mostly a self-pitying drug addict on the path to her own self-destruction. However, she is also fiery and stubborn, which makes it clear she hasn’t lost all her fight just yet. To be honest, I didn’t find her very likeable to start with but her interactions with both Hassa and eventually Anoor build her character and I became more fond of her as the story progressed.
The additional viewpoints of Hassa and Anoor helped give a fuller view of the Empire, it’s segregated society and its politics. Both characters are engaging, with their own secrets and burdens to bear and to me, were instantly likeable, unlike Sylah.
There were a couple of times the multiple viewpoints took place in the same body of text. My preference is that they occur after a paragraph break or at the start of a new chapter as this avoids any confusion. Although this was not a frequent occurrence and thankfully, didn’t detract too much from the writing.
For the most part, the pacing of the story worked well but I did find the beginning a little slow. One issue for me that I feel affected the flow was a spat of repeated ideas or phrases, that seemed unnecessary. Thankfully, they disappeared completely in the second half, which I flew through compared to first.
The world building, I felt was done incredibly well and was developed through the story rather than passages of backstory. There were also inclusions of quotes from texts from the world at the start of each chapter, which gave snippets of information and short tales from Griots, the storytellers, about the Empire’s history. I think both of these aspects were clever ways to give the reader insight into the world of the Empire.
Though the story is a Fantasy, there isn’t an awful lot of magic apart from bloodwerk, runes of power drawn in the wielder’s own blood. Though the magic system comes more into focus in the latter parts of the book, I wouldn’t say it is a driving force of the story. This to me is not an issue but there might be some who expect more magic and magical creatures from a fantasy setting.
In my opinion, though the story was left open for a sequel to follow, there was enough tied off for it to still feel like a satisfying ending. The three main characters, Sylah, Anoor and Hassa, each achieved some of their goals but there is still much they need to do to aid their people and change their worlds. I was very much left wanting more and I look forward to the series continuing.
Wrap-Up:
Overall, I really enjoyed ‘The Final Strife’ by Saara El-Arifi and it is an impressive debut novel. The main characters were each very different, providing alternative views of the world and each were engaging, making me long to know more about them and follow their story. The world building was well done and I felt fully immersed in the story throughout. There were a couple of issues I mentioned, but they were, to me, minor and of very little detriment to the book.
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Addiction, Slavery, Racism, Torture, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Bullying, Death, and Death of parent