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A review by spacerkip
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
5.0
Simply put, this book was incredible.
Curiosity and the promise of a non-Western European fantasy setting is what drew me to this book. Masterful storytelling is what kept me reading. After an embarrassingly long reading slump, this was the first book I've read in a while that had so much life in it. The characters breathed from the moment they were introduced, and every chapter was fueled by their heartbeats. Even background characters had personality and dimension to them.
The care the author put into each description of spices, fabric, and architecture made the sentences leap off the page and made everything feel so tactile. It reminded me (hear me out) of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series in the way it threw the reader into the world. The audience learns by immersion, suddenly in this fantasy world with new terms, expressions, and sounds. No awkward pauses or infodumps interrupt the flow of the story. The characters are completely familiar with this world and its surroundings, and by the halfway mark, so is the audience. Even a reader as unfamiliar with the culture of Arabia as me was able to feel at home in Ariwaya.
I've waited a few days to gather my thoughts before writing a review, but I'm still pretty amazed by it. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of the fantasy genre, those interested in settings inspired by non-European cultures, lovers of assassins and magic, or anyone who's in need of a good story.
Curiosity and the promise of a non-Western European fantasy setting is what drew me to this book. Masterful storytelling is what kept me reading. After an embarrassingly long reading slump, this was the first book I've read in a while that had so much life in it. The characters breathed from the moment they were introduced, and every chapter was fueled by their heartbeats. Even background characters had personality and dimension to them.
The care the author put into each description of spices, fabric, and architecture made the sentences leap off the page and made everything feel so tactile. It reminded me (hear me out) of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series in the way it threw the reader into the world. The audience learns by immersion, suddenly in this fantasy world with new terms, expressions, and sounds. No awkward pauses or infodumps interrupt the flow of the story. The characters are completely familiar with this world and its surroundings, and by the halfway mark, so is the audience. Even a reader as unfamiliar with the culture of Arabia as me was able to feel at home in Ariwaya.
I've waited a few days to gather my thoughts before writing a review, but I'm still pretty amazed by it. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of the fantasy genre, those interested in settings inspired by non-European cultures, lovers of assassins and magic, or anyone who's in need of a good story.