A review by raenyreads
The Ending Fire by Saara El-Arifi

dark emotional 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

I'm kind of torn on this one. I love a lot of the world building and magic system that the author has created for this series. I also love the characters themselves, Hassa will always be a fave and I would absolutely read a spin off of hers if she got one. I also find the plot of the series to be a really interesting one and I flew through this book because I wanted to know what happened next.

However, I have a few problems. Though I like the main couple in the series, I never could get invested in the level of devotion they show considering the time they spent together. I also found many plot points in this book occurred too quickly and/or were resolved a bit too easily which left me feeling a bit disappointed overall

for example Anoor being so easily rescued and then recovering from brainwashing basically immediately

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I think my biggest gripe is with the ending though, considering so much was built up to it . I did find it to be satisfying in how it was all wrapped up but the way it was told left me disappointed.

I enjoyed some of the new POVs presented at the end and liked how they tied up some loose ends. However, introducing essentially new characters in the last 50 pages and having to quickly give their backstory just to get a page of relevant content, and having one of the main moments from the perspective of a creation, just really took me out of it.

I also think just one more chapter would have done this book a world of good.

So even though I've ranted a bit here, I still enjoyed the book and it was a solid 4 star read for me - I think I was just hoping it would be more of a favourite than it was.