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A review by emlove
The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad
3.0
3.5 stars
The only thing keeping this from a 4 star rating is how terribly long it took for the story to get going. I think I was 50 pages in before I was able to really get invested. Once I did, the pace was great, and I did really enjoy the plot and the characters, but it just took so long to get there.
Also, there is a bit of a language barrier here. There are a lot of Arabic and Muslim religious terms here, which is wonderful! Obviously, this is a great title for representation, and the fact that it is an ownvoices book is fabulous. But I was not familiar with hardly any of these terms, which may have been what made the first 50 pages so difficult for me. I loved that there was so much discussion of food, and that the real names were used, but I didn't actually know what any of them were, so I felt myself kind of skimming most of the time. And, for myself personally, I chafe at religion in general, so the constant prayer schedule got annoying. But that's obviously just my own thing.
Fatima is a super strong lead, especially once she becomes Fatima Ghazala. Her recognition of her own power is a wonderful thing to see, especially since it never goes away! She never doubts her own abilities, just the consequences of her decisions, which I think is just a badass way to go about life. The scene where she shows Aaruv exactly what she's going to do about him touching her is an inspiration.
I found her romance with Zulfikar to be a bit...underwhelming, though he was very sweet. His announcement to Tali was very romantic, but other than that, I didn't really see them together enough to feel solid about their relationship. And the constant discussion of what was "proper" or "decent/indecent" definitely kept it from "sizzling" status for me. Of course I recognize that that is most likely a cultural difference.
I also found the conclusion to be a tad rushed, though I didn't notice it as much as I was reading because for some reason I thought this was a series. But once I read The End I kind of blinked like....that's it? I feel that there is so much potential, so many things left to be explored, that I am definitely not satisfied with the ending as it stands.
All in all, I liked the story, but it did leave something to be desired for me.
The only thing keeping this from a 4 star rating is how terribly long it took for the story to get going. I think I was 50 pages in before I was able to really get invested. Once I did, the pace was great, and I did really enjoy the plot and the characters, but it just took so long to get there.
Also, there is a bit of a language barrier here. There are a lot of Arabic and Muslim religious terms here, which is wonderful! Obviously, this is a great title for representation, and the fact that it is an ownvoices book is fabulous. But I was not familiar with hardly any of these terms, which may have been what made the first 50 pages so difficult for me. I loved that there was so much discussion of food, and that the real names were used, but I didn't actually know what any of them were, so I felt myself kind of skimming most of the time. And, for myself personally, I chafe at religion in general, so the constant prayer schedule got annoying. But that's obviously just my own thing.
Fatima is a super strong lead, especially once she becomes Fatima Ghazala. Her recognition of her own power is a wonderful thing to see, especially since it never goes away! She never doubts her own abilities, just the consequences of her decisions, which I think is just a badass way to go about life. The scene where she shows Aaruv exactly what she's going to do about him touching her is an inspiration.
I found her romance with Zulfikar to be a bit...underwhelming, though he was very sweet. His announcement to Tali
Spoiler
about his intention/reasons for marrying Fatima GhazalaI also found the conclusion to be a tad rushed, though I didn't notice it as much as I was reading because for some reason I thought this was a series. But once I read The End I kind of blinked like....that's it? I feel that there is so much potential, so many things left to be explored, that I am definitely not satisfied with the ending as it stands.
All in all, I liked the story, but it did leave something to be desired for me.