A review by booksandprosecco
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

4.0

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“People lived because she killed.”
“People died because he lived.”

Okay, I will start by saying that there are extremely mixed reviews for this book. People either seem to love it or hate it, so it just goes to show you that not everyone will love/hate the same books. (Do I say this in every review? Maybe? But oh well.)

By my star rating, you clearly know I enjoyed this.

To me, We Hunt the Flame was exciting, intense, and had a lovely little romance that, while a little problematic, I still really enjoyed.

We Hunt the Flame is about a zumra (gang/group).

-> We have Zafira who disguises herself as a man so she can hunt to feed her village.
-> Nasir, the crown prince and an assassin, is struggling between doing what is right and getting the approval he so desires from his father.
-> Altair is the head of the king’s guard, and although neither of them will admit it, one of Nasir’s only friends.
-> Benyamin is an immortal with a heavy heart and a wrong to right.
-> And finally, Kifah who is an elite warrior determined to fight for what she believes in.

“A life without purpose may be no life, but a life without love is nothing but an existence.”

Zafira as a character was okay. At times I was a little confused by her behaviour, but I will chalk it up to inexperience/shock… She hunts every day in the Arz, a dark, magical forest that no one else seems to be able to go into and return from. So she is courageous. She also accepts the quest to find a magical book that will bring good magic back to the world. Again, courageous.

However, several times, when she is faced with a tough decision, she… runs away? Not every time, but it happened enough times that I thought it was weird. Other than that, I did like her, and think she’s pretty badass.

“To the people, he was not Nasir Ghameq, crown prince of Arawiya, no. He was the purger of life. The Prince of Death.”

Nasir is a poor tortured soul. I both loved and hated him, but to me, his character made sense. He doesn’t want to be an assassin for his father, but he does want his father’s approval – and we all do ridiculous things to gain the approval of a loved one!

I did not love his reasoning for falling for Zafira – the whole “she’s not like everyone else” thing – but I did like the actual romance. What can I say, I’m all for the “he picks up the girl and pushes her against the wall” type scenes! *swoon*

“If I told you my name, would you bow?”
“Or would you flee?”

^ this quote is f*cking everything. This was the moment I fell for him. Who is “him”? Read the book because it’s worth it!

Altair was definitely my favourite character! He is sarcastic, witty, smart, and kind. He’s perfect and I want him. That’s all.

Okay, that’s not all. Altair’s story was also my favourite. We learn about his past and I really loved how Faizal developed him. He doesn’t have a great history, but he does the best he can. He also is committed to doing what is right and not necessarily what he is told.

“There’s no greater curse than memory.”
“Tragedies happen once, memories relive them eternally.”

Benyamin was… interesting. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I didn’t feel like we got enough of Benyamin as his own character. I wish his story had been a little bit different so he could stand on his own a bit more. He definitely was there to support the main characters.

Kifah is a bit similar to Benyamin in that, despite being part of the Zumra, we don’t really get to know much about her. I do hope we get to learn more about her in book two because she sounds epic.

“Who decides what’s out of reach, if not we ourselves?”

What I really loved about We Hunt the Flame was the story. Yes, we’ve all read something similar before, but for me, the details were unique and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I loved the tension between the characters and the many twists – of which I guessed none, but who’s surprised about that…

I also really loved Faizal’s writing. Some people have said the pacing was a bit slow to start, and while I somewhat agree, I also think it makes sense because she was building the story so that the quest makes sense.

“Monsters cannot become men.”
“That does not mean I cannot love a monster.”

Like I said (and as with any other book), some people love this and some people don’t. I’d say it’s definitely worth it if you want a fantasy book that has an interesting story, a fantastically sarcastic character, and one heck of a cliffhanger (yeah, the epilogue hurt my heart)!

Also, I finished this book a while ago now, but thanks to some gorgeous character art, I keep thinking about it and Altair and Nasir and Zafira. I mean… look at them:



“For Zafira bint Iskandar embraced the darkness.”
“And the darkness embraced her back.”

I am SO excited for book two because I have a sneaking feeling there is going to be a lot more about my favourite character!