A review by bezarue
The Battle Drum by Saara El-Arifi

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

Loved it, yet again El-Arifi wows with an incredible middle book. I spent most of it incredibly stressed, the only part calming me down being Jond with the kitten.

Not loving Anoor going dark side but I'm hopeful Sylah might be able to persuade her out of it. The tannin is absolutely terrifying.

She kept the stakes up in a way that's really impressive, and even though

I knew someone was gonna die I'm still sad it was Kwame, mostly because Hassa deserves to be happy. I want Hassa to make it more than anyone else