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A review by hannxh13
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
4.0
The book read like a movie; I could imagine everything quite vividly in my head. I had an issue with fantasy books in the past were I didn't know what I was supposed to be imagining. Example: [b:Divergent|13335037|Divergent (Divergent, #1)|Veronica Roth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1618526890l/13335037._SY75_.jpg|13155899], I read the book and there was multiple scenes that couldn't understand what was going on, maybe it was because I was a few years younger and my mind couldn't picturize it but I think the opposite should've happened cause you have more imagination when you're younger. In this type of scenario I tend to prefer the movie more, which is why I like the movie for Divergent more than the book. Also I could never imagine Tris as a blond. Lets get back to WHTF, 464 pages of paperback and they had one kiss with 40 pages left of the book, and the kiss didn't even end well. At that point I knew that I was going to be dissatisfied with the relation between the main love interests, but the leading and how much tension they had at certain points is good, I wouldn't say it made up for it tho. What else could you expect from YA Fantasy though? I would've liked a little bit more from the main love interests but I understand why Hafsah refrained from going to deep into it, the book is mainly about the quest. The beginning of the book was hard to get into, there was many words that I didn't know that were being thrown in the book. The mix of the languages was confusing, were they speaking english and randomly throwing in the other language or what? Most of the time the author gives a translation to the words they use in italics, but after the first time, you're expected to remember. I wish the book had a glossary in the back, I didn't even know that there was a glossary till I came onto goodreads AFTER I finished the book. If a reader has to stop reading and pull out their phone to search up a definition, somethings wrong. I couldn't imagine reading this book over the course of a few weeks because of all the vocab I was memorizing and forgetting, I finished the book in two days because I knew if I put it down in the middle of reading, all the vocab would deter me from picking it up again. The cast was getting huge, another complaint I have, eventually I figured it out, but at the beginning the author used words for people and objects/drinks/expressions and especially when multiple names start with the same letter it was frustrating trying to figure it out. When some character is mentioned at the start or middle and is never mentioned again until the end, I wanted to rip my hair out, example: the Kaftar, by the end of the book when they come in for the second time, I completely forgot who they were. The cast in this one book was the same number of cast in the entire 5 book ACOTAR series, it made no sense. Other readers complained that it all happens at once and that they wanted some time skips but I think that's idiotic, the entire book occurs within the span of a couple weeks/months so having a time skip would make me feel as though we missed a chunk of the journey. Some said that the pace of the book was too slow and that it was crawling, personally I don't think that. The people that think its going slow are people who are confusing the plot with the main love interests' love. They had one kiss but so many misunderstandings after it and there was only 40 pages left. Slow burn for sure. At the point were the silver witch revealed her true identity I felt like the author was just connecting as many things and characters as she could and called it a plot twist.
SPOILER***
I wish that the MC had better powers, like, being a compass is cool and all but in the next book I hope that its explored more, either being enhanced or that she gets more powers somehow. I'm predicting that in the next book the author will make some tension between Yasmine and Altair and I say that because at the end of the book Misk says that he really trusts Altair and it feels like a good place to put a plot twist because of the betrayal. I hope that the next book will have a lot more of the main love interests' after robbing us of satisfaction from their one misunderstood kiss and I want there to be minimal heartbreak because I don't know how much more I could handle.
SPOILERS ARE DONE**
I did enjoy the story though, and the writing and plot made up for most of my complaints. But I will say that the love between the main love interests left me unsatisfied, maybe I read too much romance but it didn't feel resolved properly. The book was written in a way that can easily be adapted into a movie which is great. The actual book was nice and I'll be recommending it to my friends that read YA, considering I've been transitioning from YA into NA for the past year, I think that was a major factor as to my complaints with the book. I did really like it. I cried when a certain someone died at the end of the story even though I didn't love his character, so I did in a way, feel connected, but at the same time I wanted more from the characters.
SPOILER***
I wish that the MC had better powers, like, being a compass is cool and all but in the next book I hope that its explored more, either being enhanced or that she gets more powers somehow. I'm predicting that in the next book the author will make some tension between Yasmine and Altair and I say that because at the end of the book Misk says that he really trusts Altair and it feels like a good place to put a plot twist because of the betrayal. I hope that the next book will have a lot more of the main love interests' after robbing us of satisfaction from their one misunderstood kiss and I want there to be minimal heartbreak because I don't know how much more I could handle.
SPOILERS ARE DONE**
I did enjoy the story though, and the writing and plot made up for most of my complaints. But I will say that the love between the main love interests left me unsatisfied, maybe I read too much romance but it didn't feel resolved properly. The book was written in a way that can easily be adapted into a movie which is great. The actual book was nice and I'll be recommending it to my friends that read YA, considering I've been transitioning from YA into NA for the past year, I think that was a major factor as to my complaints with the book. I did really like it. I cried when a certain someone died at the end of the story even though I didn't love his character, so I did in a way, feel connected, but at the same time I wanted more from the characters.