donatio 's review for:

The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi

4.25

emotional inspiring mysterious 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

---

The book should have put Hassa as the main POV instead of Sylah. I still think that Anoor is naive. (Also why is Sylah so drawn to her?)

I loved the writing style, which reminded me a lot of Samantha Shannon, one of my fav authors.
I also loved that there was lots of world-building and plot that does not lean on popular tropes. 
Critic points are that the most interesting things like the structures of the organizations like the Sandstorm were kept secret (the bonus chapter at the end about Loot was one of the most interesting ones and showed that El-Arifi can do it). I also felt like the points were there was action didn't quite hit as intended because they were too short and a little too predictable.
Last but not least I loved the queer-normative world. A perfect example of how it should be done.