A review by ciaraqueer
The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi

adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Some of this book rather irritated me, but I did remain gripped and would definitely read the sequel so it definitely did something for me. I think the writing felt a bit immature at times, especially with regards to the overly traumatic setting. I think I struggled to marry a society in which infants are brutalised and people regularly tortured and quarted in public with the writing tone. I also thought it was very niave to have such a complicated language for a culture with no hands or tongue - I fully support that they would have a comprehensive bodily language but its simply not possible to express what her characters were saying with that degree of disability - I also thought, though probably well intentioned and meant to be disability positive, that she profoundly could not understand the difficulty that the Ghostings would experience doing day to day tasks. As someone who works with disabled people I found this hard to get past. 
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