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alexandriareads123 's review for:
The Final Strife
by Saara El-Arifi
Things I loved:
The characters. All of them. While they are not all likeable, I enjoyed the development and journey for all of them. Their interactions felt very realistic.
The world building. It felt very organic. Each chapter begins with a snippet from some other part or time in the empire. We got journal excerpts, letters, warden vows, excerpts from different (within world) books, griot stories… all of them making the world seem more real and full.
The representation/inclusion. We have a trans MC, several nonbinary side characters, a bi (or pan) MC, a disabled MC. And while there is plenty of suffering and trauma in the world, none of it is related to gender identity or sexual orientation.
The overall discourse about class and oppression was covered extremely well. I can’t wait to read the next two books.
Reasons I couldn’t give this book 5 stars (even though I think it’s great):
Some of the plot points were just too unbelievable for me. For example: how can you swap children at twos years old? Like people wouldn’t notice? I know that most of the children that were left behind were murdered upon discovery, but Anoor got to live because it the Warden of Strength couldn’t be seen to have been compromised… but she doesn’t look anything like the child that was stolen! No noticed that the Warden’s daughter no longer had a scar on her face??? Also, I thought all of the children were stolen at the same time and age, but Jond wasn’t taken until he was four??? I just don’t understand how leaving their own children behind (to get murdered) gave them more time to get away or whatever.
I didn’t feel like the training scenes were very fleshed out or understandable. Toward the end of the book we do get more descriptions of the Nuba stances, but I had a hard time seeing how a person could get in those positions… but maybe that’s a me problem.
The short story about Loot’s backstory was so interesting and made Loot a much more interesting character - which sucks because **MAJOR SPOILER** he dies in this book… what was the point in finally making him interesting AFTER he’d been killed off?
The characters. All of them. While they are not all likeable, I enjoyed the development and journey for all of them. Their interactions felt very realistic.
The world building. It felt very organic. Each chapter begins with a snippet from some other part or time in the empire. We got journal excerpts, letters, warden vows, excerpts from different (within world) books, griot stories… all of them making the world seem more real and full.
The representation/inclusion. We have a trans MC, several nonbinary side characters, a bi (or pan) MC, a disabled MC. And while there is plenty of suffering and trauma in the world, none of it is related to gender identity or sexual orientation.
The overall discourse about class and oppression was covered extremely well. I can’t wait to read the next two books.
Reasons I couldn’t give this book 5 stars (even though I think it’s great):
Some of the plot points were just too unbelievable for me. For example: how can you swap children at twos years old? Like people wouldn’t notice? I know that most of the children that were left behind were murdered upon discovery, but Anoor got to live because it the Warden of Strength couldn’t be seen to have been compromised… but she doesn’t look anything like the child that was stolen! No noticed that the Warden’s daughter no longer had a scar on her face??? Also, I thought all of the children were stolen at the same time and age, but Jond wasn’t taken until he was four??? I just don’t understand how leaving their own children behind (to get murdered) gave them more time to get away or whatever.
I didn’t feel like the training scenes were very fleshed out or understandable. Toward the end of the book we do get more descriptions of the Nuba stances, but I had a hard time seeing how a person could get in those positions… but maybe that’s a me problem.
The short story about Loot’s backstory was so interesting and made Loot a much more interesting character - which sucks because **MAJOR SPOILER** he dies in this book… what was the point in finally making him interesting AFTER he’d been killed off?