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A review by greeneggsandsam
The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-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
5.0
"First we traded stories foe money to sustain us in the hard times. Now we trade money for stories to sustain us in harder times."
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an eARC in return for an honest review.
Also, thank you to the author, Saara El-Arifi, for writing such a fantastic book.
The Final Strife is the first of a trilogy inspired by African and Arabian mythology with a caste system determined by the color of one's blood. Sylah was once part of a growing rebellion, until the red blooded "Embers" killed them all. After a drug induced high, Sylah meets Anoor, a young woman who grew up at the abusive hands of her red blooded mother. Hassa, who can pass for being invisible thanks to her translucent blood locking her status in the lowest of the caste system, is the final key to aiding Sylah and Anoor in updending the empire.
The only issue I had while reading this book is that I didn't want to put it down. This book had so many aspects to it that enthralled me. Rebellion tropes always excite me, and El-Arifi wasn't afraid to show the truth behind the malicious ways of the empire to raise the stakes. The world is wonderfully crafted all throughout the book, its history unraveling as you follow the characters and their development. The characters and their relationships are so fleshed out, it feels like you could reach out and touch them. Despite its dark themes, it never failed to offer comedic relief through dark humor that had me chuckling.
The writing was incredibly engrossing. I never wanted to put the book down. For a chunky book, it read pretty fast. You get snippets of information from different aspects of thr book at the start of each chapter (such as from an essay a character wrote, a law the warden put into effect, etc.), and it was interesting to piece together why these snippets related to the chapter and see how the world worked.
The undertones of this fantasy story follow the impacts of discrimination, colonization, abuse of caste systems, political corruption, and altering/erasing history to benefit those on top. You're given snippets of information throughout the latter half of the book that could lead to a twist, but the twists that ended up happening were so much more intricate and exciting than I expected. I cannot wait for a second book, to be back with these characters and see how their rebellion continues to unfold. I honestly cannot think of anything I did not enjoy from The Final Strife, and I fully recommend this to anyone looking for a dark epic fantasy with loads of representation in it!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an eARC in return for an honest review.
Also, thank you to the author, Saara El-Arifi, for writing such a fantastic book.
The Final Strife is the first of a trilogy inspired by African and Arabian mythology with a caste system determined by the color of one's blood. Sylah was once part of a growing rebellion, until the red blooded "Embers" killed them all. After a drug induced high, Sylah meets Anoor, a young woman who grew up at the abusive hands of her red blooded mother. Hassa, who can pass for being invisible thanks to her translucent blood locking her status in the lowest of the caste system, is the final key to aiding Sylah and Anoor in updending the empire.
The only issue I had while reading this book is that I didn't want to put it down. This book had so many aspects to it that enthralled me. Rebellion tropes always excite me, and El-Arifi wasn't afraid to show the truth behind the malicious ways of the empire to raise the stakes. The world is wonderfully crafted all throughout the book, its history unraveling as you follow the characters and their development. The characters and their relationships are so fleshed out, it feels like you could reach out and touch them. Despite its dark themes, it never failed to offer comedic relief through dark humor that had me chuckling.
The writing was incredibly engrossing. I never wanted to put the book down. For a chunky book, it read pretty fast. You get snippets of information from different aspects of thr book at the start of each chapter (such as from an essay a character wrote, a law the warden put into effect, etc.), and it was interesting to piece together why these snippets related to the chapter and see how the world worked.
The undertones of this fantasy story follow the impacts of discrimination, colonization, abuse of caste systems, political corruption, and altering/erasing history to benefit those on top. You're given snippets of information throughout the latter half of the book that could lead to a twist, but the twists that ended up happening were so much more intricate and exciting than I expected. I cannot wait for a second book, to be back with these characters and see how their rebellion continues to unfold. I honestly cannot think of anything I did not enjoy from The Final Strife, and I fully recommend this to anyone looking for a dark epic fantasy with loads of representation in it!