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A review by solouncapitulomas
We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
“We’re a zumra. We hunted the flame together, found the light in the darkness, but we were far from done, laa? Now we unleash it. We free the stars, shatter the darkness holding us captive, and return the world to the splendor it once was.”
This book was just, wow. People said it was better than the first one but I was dubious in the begging...what a dumb bitch I was, I truly lived up to the hype and I am so glad I read it now, books like these should be getting adaptation and more hype (instead of a certain culture appropriator I will not even mention), I will forever hunt for the feelings I had while reading this book. Sometimes I think I outgrew ya fantasy or ya in general and then books like these two come and I realize this might never happened fully, as long as I can keep finding jewels like Sands of Arawiya I will continue to reading young adult and enjoyed it. And yes I did scream with the one bed trope in this book, I am simple like that. Deal with it y'all
Some quotes I enjoyed a lot:
“Sacrifice was nothing but death in a romantic farce. ”
“How long did one have to live before death became a wish?”
“There was a kind of sand, rare in the desert, that appeared as harmless as normal sand until it sank beneath one’s feet, swallowing the unsuspecting, worsening the longer they struggled, loosening its grip only when they did the opposite. That was how grief was. The longer one wallowed, the more it hungered.”
“Or perhaps that was the greater evil, having power in your hands but being powerless to alter a reality.”
“The moon crowned her in starlight and cloaked her in magic. The stars faded in envy of her radiance. There truly was nothing—no one—more beautiful.”
“Wrath and rage burn quick as fire. Vengeance is the only fuel you can keep going for more than a century. The longer it takes, the sweeter the revenge.”
“It was easy to believe that anyone who did not speak of suffering did not suffer.”
“Carving out one’s heart for a stranger and wishing for theirs in return is no easy feat.”
“Only few can look at a monster and see its humanity.”
“Perhaps worse than abuse was waking up to the fact. The realization, striking and unmooring, that the norm one had lived was not at all normal.”
“Why was it that victories were forever riddled with loss?”
“Power once rested in their hands, wealth adorned every angle of their sight. None of them remembered the shroud has no pockets.”
“To live was to swear the oath of death.”
“Wars could wage and swords could cut and arrows could pierce. None of them compared to the pain of a well-poised word.”
“They say the soul cannot rest until it finds its match. Then it ignites.”
“We were not born to fight, but our cradles were built from struggles and hardship. Pens, swords, sticks—weapons shoved into our fists as soon as we’re old enough to grasp them. So we fight, because the world will cut our throats otherwise. We fight, because we won’t go down without one.”
“Hope was the beast that could never be slain, the light that blazed in every harrowing dark.”
“Knowing you can lose something is what makes it more precious.”
I was listening to Yellow Filler Beat & Glory And Gore by Lorde while writing this review
'kay, I'm out
Bye
This book was just, wow. People said it was better than the first one but I was dubious in the begging...what a dumb bitch I was, I truly lived up to the hype and I am so glad I read it now, books like these should be getting adaptation and more hype (instead of a certain culture appropriator I will not even mention), I will forever hunt for the feelings I had while reading this book. Sometimes I think I outgrew ya fantasy or ya in general and then books like these two come and I realize this might never happened fully, as long as I can keep finding jewels like Sands of Arawiya I will continue to reading young adult and enjoyed it. And yes I did scream with the one bed trope in this book, I am simple like that. Deal with it y'all
Some quotes I enjoyed a lot:
“Sacrifice was nothing but death in a romantic farce. ”
“How long did one have to live before death became a wish?”
“There was a kind of sand, rare in the desert, that appeared as harmless as normal sand until it sank beneath one’s feet, swallowing the unsuspecting, worsening the longer they struggled, loosening its grip only when they did the opposite. That was how grief was. The longer one wallowed, the more it hungered.”
“Or perhaps that was the greater evil, having power in your hands but being powerless to alter a reality.”
“The moon crowned her in starlight and cloaked her in magic. The stars faded in envy of her radiance. There truly was nothing—no one—more beautiful.”
“Wrath and rage burn quick as fire. Vengeance is the only fuel you can keep going for more than a century. The longer it takes, the sweeter the revenge.”
“It was easy to believe that anyone who did not speak of suffering did not suffer.”
“Carving out one’s heart for a stranger and wishing for theirs in return is no easy feat.”
“Only few can look at a monster and see its humanity.”
“Perhaps worse than abuse was waking up to the fact. The realization, striking and unmooring, that the norm one had lived was not at all normal.”
“Why was it that victories were forever riddled with loss?”
“Power once rested in their hands, wealth adorned every angle of their sight. None of them remembered the shroud has no pockets.”
“To live was to swear the oath of death.”
“Wars could wage and swords could cut and arrows could pierce. None of them compared to the pain of a well-poised word.”
“They say the soul cannot rest until it finds its match. Then it ignites.”
“We were not born to fight, but our cradles were built from struggles and hardship. Pens, swords, sticks—weapons shoved into our fists as soon as we’re old enough to grasp them. So we fight, because the world will cut our throats otherwise. We fight, because we won’t go down without one.”
“Hope was the beast that could never be slain, the light that blazed in every harrowing dark.”
“Knowing you can lose something is what makes it more precious.”
I was listening to Yellow Filler Beat & Glory And Gore by Lorde while writing this review
'kay, I'm out
Bye
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny
Minor: Child abuse