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A review by sarahsbooklife
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
5.0
Firstly, I bought a hardback copy of this book. Was also lucky to receive an advanced copy (before the UK and Austrilain release) through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts opinions expressed here are my own.
Trigger warnings: trauma, death of a loved one, near death experience, violence, blood, misogyny, war, abuse, scars
Zafira is the only one brave enough to face the Arz and come back out whole. She hunts in the forest that is slowly enveloping her home, her country, that sends you either mad or never to be seen again. Once you enter the Arz, it consumes you. Zafira is known as the Hunter, that know one knows is a woman. A woman that feeds the western villages of her calphite, ruled by men and where women are allowed no freedom. If her achievements were revealed she’d shunned and rejected.
Nasir is his father tool, made into the emotionless assassin he is today. The sultan has ordered his son to kill countless innocents for the smallest slights or disobedience. Nasir cannot defy his father, for his compassion comes with a price, and he will be punished in the most brutal of ways.
Both are known throughout the kingdom of Arawiya, legends in the own rights and neither of them wants to be.
The Arz is creeping over Arawiya further with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow and soon it will swallow it whole. Magic has been lost to Arawiya for ninety years, and Zafira has been tasked with a quest to restore it. To bring back magic, destroy the Arz and avenge her father’s death at it’s hands. But Zafira isn’t the only one searching for the lost artifact that will restore magic. Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter and anyone else that might get in his way. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds—and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.
______________________________________
This book was absolutely, utterly, brilliant and amazing. I loved this book from beginning to end. As soon as I finished reading We Hunt the Flame I lied on my bed chanting “I need the next book, I need it, I need it, I need it,” because it utterly destroyed me and I need to know what happens next.
I was instantly hooked into this story. I was instantly intrigued by what was happening and I had difficulty putting it down. I loved that the chapters and perspective switched between Zafira and Nasir. Giving two, sometimes opposite and conflicting, insights into the story. I loved that their two points of views started off so very different and showing two different parts of the world. Which slowly began to align as the story progressed and they realised that they needed the other to find the book on Sharr.
The journeys and growth that the characters go through over the course of this novel were heartbreaking at times. So much happened to Zafira and Nasir, to them separately and them together that I don’t know how to put into words the roller coaster this book was.
So many of the characters were dark and conflicted, hiding secrets from others and sometimes themselves. The main group of characters, the zumra, don’t all truly trust each other. Well, Zafira and Nasir don’t seem to trust anyone really. But they all have to work together in order to reach the same goal. As Sharr plays on their fears and loneliness, Sharr (the prision island) is alive in a way and can play them against each other. The beings that had once been trapped during the rein of the Six Sisters have been left unchecked and allowed to roam wild since magic and the Sisters vanished. Many of them are bloodthirsty and want to get their hands on the zumra. So even though they don’t want to work together they have to survive this island.
I loved that they were forced together to stay alive. Going from enemies, begrudging friends/allies, friends but-I’m-not-going-to-admit-it, and potential even more in the sequel (mainly between Zafira and Nasir). Think that there’s also some potential for the found family trope that might work with the groups dynamic.
This book has really stayed with me since I read it and I think that it is one of the best books that has come out in 2019. It is an amazing debut that is rich with magic, love, family, friendship, and so much more. I highly recommend this to anyone that loves fantasy. I would say that this is one of the must read books of 2019.
The only downside of this book is that I don’t have the sequel already.
Trigger warnings: trauma, death of a loved one, near death experience, violence, blood, misogyny, war, abuse, scars
Zafira is the only one brave enough to face the Arz and come back out whole. She hunts in the forest that is slowly enveloping her home, her country, that sends you either mad or never to be seen again. Once you enter the Arz, it consumes you. Zafira is known as the Hunter, that know one knows is a woman. A woman that feeds the western villages of her calphite, ruled by men and where women are allowed no freedom. If her achievements were revealed she’d shunned and rejected.
Nasir is his father tool, made into the emotionless assassin he is today. The sultan has ordered his son to kill countless innocents for the smallest slights or disobedience. Nasir cannot defy his father, for his compassion comes with a price, and he will be punished in the most brutal of ways.
Both are known throughout the kingdom of Arawiya, legends in the own rights and neither of them wants to be.
The Arz is creeping over Arawiya further with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow and soon it will swallow it whole. Magic has been lost to Arawiya for ninety years, and Zafira has been tasked with a quest to restore it. To bring back magic, destroy the Arz and avenge her father’s death at it’s hands. But Zafira isn’t the only one searching for the lost artifact that will restore magic. Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter and anyone else that might get in his way. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds—and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.
______________________________________
This book was absolutely, utterly, brilliant and amazing. I loved this book from beginning to end. As soon as I finished reading We Hunt the Flame I lied on my bed chanting “I need the next book, I need it, I need it, I need it,” because it utterly destroyed me and I need to know what happens next.
I was instantly hooked into this story. I was instantly intrigued by what was happening and I had difficulty putting it down. I loved that the chapters and perspective switched between Zafira and Nasir. Giving two, sometimes opposite and conflicting, insights into the story. I loved that their two points of views started off so very different and showing two different parts of the world. Which slowly began to align as the story progressed and they realised that they needed the other to find the book on Sharr.
The journeys and growth that the characters go through over the course of this novel were heartbreaking at times. So much happened to Zafira and Nasir, to them separately and them together that I don’t know how to put into words the roller coaster this book was.
So many of the characters were dark and conflicted, hiding secrets from others and sometimes themselves. The main group of characters, the zumra, don’t all truly trust each other. Well, Zafira and Nasir don’t seem to trust anyone really. But they all have to work together in order to reach the same goal. As Sharr plays on their fears and loneliness, Sharr (the prision island) is alive in a way and can play them against each other. The beings that had once been trapped during the rein of the Six Sisters have been left unchecked and allowed to roam wild since magic and the Sisters vanished. Many of them are bloodthirsty and want to get their hands on the zumra. So even though they don’t want to work together they have to survive this island.
I loved that they were forced together to stay alive. Going from enemies, begrudging friends/allies, friends but-I’m-not-going-to-admit-it, and potential even more in the sequel (mainly between Zafira and Nasir). Think that there’s also some potential for the found family trope that might work with the groups dynamic.
This book has really stayed with me since I read it and I think that it is one of the best books that has come out in 2019. It is an amazing debut that is rich with magic, love, family, friendship, and so much more. I highly recommend this to anyone that loves fantasy. I would say that this is one of the must read books of 2019.
The only downside of this book is that I don’t have the sequel already.