The Battle Drum by Saara El-Arifi is Ms. El-Arifi’s sequel to The Ending Fire trilogy and holy hell! I adored the first book in the series because it was fresh and exciting and completely unpredictable. The Battle Drum is all that and more, something I did not think was possible.

The action starts right away, with The Battle Drum picking up a day or two after the end of The Final Strife. Our three main characters, Hassa, Sylah, and Anoor, are still angry and still fighting against the injustices that plague their country. In any good sequel, the original quest changes, and the same holds true here. Sylah seeks a solution to the growing nightly hurricane problem. Hassa must balance her duties to her people with her growing friendships with those who are not her people. Anoor is the same mess as always, looking without leaping and judging before there is a shred of evidence, but her messes are even bigger and potentially more dangerous.

Much like the first novel, I had no idea in which direction Ms. El-Arifi was taking the women’s stories. I never wrapped my mind around the dual timelines, and I remained clueless about the story’s trajectory until I received that final puzzle piece. Looking back, I am so glad I was unable to guess anything. Not only were the reveals more effective because they were surprises, but I also enjoyed the story more as a result. The Battle Drum is a complicated story. There are a lot of moving pieces to match the large cast of characters. I appreciate how deftly Ms. El-Arifi weaves each piece into the larger story while keeping you guessing the entire time.

The other impressive aspect of The Battle Drum is that by the end of this second novel, who the villain is versus the heroes is unclear. Sylah, Hassa, and Anoor are morally gray. If there were doubts before, there are none by the end of the sequel. Each does things that cause harm to others as a direct result of choosing to be selfish instead of selfless. At the same time, we meet a new character who you could call the villain, but I have a difficult time sticking that label on her. Her actions are not any worse than those taken by the other characters, and, unlike them, her actions are completely selfless. It makes for a compelling drama as the lines of good versus evil blur and intermingle and even fade completely.

Another fun aspect of The Battle Drum is that it feels like the first book in a series. Yes, the characters are the same, and there is one key storyline from The Final Strife that remains pertinent in book two. However, Ms. El-Afiri introduces so many new places with new people and uncovers game-changing information that it has none of the stagnancies that plague so many sequels. All of it is new and exciting, and the answers you get leave you reeling.

While good sequels do exist, there are so many less-than-good ones that there is a reason why many readers approach sequels with caution. The Battle Drum suffers from none of that. I found everything about it compelling and became so engrossed in the story that the lines between reality and fiction blurred ever so slightly. If The Final Strife was impressive, The Battle Drum is awe-inspiring in its scope, its detail, and its execution.