catgnome's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Drug abuse, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Hate crime, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Addiction, Cultural appropriation, Police brutality, Racism, Self harm, Classism, Colonisation, Death, and Drug use
Moderate: Vomit, Torture, Excrement, Grief, and Kidnapping
dani_reis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Child death, Emotional abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Murder, Torture, Genocide, Drug abuse, and Child abuse
antonique_reads's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child death, Slavery, Blood, Colonisation, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Violence, Torture, Grief, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Gore, and Addiction
readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This is a spirited adult fantasy about three women trying to find ways of surviving and changing their fates in a world where blood determines social standing. With inventive world-building and a tournament-style plot, this story really takes off at the half way point (though that does mean that the first half is, unfortunately, slow-paced).
Sylah, Anoor, and Hassa are all interesting characters, but Sylah and Anoor frustrated me at the beginning with their complete lack of interest in anything around them (Sylah) and entitled, naïve outlook on life (Anoor). They did, however, develop and grow significantly throughout the book, making it satisfying to see how far they'd come in the closing chapters. The romance also drew me in, but I just wanted to see more of it! Hopefully we'll get that in book two, though.
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Classism, Drug abuse, Murder, Addiction, Ableism, Blood, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Child death, Cursing, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
kcmg710's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I’ve been on booktok for a while now (as I know many of us have) and I’ve only seen this book on there twice maybe? (That could be just my booktok I guess but still).
I’m so engrossed in the world that El-Arifi has created that I don’t want to go onto another book, I’m struggling to bring myself to do it 😂. I literally put off reading the last 2 chapters for 2 weeks just so I didn’t have to say goodbye to the characters that I’ve grown to love.
I feel like when I first started The Final Strife I was abit overwhelmed by everything going on and trying to remember all the different names and places ect. (if I wasn’t a dummy and had realised there was a glossary in the back the whole time I wouldn’t have had this struggle 🤦🏽♀️ I don’t know if other editions have it, sorry, but I’m assuming so) but I quickly became so immersed into everything; the action, the people, the politics going on and I soon fell in love.
This book is slept on, I’m so gutted that I can’t jump straight into the next one in the series (the battle drum) and that I have to wait until May.
Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Child death, Violence, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Body shaming and Blood
cozyscones's review
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Slavery, Classism, Gore, Sexual content, Death, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Addiction, Confinement, Police brutality, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Body shaming, Torture, and Fatphobia
Minor: Vomit and Excrement
ofbooksandechos's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Drug use, and Slavery
Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Police brutality, Racism, Child abuse, and Torture
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Child death, Suicide attempt, Vomit, and Fatphobia
burstofhope's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Drug use and Confinement
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Violence, Racial slurs, Slavery, Racism, and Alcohol
Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Self harm, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Colonisation, Classism, Sexual content, Hate crime, Death, and Child death
azrah786's review against another edition
4.5
CW: violence, blood, gore, injury, self harm, torture, confinement, suicidal ideation, death, child death, death of parent, murder, addiction, drug use, slavery, classism, racism, child abuse, ableism, fatphobia/body shaming, grief
--
The Final Strife is an absolutely magnificent first instalment in an all new epic fantasy trilogy all about rebellion and survival.
We’re introduced to an empire governed by a blood based class system where the people are kept just as in check by the deadly Tidewind that ravages the land by night. Those with red blood, Embers are of the ruling class with magic in their blood and the Aktibar, a set of trials which appoints the next set of Wardens to rule the empire is soon approaching.
Sylah, an Ember stolen from her family as a child by a Duster(those of the working class with blue blood) rebel group was raised with the sole purpose to infiltrate these trials and overthrow those in charge, that is until the rebellion was crushed leaving Sylah the only surviving child from the group. However, Sylah’s hope is reignited when an opportunity to see her mission through falls into her hands through Anoor, the daughter of one of the ruling Wardens of the empire.
Now this is a chunky read but El-Arifi’s narration has a compelling rhythm to it that is just as masterful as that of the Griots (storytellers) within her book.
The worldbuilding has roots in Arabian and Ghanian lore and is so vividly immersive and complex, with each turn of the page, each twist of the story feeding us more of the culture, politics, history and secrets of this world.
It is slow going and the time jumps did throw me off at times – also when the point of view switched up within the chapters but this may be more down to the layout of the digital arc - but I just couldn’t put the book and when I had to I couldn’t get these characters out of my mind. There’s an equally frustrating and fascinating quality to each of the main players in this tale and their development and relationships with one another was so well written.
I can’t wait to read more!
Final Rating - 4.5/5 Stars
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Child death, Torture, Fatphobia, Self harm, Death, Drug use, Racism, Murder, Death of parent, Addiction, Ableism, Body shaming, Grief, Slavery, and Classism
kaela_readsnwrites's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The story begins with Sylah’s viewpoint and at the start, she is mostly a self-pitying drug addict on the path to her own self-destruction. However, she is also fiery and stubborn, which makes it clear she hasn’t lost all her fight just yet. To be honest, I didn’t find her very likeable to start with but her interactions with both Hassa and eventually Anoor build her character and I became more fond of her as the story progressed.
The additional viewpoints of Hassa and Anoor helped give a fuller view of the Empire, it’s segregated society and its politics. Both characters are engaging, with their own secrets and burdens to bear and to me, were instantly likeable, unlike Sylah.
There were a couple of times the multiple viewpoints took place in the same body of text. My preference is that they occur after a paragraph break or at the start of a new chapter as this avoids any confusion. Although this was not a frequent occurrence and thankfully, didn’t detract too much from the writing.
For the most part, the pacing of the story worked well but I did find the beginning a little slow. One issue for me that I feel affected the flow was a spat of repeated ideas or phrases, that seemed unnecessary. Thankfully, they disappeared completely in the second half, which I flew through compared to first.
The world building, I felt was done incredibly well and was developed through the story rather than passages of backstory. There were also inclusions of quotes from texts from the world at the start of each chapter, which gave snippets of information and short tales from Griots, the storytellers, about the Empire’s history. I think both of these aspects were clever ways to give the reader insight into the world of the Empire.
Though the story is a Fantasy, there isn’t an awful lot of magic apart from bloodwerk, runes of power drawn in the wielder’s own blood. Though the magic system comes more into focus in the latter parts of the book, I wouldn’t say it is a driving force of the story. This to me is not an issue but there might be some who expect more magic and magical creatures from a fantasy setting.
In my opinion, though the story was left open for a sequel to follow, there was enough tied off for it to still feel like a satisfying ending. The three main characters, Sylah, Anoor and Hassa, each achieved some of their goals but there is still much they need to do to aid their people and change their worlds. I was very much left wanting more and I look forward to the series continuing.
Wrap-Up:
Overall, I really enjoyed ‘The Final Strife’ by Saara El-Arifi and it is an impressive debut novel. The main characters were each very different, providing alternative views of the world and each were engaging, making me long to know more about them and follow their story. The world building was well done and I felt fully immersed in the story throughout. There were a couple of issues I mentioned, but they were, to me, minor and of very little detriment to the book.
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Addiction, Slavery, Racism, Torture, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Bullying, Death, and Death of parent