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lucyka's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Addiction and Police brutality
Minor: Child death and Kidnapping
panic_at_the_bookshelf'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
As soon as I finished the book I longed for the next one in the breathtaking The Ending Fire trilogy. The characters either made me love or hate them because of how human they felt. The hate did not come from finding it an annoying character. The characters were written out so well I despised them because of their horrible actions and/or beliefs. As if I was part of the story and ready to take them down. Each character had their strengths AND their flaws.
This is not a typical female hero story. This is a story of pain, sadness and fighting a system filled with lies and dirty secrets to oppress the native people of the land. This is a story filled with fire, passion and dedication. It's filled with friendship and love. Most of all, it's filled with the courage one needs to stand up against a system of oppression.
I do hope any person who is currently facing said oppression will find their well deserved freedom one day. May there be an ending fire to those who colonised and colonise. May we find the courage to stand up to any twisted system.
Thank you, Saara, for refuelling my fire to raise my voice and find my inner Sylah, Hassa and Anoor.
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
ewinnk'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
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
arguhlincozzi'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: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, and Abandonment
avisreadsandreads'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming and Fatphobia
caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Sexual content
dreyy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Colonisation
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury
ladybeldaran'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
4.75
One thing I loved about this book is that the setting - which is otherwise brutal and filled with oppression, is completely queernormative & gender equal. Additionally, though the world is highly stratified according to a blood-based caste system that is an allegory for racial inequities in our own world, there is no anti-blackness in this book. All of the characters are Black, and you'll find no negative language about features associated with Black-ness at all. It just goes to show that you can engage with real-life oppression without re-traumatizing those suffering from those systems of oppression - I have a lot of respect for el-Arifi for managing this.
The characters are fascinating, and we continue to learn more about them and their pasts, while exploring the ways in which they are changing and responding to the events of the book. You'll find multi-faceted characters here. Both of our main characters have their flaws, but I was invested in them from the beginning. There's a surprising amount of mystery in the book, which I think is handled better than average for an epic fantasy book.
I think el-Arifi manages to juggle the personal stories extremely well with the epic, sweeping political events taking place, and this reinforces the book's core message about inequities - that the personal IS political. The setting is fascinating - we don't get to see much in the first book, which takes place almost exclusively in the city we start in, and I'm excited to (hopefully) see more in the second book.
In short, the moment I finished this book, I decided I couldn't wait for my library to receive the recently published second installment and went out and bought it myself. (And I'll still check it out when my library gets it, because this author deserves the circulation!)
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Vomit
moonchild_cos'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
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, and War
bookcaptivated'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
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Slavery, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Minor: Medical content and Stalking