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
klemistry's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Addiction and Violence
egils's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Violence
nefariousbee'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
The world building, the characters, the writing, all spectacular. There's quite some naiveté to it all, which I thought I would mind, but I did not, actually. It's satisfying to see the characters and the plot not to feel like they need to be down to Earth. I enjoyed it very much.
I think I'm gonna go and pre-order the next book in the series now.
Graphic: Confinement, Drug abuse, Violence, Addiction, Bullying, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Slavery, Gore, and Murder
tobischeurer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Slavery, and Drug 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
hattieosha's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Violence, Police brutality, Racism, Slavery, Addiction, Blood, and Child abuse
Moderate: Classism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Sexual content, and Body shaming
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
bookswhitme's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
My only thing was the relationship that eventually developed between Sylah and another character. I didn’t have a problem with it but for most of the book the romantic feelings seemed one sided. So to find out that Sylah felt that way too was a little jarring. I expected the friendship, but not the romance between them. I just think if that’s where Sylah’s feelings were headed, it could’ve been developed/demonstrated a bit better.
All in all, I’ll definitely check out book two once it’s released.
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Slavery, and Violence