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miaaa_lenaaa's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Tbh…? This was very predictable and did read like a first book :/ some cringey writing highlights (SPOILER WARNING)
‘‘But you’ll be dead and I’ll be… Okht I’ll be alone,’ Lana whispered. Zafira’s eyes burned. ‘It’s what Baba would have wanted.’’ Lol wut?
And
‘Deen’s throat would never bob again.’ Lol wut
‘‘But you’ll be dead and I’ll be… Okht I’ll be alone,’ Lana whispered. Zafira’s eyes burned. ‘It’s what Baba would have wanted.’’ Lol wut?
And
‘Deen’s throat would never bob again.’ Lol wut
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
lunep's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Funny how the two times I've started this book it was in July
Anyway
I remembered this book as a solid 3 ⭐, I liked it but actually didn't understand the hype...but I always wanted to read the second one anyway, and with Hafsah publishing another book recently I recided to re-read this one, read the second one and read her new book, and boy am I glad that I did it. This time around I definitely liked it more!
At first I felt it was a little too trope-y but nothing unbearable and I said to myself "well, arent most debut books a little trope-y anyway? specially with young authors" (specially having re-read the Eragon series this past 6 months lmao) so I decided to try and not to focus on that (tho just to mention, I felt Zafira at the beginning of the book,when she started working with Nasir and Altair to be a little not-like-other-girls) and eventually I stopped feeling that way
Another thing that bothered me a bit was how it didnt make sense to me that only the Ra'ads knew that she was the hunter: 1) they live in a village in a culture that's very much oriented around helping each other and community (Yasmine's wedding comes to mind), so I assume everyone knows everyone, specially because it sounds like it's a small village, 2) everyone knew the Ra'ads were close to the hunter, and Zafira's POV mentions multiple times playing with Yasmine and Deen a lot when children, 3) everyone must have known Zafira's family consisted only of her, her little sister, and their ailing mother, no men 4) Zafira uses the same horse as Zafira and as The Hunter, and 5) the day of the voyage she arrives at the Arz as The Hunter, on the Iskandar's horse, with Lana bint Iskandar and the Ra'ads...like cmon, make it make sense. I will blame it on it being Hafsah's first book that she wrote when she was 19, and it's not like, a HUGE deal, but it was a little hard to suspend my disbelief on that specific thing
However, I really liked the characters, I liked the development of Zafira and Nasir's relationship, and how everyone interacted with one another. I specially liked the female friendships, tho they don't have a lot of page time, I felt Zafira and Yasmine's bond was very sweet (also, I went a little mad in the first 200 pages because I couldnt believe no one had written Zafira/Yasmine fanfiction with THAT goodbye scene), and Zafira and Kifah's bonding was also really nice, I hope we see more of that in the second book. And I enjoyed the story overall, it kept me hooked, and I felt intelligent because I saw a couple of the plot-twists coming lmao (others I didn't, but I really should have, hindsight is 20/20). I remembered very little of it, so it was basically like reading it for the first time
I'm DEVASTATED about Deen's death, at first I wasn't sure if it had been necessary, it felt a little like a "oops, I made my MC who will fall in love with another man promise this man she would marry him after this mission, what to do?" cop-out, but a lot of stuff would have been had to be changed if he hadn't died (am I convinced he HAD to die tho? still not, but I get it would have changed things)
Also absolutely depressed about Altair growing up feeling like second-best, a dirty secret to the whole kingdom, and then feeling like the zumra willingly abandoned him 😭😭 and the fact that it was his own MOTHER who told the zumra not to go back for him?? kill me dead please
And...did Misk, Yasmine and Lana leave Zafira and Lana's mom in the village when they were gassed?? I-- speechless, I imagine if the answer is yes it's because they quickly got a ride with the Caliph's men, barely escaping, but STILL, what the fuck man
Anyway
I remembered this book as a solid 3 ⭐, I liked it but actually didn't understand the hype...but I always wanted to read the second one anyway, and with Hafsah publishing another book recently I recided to re-read this one, read the second one and read her new book, and boy am I glad that I did it. This time around I definitely liked it more!
At first I felt it was a little too trope-y but nothing unbearable and I said to myself "well, arent most debut books a little trope-y anyway? specially with young authors" (specially having re-read the Eragon series this past 6 months lmao) so I decided to try and not to focus on that (tho just to mention, I felt Zafira at the beginning of the book,
Another thing that bothered me a bit was how it didnt make sense to me that only the Ra'ads knew that she was the hunter: 1) they live in a village in a culture that's very much oriented around helping each other and community (Yasmine's wedding comes to mind), so I assume everyone knows everyone, specially because it sounds like it's a small village, 2) everyone knew the Ra'ads were close to the hunter, and Zafira's POV mentions multiple times playing with Yasmine and Deen a lot when children, 3) everyone must have known Zafira's family consisted only of her, her little sister, and their ailing mother, no men 4) Zafira uses the same horse as Zafira and as The Hunter, and 5) the day of the voyage she arrives at the Arz as The Hunter, on the Iskandar's horse, with Lana bint Iskandar and the Ra'ads...like cmon, make it make sense. I will blame it on it being Hafsah's first book that she wrote when she was 19, and it's not like, a HUGE deal, but it was a little hard to suspend my disbelief on that specific thing
However, I really liked the characters, I liked the development of Zafira and Nasir's relationship, and how everyone interacted with one another. I specially liked the female friendships, tho they don't have a lot of page time, I felt Zafira and Yasmine's bond was very sweet (also, I went a little mad in the first 200 pages because I couldnt believe no one had written Zafira/Yasmine fanfiction with THAT goodbye scene), and Zafira and Kifah's bonding was also really nice, I hope we see more of that in the second book. And I enjoyed the story overall, it kept me hooked, and I felt intelligent because I saw a couple of the plot-twists coming lmao (others I didn't, but I really should have, hindsight is 20/20). I remembered very little of it, so it was basically like reading it for the first time
Also absolutely depressed about Altair growing up feeling like second-best, a dirty secret to the whole kingdom, and then feeling like the zumra willingly abandoned him 😭😭 and the fact that it was his own MOTHER who told the zumra not to go back for him?? kill me dead please
And...did Misk, Yasmine and Lana leave Zafira and Lana's mom in the village when they were gassed?? I-- speechless, I imagine if the answer is yes it's because they quickly got a ride with the Caliph's men, barely escaping, but STILL, what the fuck man
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, and Death of parent
Minor: Cursing, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail