Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

16 reviews

medditeranean_b00kw0rm's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional reflective 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

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

cortanasreadingnook's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional funny sad tense slow-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

5.0

This is an fantastical story of retribution and vengeance built upon the stories of ancient Arabian Mythology. I loved the culturally rich world, bursting of vibrance, picturesque imagery, and incredible prose. Zafira is irrefutably one of the strongest female characters I’ve met out there, with equal parts a remorseful daughter, loving sister, all balanced out making her the powerful Huntress of Demehur. Nasir’s character is just as interesting and multifaceted, and he was written extraordinarily well for the Prince of Death. This is without a doubt one of those enemies to lovers stories with lots of tension and angst, their longing fueled by proximity and circumstance. All of the persons found in this book live up to their names with their personas, fun found family banter, and hilarious dynamics. For everyone complaining that they couldn’t follow a single thing in this book, it’s understandably so that you’re used to eurocentric world-building and have never ventured into a story written by a POC author. It’s not an excuse to treat this book like it’s the worst thing you’ve ever read because there’s Google, and language no matter of what origin is not gibberish. Moreso, my familiarity with the Arabic language helped ease me into the world  of Arawiya, and I’m excited to know where the story goes next. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

katievallin's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • 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

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

joensign's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense slow-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

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

acogna's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced

4.0

The writing wavers from kind of typical-YA nonsense to some of the most genuinely poetic lines I've ever seen in a book. Tropey at times, but otherwise excellently original and knows its uniqueness as having a full cast of POC characters. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ssuummeerrn's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.75

This book took me a while to read. I was not into it at first, but that’s on me because I do find the beginning of fantasy books boring. I totally understand the need for the extensive world building and explaining a magic system. However, for me, that part isn’t enjoyable and it takes me forever to read! I also felt like it was a little bit long for this book. 

With that being said, I read Act 3 in 1 day! The ending was super exciting! It had many plot twists, and everyone knows that I love plot twists more than anything! The long explanation at the beginning was totally worth it for that last 100 pages!!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

wet_towlette's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Bare with me here because I have many complaints. I would like to preface this by saying I went into this book expecting to really love it because it’s seems to be right up my alley. It was really disappointing when I realized I didn’t. I also want to say although I will be listing a lot of criticisms, there are good things about this book. The writing is very lyrical and the entire world is quite fascinating. With that being said something about it really didn’t work with me. But I do believe the second book will most likely be better. 

I will now be listing all my issues with this book because it’s probably the briefest way I can explain: 

-too info dumping for my liking 
-characters inner monologues are greatly repetitive, especially in the beginning 
-the writing can be very confusing and I felt like I didn’t know what was going half the time 
-the relationship with deen and zafira had so much potential to be something greater then it was 
-romance is very forced (albeit interesting if you can look past how forced it is) 
-idk if anyone knows what I’m talking about but the three line sentence break up things drives me crazy. It happens on many occasions and is terrible every single time 
-this is more of a personal issue but the characters are so hypocritical and it really bothers me 
-the entirety of the beginning of act three just felt very rushed and out of place 
-the characters don’t feel like real people. Like the way the react to things or do things after hardships. They just feel like words on a paper. 



Expand filter menu Content Warnings

oliverreeds's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Okay. This book has the heart and soul necessary for a good YA novel/novel in general; however, it was simply confusing. The first third of the book is completely dedicated to characters who either die or become increasingly unimportant. In making the first section so long, the author lost something important. She overemphasized how important these people were to Zafira instead of showing it. I wanted to see what Deen meant to her, what her sister meant, what Yasmine meant. The dialogue is amazing, but there was too much showing. 
Specifically with the Deen timeline: what? why was he there? what did he prove? what did the book gain from him being there and then going with Zafira? It didn't add anything to either character. The journey to Sharr was also like one page. I wanted it to be longer. I was confused at how much time was spent establishing the norm for Zafira and then how little that actually mattered. Three-four days were spent in her home town and it did almost nothing to further the plot. It isn't like Deen motivated Zafira in any way. She made a half-hearted promise to him but like overall his inclusion was just... unnecessary in my opinion. And then there was the whole thing with Zafira's mother. It would have been so much more impactful had it been written, described, understood differently. As a reader I had no attachment to the character before she started laying down trauma and recovering from it. I had no emotional stake for her and her mother's relationship.
 
Also in terms of plot introduction, sometimes the chapter would just start. And things would be different in a weird unexplained way and I would fully go back a couple of pages to make sure that I didn't miss something. 
Like one time they're j chillin on Sharr and the next chapter they can't find Zafira? There's no explanation for her being gone. There's not like we went to sleep and then woke up and now we can't find her. She just is somewhere else. Same with the darkness subplot. There was a lot that could have been done with that. The foreshadowing. The ~energy~ was there but it wasn't enough. I was just confused. What do these power mean? What are the stakes
 
I think the biggest issue I had with this novel were things a good editor should have caught. There were a couple of character inconsistencies. The chapter openings were often unexplained. The subplots were not explained, foreshadowed, or developed enough. The lore was absolutely beautiful but the author expected the reader to just know it. It needed to be presented in a better way for the minute detail aspects. It seems like the biggest issue in terms of plot had to do with transitions. Whenever there was a lull, BAM weird chapter where something happens that is important!!! But it was unexplained. It was out of pocket. I think the author just needed to listen more to her story. To focus on how someone who didn't know the world would see it.
Things I loved: the characters. They are all incredibly distinct. They are the reason i kept reading. The writing!!! Is beautiful. This author describes characters in such a clear, precise, and beautiful way. The metaphors hit so hard. Just wow. I think that this author is incredibly talented. She clearly had a vision, knew her characters, and crafted a beautiful world, but some things just fell short. They didn't work quite the way they should have. I would love to return to this author once she has written more and really honed the novel crafting and transition aspects of writing.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

maurits's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I'm bit conflicted about this book. It has a lot of great components, but also clear missers. On missers: when it comes to handling the mixture of grief and distrust, I think the author kind of glosses over it. Moreover, an important theme in the book is darkness, but we are sort of left in the dark (haha) about the specifics and how darkness relates to magic. Lastly, it can get kind of annoying that the author uses Arabic or made-up words that definitely can just be in English. I understand wanting to preserve things like "habibi" and "hayati" (both terms of endearment), but things like "hashashin" (assassin) and "shukrun" (thanks) are better to put in English. 

But the things that I like about the book are more numerous. First off, Faizal's writing style is impeccable. She knows how to choose her words, and it makes her writing a pleasure to read. An example:
You and I are strangers, Huntress. Allies by circumstance. We may leave Sharr and never think of each other again. But in this moment, we are two souls, marooned beneath the moon, hungry and alone, adrift in the current of what we do not understand. We hunt the flame, the light in the darkness, the good this world deserves. You are like Tamin. You remind me that hope is not lost. 
Second, the setting deserves mention. The fact that Faizal is building on Arabia for her fantasy world helps defeat some clichés. 
Lastly - sort of related to her writing style - Faizal knows how to take you on a journey with the characters. I wouldn't say the characters are exceptionally well-written (because they're not) but you can actually feel what they feel. 

The plot isn't much special, but it didn't bother me. I suck at predicting plots so any plot is surprising to me. 

All in all, 3.25 stars. I would recommend it. I hope, in future books, Faizal will further improve her writing. She shows great promise and I'll keep an eye on her upcoming works. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

anushar's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

4.5

This book was so good. Everything was so pretty all the time. How tf does one get stranded on an island and still end up surrounded by pretty people—it’s not fair. I highly recommend; there is a lot of girlbossing, a side of gaslighting, and I have yet to see much gatekeeping but there’s a sequel so fear not. 4.5/ 5 stars. read this book if you like murder, pretty people, magic and sand. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings