meganjjang's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
5.0
city_girl_writer's review against another edition
- not in the headspace
- don't care enough to continue
- got bored of MC wanting money for drugs to cope with her past
- don't care enough to continue
- got bored of MC wanting money for drugs to cope with her past
h_thomps's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
thehappylittleelf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- 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
3.75
This book is pretty good, though it pains me to say it could've been *great* if only it had gone through a couple more editing passes. There's a fantastic story inside what I feel is a really rushed editing job. Sentences can repeat redundant information, and character will express something like, "I've never been in the tidewind. What's it like?" when they'd only *just* had a scene where said character had competed in the tidewind. That kind of error feels like it could've easily been caught by an editor.
That being said, the story transcends that technical errors. It's pretty cool, and there are some really neat twists to the plot, and cool characters. Hassa is definitely a favorite, and I hope she gets a big highlight in the sequels. The worldbuilding is awesome, and I love, love, love, love concepts like the tidewind.
Here is my plea to this book's publishers: please, please, please, don't force the author to rush the book. Take the time to edit properly, because if it is given that care and attention, it can be a truly magnificent trilogy.
That being said, the story transcends that technical errors. It's pretty cool, and there are some really neat twists to the plot, and cool characters. Hassa is definitely a favorite, and I hope she gets a big highlight in the sequels. The worldbuilding is awesome, and I love, love, love, love concepts like the tidewind.
Here is my plea to this book's publishers: please, please, please, don't force the author to rush the book. Take the time to edit properly, because if it is given that care and attention, it can be a truly magnificent trilogy.
edluback's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
janettedv's review against another edition
5.0
Once this book hooks you in, you can’t let go. I had to stay up until way past midnight to finish this and it’s a long while since I’ve had to do that.
There are three classes of people in the empire, red blooded, blue blooded and clear. The red bloods or Embers are the ruling class and they rule their empire without mercy. The blue bloods are the Dusters who do all of the work and the clear or translucent bloods are simply invisible and known as Ghostings.
Four Wardens control every aspect of life and their disciples learn from them. Every ten years, the disciples become the new wardens and the Aktibar Games are held to choose new disciples from the ranks of the Embers. These games and the opportunity that they bring for change are the focus of the novel. This is a familiar scenario but there is nothing familiar about the story that the author creates here.
We read the story through the eyes of three different women, an ember, a duster and a ghosting. Each of the women has her own agenda and through each of the view points we gradually learn more about the world they live in. Sylah was trained from birth to win the games but six years before, her entire family was murdered in front of her. Now she is a drug addict who survives by fighting for money in the ring. Anoor is the spoilt daughter of the Warden of Strength. Her only interest appears to be creating more and more extravagant outfits to wear. Hassa is a ghosting but also a friend of Sylah’s. As a ghosting, she has no worth in society but she is more than at first appears. These women’s lives become intertwined and their interests coincide but nothing is quite as it seems.
Interspersed with the story are brief extracts from the wardens’ journals which show us more about the way they govern their empire and the horrific way the Dusters and Ghostings are treated. We also get extracts from the story tellers or griots which add more to our understanding of the world. I found the world building amazing. Bit by bit, we learn about the society, its history and the magic system. It’s a dark world and there are some distressing descriptions of punishments meted out to the Dusters and Ghostings but for me, this book was unputdownable.
The book is definitely part of a series but doesn’t end on a cliff hanger. This part of the story concludes in a way that ends satisfactorily but leaves plenty of questions for the next books. I loved this and can’t wait to see how the story develops next.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers, Harper Collins UK, for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.
There are three classes of people in the empire, red blooded, blue blooded and clear. The red bloods or Embers are the ruling class and they rule their empire without mercy. The blue bloods are the Dusters who do all of the work and the clear or translucent bloods are simply invisible and known as Ghostings.
Four Wardens control every aspect of life and their disciples learn from them. Every ten years, the disciples become the new wardens and the Aktibar Games are held to choose new disciples from the ranks of the Embers. These games and the opportunity that they bring for change are the focus of the novel. This is a familiar scenario but there is nothing familiar about the story that the author creates here.
We read the story through the eyes of three different women, an ember, a duster and a ghosting. Each of the women has her own agenda and through each of the view points we gradually learn more about the world they live in. Sylah was trained from birth to win the games but six years before, her entire family was murdered in front of her. Now she is a drug addict who survives by fighting for money in the ring. Anoor is the spoilt daughter of the Warden of Strength. Her only interest appears to be creating more and more extravagant outfits to wear. Hassa is a ghosting but also a friend of Sylah’s. As a ghosting, she has no worth in society but she is more than at first appears. These women’s lives become intertwined and their interests coincide but nothing is quite as it seems.
Interspersed with the story are brief extracts from the wardens’ journals which show us more about the way they govern their empire and the horrific way the Dusters and Ghostings are treated. We also get extracts from the story tellers or griots which add more to our understanding of the world. I found the world building amazing. Bit by bit, we learn about the society, its history and the magic system. It’s a dark world and there are some distressing descriptions of punishments meted out to the Dusters and Ghostings but for me, this book was unputdownable.
The book is definitely part of a series but doesn’t end on a cliff hanger. This part of the story concludes in a way that ends satisfactorily but leaves plenty of questions for the next books. I loved this and can’t wait to see how the story develops next.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers, Harper Collins UK, for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.
tiannakelly's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Violence
displacedcactus's review against another edition
I really wanted to like this book, but if I'm going to commit to 600+ pages (and possibly two more equally large books to wrap up the trilogy), I need to be really wowed. The first 60 pages were just a real slog and I had a hard time getting into the main character's quest for drugs and drug money.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture, Violence, Slavery, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use
There's a public execution by torture, and an entire class of people is subject to having their tongues and hands amputated when they are children.thewoollygeek's review against another edition
5.0
This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I’m so glad to say it didn’t disappoint me at all, my own self-hypedness wasn’t exaggerated. The Final Strife is a stunning epic fantasy, it’s addictive, captivating , you’re going to have late nights reading this. The story looks at an Empire built on magic (specifically blood magic, control, slavery and fear, but we know with fantasy that won’t be the whole story, what does any empire always need, a strong rebel and you better believe Saara El-Arifi has provided us with this. This isn’t a story of an evil empire, this is the story passion, courage and rebellion, this is a story full of beautiful written and fascinating characters, fantastic world building and a talent for writing which is so good, I need to read so much more from El-Arifi now. It can be a little slow paced, but that has to happen when you’re setting up an Empire and it’s Rebellion, it made no affect to my enjoyment though because I was enthralled and loved every minute, a thoroughly and highly recommend read
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion