Reviews

The Final Strife, by Saara El-Arifi

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clairefaith01's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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? Yes

4.75

m_rcd's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

fadingapple's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.25

4.25/5 stars

Wow, what a banger start to what is promising to be an epic fantasy trilogy! Saara El-Arifi crafts a fantastic story with flawed, unique, spectacular characters; a tragic, rich, and detailed world; a fascinating magic system; and all the complicated storylines and politics anyone could want. Plus, there is fantastic gender and sexuality representation; important discussion on racism and addiction; and beautiful love stories, both tragic and heart-warming

My main complaint was pacing in the beginning; the writing was great, I was interested in the characters, and I could tell the world was going to be fascinating....but the plot was slow to pull me in. But, once things really got going, I was HOOKED. That slow beginning was foundational and very important to the success of the story, but I'll admit it didn't have me staying up all night to start.

El-Arifi's ability really shines in her characters - yes the plot is intriguing and the worldbuilding is amazing, but it's the complexity of Sylah and Anoor and Loot and Jond and Hassa that really brings her writing to the top of the pack. She explores complicated issues like gender, sexuality, loyalty, grief, addiction, racism with a diverse cast of rich and unique characters that really make you feel and identify with them. You grieve when they bleed and you feel their joy when they find peace or love....you cheer and cry and mourn with them because they're real. These aren't simple, one-dimensional characters you can fully realize over a few chapters - they're real people that you get to learn about and with over the course of an epic journey and watch as they evolve and are impacted by the world and other people around them.

I am dying to learn more about the unanswered questions left at the end of this book....what does the revelation about the leader of the Sandstorm at the end mean, and will our protagonists find success separately, and together? Will their goals and love weather the storm? El-Arifi has definitely found a lifelong fan and I am so excited to continue on with this story!

maremcg's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful fast-paced

4.25

crazyforbooksandcoffee's review against another edition

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4.0

I really enjoyed this, so I'm so glad I finally got around to it. It was a slow start, and it took me a while to get into it, but now I can't wait for the next book !

ienbdri's review against another edition

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adventurous relaxing medium-paced

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

3.0

This was almost aggressively mid. The world in itself is quite interesting but sadly neither the story nor the writing do it justice. The characters seemed bland and had no chemistry and OH MY GOD was it predictable! There were a few surprises in the last ten pages but the other 480 pages had me deeply annoyed. This could have been greatly improved by some stylistic tweaks (surprise, always telling the readers everything 5 times and having no built-up suspense kinda kills a book). 3 stars because I still found myself wanting to finish it (and hoping something would finally happen??) but I probably won't read the second one.

a small

Spoiler

also the ghostings were way more interesting than everyone else?? why did we only get so little of their story? why don't they bloodwerk anymore? maybe the book should have been about their resistance as it seems a lot more interesting than the actual story. their language and faith was more refined than everything else and i was way too invested in hassa