A review by historyofjess
The Battle Drum by Saara El-Arifi

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This was a bit of a let down after The Final Strife. I always have a bit of pet peeve of second volumes (or seasons of television) that split characters apart that we so enjoyed together in the first. Sometimes that can be overcome, but in this case, it's just the beginning of an overly complex second book that introduces a ton of new world-building and characters but really loses a lot of of the momentum that was built in the first book.

It's one thing to separate Sylah and Anoor, but Sylah feels like she is barely a part of this book and when Anoor is, she doesn't have any of the charm she did in The Final Strife. Hassa fairs a bit better, still suffers from the broken up narratives.

I'm curious how it all ends, so I'm likely to read the third volume but I don't feel anything like the motivation I did after reading the first.