Hafsah Faizal: We Hunt the Flame (2019, Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
English language
Published Dec. 17, 2019 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
PEOPLE LIVED BECAUSE SHE KILLED.
PEOPLE DIED BECAUSE HE LIVED.
ZAFIRA IS THE HUNTER, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira is exposed as a girl, all of her achievements will be rejected; if Nasir displays his compassion, his father will punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya--but neither wants to be.
War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. While Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill …
PEOPLE LIVED BECAUSE SHE KILLED.
PEOPLE DIED BECAUSE HE LIVED.
ZAFIRA IS THE HUNTER, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira is exposed as a girl, all of her achievements will be rejected; if Nasir displays his compassion, his father will punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya--but neither wants to be.
War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. While Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds--and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.
Set in a richly detailed world inspired by ancient Arabia, We Hunt the Flame is a gripping debut of discovery, conquering fear, and taking identity into your own hands.
This description comes from the publisher.
this is good but I still can't figure out where the title came from
I hoped this would fill the Daevabad Trilogy-shaped hole in my life since last summer, but sadly not. After the initially promising worldbuilding and introduction to the main characters, the plot became tedious, driven by unexplained jolts, related through inf0-dumping, the newer characters flat and pointless, the main two becoming hollowed out. Very nearly DNF, but hoped it might redeem itself itself in the end. It didn't.
A great YA fantasy, the characters were endearing and had interesting relationships (fdjfhjd yes the ennemies to lovers romance bit had me by the throat), the side characters were also developed.
The book throws you in the world immediately, after a rough start I enjoyed the world bulding and plot very much, the writing was fluid and poetic, I'll ofc pick up the last book with pleasure^^
WE HUNT THE FLAME drips with lush descriptions and evocative imagery, linked by the often scattered thoughts of two very different narrators as circumstances and a bit of a death-wish pull them inexorably closer.
I loved the setting and most of the characters. I was frequently lost in the prose of an individual moment but I find myself now able to recall the entire story, somehow whole in my mind even as the scenes sometimes felt scattered. If you’re reading this for the beautiful setting, twisting quest of a plot, and intense yearning to belong, you’ll love this. I plan to read the sequel because I want to know how this story ends. It’s literally part one of two, so a lot of stuff was left open to be handled later, but there’s a definite endpoint to the initial quest which brought everyone together.
The world-building is really really good, …
