28th September 2024

The final part of the trilogy sees us return to the Empire and our four leads as their journeys separate around the continents.

It’s a satisfactory conclusion, drawing all the strands together and tying them up neatly. But it also feels a bit too neat in places and a bit too straightforward. I was left wanting something more.

For me, only one of the plot lines felt like it had the magic of the first book, and that was the one I was least expecting.

I’m not really sure how to look back over this trilogy now, and whether I’ve enjoyed it as much end to end or wish it had grown in a slightly different direction to throw more intrigue in.

read more

20th April 2024

I really loved Saara El-Arifi’s first two novels, so was intrigued to see what she’s constructed in another world. In some respects, it’s a quite different sort of story, but it retains a lot of the progressive elements that I’m finding very comforting in my reading at the moment.

The book paints a picture of a new world, with distinct cultures to explore, and a rich mythology. One of the things I particularly noticed is that there is a lot going on that is obvious to the reader and yet the characters miss it entirely, which makes me think this is perhaps particularly targeted at an audience that is maybe less familiar with more complex intrigue and welcomes this more casual approach to storytelling. Despite this though, there were still reveals that surprised me, so I think overall a good balance has been found.

The story clearly uses some of the tropes that have appeared in genre recently that bridge fantasy into romance, and I felt much more comfortable with that here than in some novels I’ve read which I found just surprised me with the flip into graphic sex mode. This is a gentler approach to coupling the genres and I found that felt more balanced.

It’s a simpler read than El-Arifi’s other, darker series, and I’m sure will totally find its audience and leave them waiting for sequels and to find out what happens next. I’m not sure I’m quite in that camp at the moment though.

read more

25th June 2023

The sequel to The Final Strife brings an exponential increase in world building - it feels like zooming out and suddenly finding myself somewhere ten time larger, and with ten times the civilisations to learn about.

The story follows the same characters we fell for before, as they expand their own horizons in different types of adventures. Every turn reveals more history, more culture, and more intrigue which is really fun to read about.

I found that I read this book much faster than I expected. My memory of the first book was that it was long and took a long time to get through, but this one just flew past.

Very much looking forward to book three, and learning more about this world.

read more

3rd September 2022

This first book in a new trilogy, heavily marketed to me by the publisher, opens in the classic fantasy fashion of throwing a bunch of terminology at me without fully explaining it. While this can be a bad sign, in this case it was not, and I was soon absolutely hooked.

It’s a rich and fascinating world that El-Arifi has created, with layer upon layer of complexity which peeks through to the reader, sometimes more than to the characters, and hints of so much more to come.

There is a strong theme of equality running through, obviously being parallels to classism, racism, and slavery. But there’s also a lot of the world that in other ways is very tolerant and diverse - covering LGBTQ+ and disabilities, making sure that despite the focus of the man plot, there is broad representation in this world.

The book is rich in themes, and centres on friendship, family, and duty. I imagine that every reader will be able to pick out their own unique empathies within the text.

The marketing team did their job well matching me to this book, and I’m now waiting to get my hands on more by this author as soon as it’s available.

read more