We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal E-galley Review

Hardcover, 480 pages

Published May 14th 2019

 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux 

amazon 

Summary

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 king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways.

Both 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. When 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 king 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.

* I first want to thank Net-galley for sending me a copy for an honest review."
I went into this book not really knowing what I was getting into. I just knew that I anted to read it and that the author behind it was an amazing person. There was so much hype before the book eve released and now that its out to. It deserves all the hype.
 
We follow Zafira nad Nasir in an adventure to find a lost artifact that can bring magic back into their world. Zafira searches for the book in order to protect the world from darkness while Nasir was sent by his father to retrieve the artifact and kill Zafira.  
 
It was a little hard to get into the in the first 100 pages, possibly because of the world building and introduction of the characters. It's a slow paced YA fantasy almost feels high fantasy to be honest and I think that's one of the reasons I loved it. I also loved the mixed in Arabic in the writing it brought out a lot of the fact that this was an Arabic inspired story and the author is also Muslim.
 
 After the journey began and Zafira and Nasir finally met, I was fully invested in the story as well as the characters. I loved the banter between the characters and the aggression. I loved how funny and just laid back Altair was. He was definitely my favorite character out of all of them.  Every character were very distinct and didn't blend together.  love how strong Zafira was even though at times I felt like her character was undermined. She was supposed to be this amazing hunter but at times I felt like she was portrayed a little weak. But in my opinion I just to read and expect really strong female characters.
 
I loved loved loved that slow burn and agonizing  romance. It just keeps you waiting and wishing and that's exactly what Hafsa gives you. It was one of my favorite aspect of the books.I can't wait for a bigger development in the second book.
All in all I loved this book and it filled a need I needed without me even asking. I can't wait for the next books in the series!
5 ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆