This was a good story - I think.

It was difficult to tell for sure because of the dreadful writing; it was actively painful to read: short chapters, even shorter sentences, overmuch repetition, far too much introspection to the point of pretentiousness, poor language choices (come on, you do not carry arrows in a sling!), too much untranslated Arabic throughout the text (not that I mind, it’s my cultural background although I haven’t spoken Arabic since I was a child). It’s almost as if it was a machine translation of short pieces loosely tacked together to form a vaguely coherent story or a bulleted list with the bullet points removed.

Stylistically, it read like a Janet and John story - not so much young adult as young child. The pacing was slow, and frankly it could do with a serious make-over by a professional editor.

I will not be in any hurry to read the sequel.

Absolutely loved everything about this book! The characters, the setting, the writing was all incredible and I’m so upset I didn’t read this sooner!

I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

This copy was kindly gifted to me from the publisher in exchange for an honest review (submitted on Instagram)

So late to read this but it was absolutely worth the wait - what an incredible world, amazing characters, breathless story.

This unfortunately was over descriptive to the point where the plot came to a stand still.

I found the characters lacked depth and although this was supposed to have been written with YA in mind it appeared to be more for older adults.

This was just not for me.

I tried with this book, given all the good stuff I had heard, but it defeated me. I've been reading this on and off for so long now but every time I pick it up I'm not interested in it and it's so easy to leave and not come back to it. I wasn't a big fan of the characters, I found them dull and the only thing I did kind of like was the setting. Who doesn't love a weird murder forset? I got this when I was still trying YA but I've accepted that YA doesn't click my buttons anymore and that this book is not for me. I'm glad so many others enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this! I was concerned it was going to be a little similar to other novels of similar inspiration but it was surprisingly original. It was easy to get into and quick to read, and I found all the characters well fleshed out and three dimensional. Will be reading the sequel immediately!

3.5 stars.

I'd been really looking forward to reading We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal since first hearing about it; being a high fantasy inspired by the ancient world of Arabia, it was right up my street. However, I was disappointed by the story on the whole.

We Hunt the Flame has such an intriguing premise, and had so much potential! Arawiya is a kingdom that is out of magic. The Six Sisters, magical immortal women, were able to keep the kingdom thriving with the use of their magic. But when they were killed whilst battling an enemy, magic left with them. Instead, a darker magic, unable to be fought or stopped, has been slowly encroaching on the kingdom. Each of the six caliphates is affected differently, with Zafira's caliphate living in an endless winter, but all are surrounded by the Arz, a forest of absolute darkness that grows bigger every day, and takes the sanity of any who venture in - a forest that will eventually take over the whole kingdom. But Zafira has the uncanny gift of being able to find her way in the Arz while keeping possession of her mind, and is able to hunt game to feed the starving people of her caliphate. It's this gift that leads to her being invited to take on a task on the prison island of Sharr, an island overtaken by dark magic, to find a lost book known as the Jawarat, which is told will bring magic back to the kingdom. Nasir, son of the Sultan and hashasin, an elite assassin, is sent by his cruel, tyrannical father to follow Zafira, and, once she's found the Jarawat, kill her and bring it back to him.

It sounds so awesome, right? But it fell flat for me, unfortunately. It's told from the perspective of both Zafira and Nasir, and for most of the story, their chapters alternate. Zafira is a woman in a caliphate that believes women are cursed, due to the fact that the Six Sisters were women and magic died with them. So she disguises herself as a man to enter the Arz, known only as the Hunter. Only a few close friends and family know of the Hunter's identity. She's the only one keeping them going, so when the invitation to try to find the lost Jawarat, she can't turn it down despite the danger involved; with the Arz getting ever closer, something has to be done. Nasir is an unwilling assassin, forced to kill those who oppose the Sultan, over and over, to keep those he cares about from being punished by his failure to obey. His hands are covered in the blood of innocents, but can see no way out from under the rule of the Sultan. Going to Sharr to hunt the Hunter is just another job for Nasir, another burden of guilt.

The first problem with We Hunt the Flame is that it's very slow. 30% of the story goes by before Zafira and Nasir even leave to head for Sharr. And when they do - and end up forming a temporary allegiance in order to survive, along with Altair, a general that came with Nasir that he's been ordered to kill while there, and later, Benyamin, an immortal Safin, and Kifah, one of the Elite Nine warriors of caliphate Pelusia - we get the second problem; apart from a few instances of coming up against ifrit and evil Safin, nothing really happens. The majority of the story is internal reflection, while spending days traipsing the dunes and ruins of the island of Sharr. Nasir is constantly woe-is-me, which I get, obviously, but it's all the time, and it becomes too much. Zafira discovers a number of things while on Sharr, some that are pretty important, and a lot of the time, she's constantly thinking about them. Or those she left behind. Or if she can trust the Silver Witch who gave the invitation in the first place. Or if she can trust her companions. Or when Nasir will kill her. Or the strange attraction she has to him. Or... You get the picture. It's kind of relentless.

And I found the romance itself just completely unbelievable. We know nothing of Zafira other than she is the Hunter, she bears a lot of guilt and grief, and she's unsure of herself. She thinks numerous times about who she will be, what her purpose will be, if she succeeds in finding the Jarawat and returning magic to the kingdom, because she won't need to be the Hunter anymore. That's pretty much all there is to her. Nasir is constantly accompanied by guilt and misery. I really do not see why they both fall for each other. They're just not fully rounded characters to me, which makes it hard to believe the romance, because what exactly are they attracted to?

Why'd I keep reading then? Because it always felt like something would happen. You always felt like you were on the cusp of something. Plus it's a quest story, and things happen on quests! So I kept reading, honestly anticipating something happening any time now, but it just never really did.

The last 80% of the book though got really, really interesting! We got the real proper action, we got twists and discoveries, we got danger and cliff hangers, and it was really pretty bloody awesome! So much so that I was all for getting the sequel, because that ending!! Where will things go next? It was just so exciting!

But then I read a review on Goodreads of the sequel, We Find the Stars, that says it's pretty much more introspection for a lot of the book, and warns it's just more of the same. And honestly, I don't want more of the same. I'm done with the introspection. So it was really quite disappointing overall, and I doubt I will be picking up the sequel. But others have loved We Hunt the Flame, so do read some other reviews before deciding whether or not you'll read it.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features blood, death, grief, abduction, child abuse, and murder.

The characters were so complex and three dimensional. There’s also some discussion of the role and expectations of women in society, as well as some solid morally gray characters. None of it was rushed or glossed over, it felt like you really knew them and could understand their plight well. Though romance takes a bit of a back seat here to make room for actual plot and story progression, it is a enemies-to-lovers dream. I loved it and I love Zafira and Nasir so so much. Highly enjoyed this book!

This book has so much hype that I was honestly intimidated to read it. I was so hopeful this would be a new favourite fantasy but unfortunately for me it was very mediocre. I don't feel like this particularly did anything knew and for me the most enjoyable part was within the last 20%.

The characters aren't very distinguishable or memorable for me and the world building was confusing and honestly lacking. The characters didn't seem to have much of a point, there was little growth or arcs and I was bored and didn't care for any of them sadly.

I did really enjoy the writing style however. It was smooth and easy to read and I would definitely pick up for in future from Hafsa Faizal but unfortunately this just wasn't it for me.

2/5

I was originally given access to this by Netgalley so thank you to them and the publisher.

This book has such a good concept however I don’t feel it was executed to the best of its ability which is fine because this is the authors debut and they have time to grow.

I found this book difficult to get into and I think that is down to the fact that there is no character breakdown and some of the names seem similar so it’s hard to follow along and know who is doing what.

It also has a small map in the beginning but isn’t the clearest to read and when you are going into a Fantasy where the world is made up you want to have some understanding of the area.

My main peeve is that because I listened to the audiobook and it would have Been the same if I had read the Arc I had, there is no glossary. This book heavily uses Arabic language and as a non speaker I don’t know what these words or phrases mean so I don’t know how they fit into the story and alter it to make you feel other emotions as they are said but not explained.

For people with an older copy of this book there is a glossary on the authors website but I didn’t know this till I was almost at the end of my book so I wasn’t too bothered to go looking for it - there is one in my copy (which I purchased) 3rd publication.

Overall it was an ok story but I personally wanted more clarity on some of the content.

Hafsah's writing is just beautiful and the world building is sublime. The supporting character's stole the show for me, Zafira and Nasir just didn't grab me as much as I would've wanted. The slowburn romance was okay, but I didn't find myself rooting for them. I need more agonising!

DNF
I started this book like a year ago, got a couple of chapters in, put it down and never picked it back up. I Honestly had intentions to but now I don't think it's going to happen. Maybe one day but until that time comes it's going in the DNF pile. I just couldn't get into it.

AHHH the representation! The country. The names. This story was so magical and beautifully written, in ways I can’t explain. I love that it’s a Muslim writer as well, breaking barriers for the rest of us. I loved this book so much. It was amazingly written.

I absolutely loved reading this book! It was so different and unique, plus the characters kept my attention and I wanted to know what would happen next. While the pace was a little slow at times I didn’t mind, this is often the case with fantasy novels where the characters go on an adventure.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would.
Not because it was a bad book, I just didn't connect with it the way I should have. I think the world building was a little too complicated for me. I felt I couldn't enjoy it without having to look up meanings of certain things that could have just been explained in that sentence.
I like Zafira's character, she is very interesting and badass.

Overall not really my cup of tea as found it too complicated to engage with.

We enter the world of We Hunt The Flame with one of our main characters, Zafira. Zafira is a hunter who disguises herself as a man in order to help the people of her town, she enters the cursed forest for this reason and this reason only. But if anybody found out who she truly was, all of her achievements would be tossed to the side simply because she was a woman. Women aren’t respected in Arawiya, they are classed as one of the lowest citizens of the kingdom so she risks her life every single day by pretending to be somebody she isn’t, the Demenhune Hunter.


On the other side of our coin, we find ourselves with our second main character, Nasir. Nasir is known as the prince of death, an assassin who kills anybody who goes against and defies his father, the king. He has a brutal past and if he shows any amount of emotion, he will be punished by his father.

Our two main characters are two sides of a coin, both do not want the legendary status that they have earned but when one is ordered to kill the other, they must choose between what is right, or to follow orders.

Zafira fearing for her people goes on a journey to retrieve an artefact that may restore magic to the world but the king hears of this and sends his best to go after her, Nasir. Nasir being the prince of death will stop at nothing but when mysterious forces come into play, it decides it has other plans for them and that their quest may be different to what they imagined.

Hafsah Faizal’s writing creates a detailed world filled with wonders that takes inspiration from ancient civilisations and myths. The mythology in it, is something that will grab a lot of readers that have mostly read Percy Jackson their entire life but adds a twist of what other people besides Rick Riordan can do with different myths. The dual perspective of Zafira and Nasir, is another reason to love this book. Their differing view points of the world and how they grew up is exactly what we want from a book such as this as it gives two sides of the story. The characters are complex which makes you love them even more.

4 out of 5 stars.

I had high hopes for this one. However, unfortunately, it missed the mark.

Great world building to start off with but otherwise, this was a very character driven book with over descriptive dialogue and not a great deal happening. I became really bored fairly early on in the book but persisted due to the glowing review. Unfortunately, it didn't pick up.

I found myself getting distracted by just about anything else and putting the book down for really long periods of time. It took me a while to get through this book. Gutted to say the least.

I received with thanks an ARC copy We Hunt the Flame from Pan Macmillan and Netgalley.

This is my review of We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal. This was published on 12th August 2019
We Hunt the Flame is a stunning debut. The writing was lyrical and magical. I have not read a middle eastern fantasy before but this author has now made we want to read more books like this one. Will continue on with the series.

Would recommend if you love a Fantasy