Great setting and mythology, we're seeing more and more fantasy published from middle Eastern mythologies and I need even more. This particular one, however, was just not for me. I found the characterisations too childlike and dramatic and couldn't get in board with the plot.

I'm afriad this book just didn't hit the mark for me. I wanted so badly to love it as much as I had hoped to, but so many parts of it just screamed "typical YA fantasy", held together by stands of writing that, if I'm blunt, was nothing distinguishable. I hope more people loved it and it's just me, but I kept putting it down and coming back to it, hoping to love it. And I didn't.

We Hunt The Flame was a highly anticipated read for me but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. I got about 100 pages in and had to DNF. I found it incredibly hard to get in to and it slow and a little confusing in the beginning. I have heard that the second half of the book is the best but I just couldn’t continue any longer. Perhaps I will pick it up again at a later date to try one more time.

A neutral rating of 2.5 stars because I didn’t finish the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The culture building in this book is beautiful. The Arabian world that is biult feels so vibrant to me. The language used and the imagery make this such a good read.
Complex characters, I loved Nasir! The chemistry between him and zafira was electric and I was here for it!
Plot wise this book used a lot of ya fantasy tropes but that is what we all know and love!
Would reccomend this to anyone.

A rich, gripping adventure that holds its own in terms of characters that are easy to root for and a lush world so vivid you can practically taste the desert on your tongue.

There's a scene early on in the book that takes place in an ice cream parlour that had me salivating. I was really curious about this book but I struggled with the convenience of plot devices in the early chapters to make the story work and as they were pretty big and crucial to the plot it just didn't jell for me. I liked it but I didn't love it.

We Hunt The Flame is honestly such an incredible fantasy that had me hooked from the page one. The writing, characters and setting are some of the best I’ve ever read!!

I haven't read fantasy in a while and wasn't sure if I would enjoy this-- but I did! It was a great, perfectly escapist read, with beautiful writing, complex characterization, and vivid visual details that made it easy for me to picture each scene and setting. I loved how each character was written and developed, and the familial/platonic/romantic relationships between them were my favorite aspects. Though the pacing was quite slow in the beginning/middle, I was kept intrigued by all the small mysteries and plot twists that were incorporated throughout. This is also the most diverse fantasy novel I have read and thus the ancient Arabia setting made for really refreshing and interesting reading. I'm really looking forward to reading the second installment of this series!

I thought going in that I would love it but I was also a bit hesitant cause I'm quite fed up with YA fantasy at the time of picking it up. But I loved it! I'm so relieved.

I loved the layout of the story. There was only one place where I got confused and question why something happened. It's a moment towards the end when Zafirs disappears and when we come back to her she has changed. It seemed like something magical had changed her and I didn't fully buy it. Maybe I missed something. But in comparison to the rest of the story, it's a minor issue.

The world is introduced to us with the heavy parts first and the slowly explained. We first meet the protagonist when she is in the magical forest and the source of the magic and lack of is trickle feed after that. It was a very efficient way of doing it. And I liked it a lot.

Zafira - the badass hunter who feeds her village. I liked her. I liked the change between her attitude in men's clothing vs female clothing. And her thinking resonated with me in her action of hiding a certain part of her body to not attract attention. I'm so with you!

Nasir - the cold-blooded assassin who is just a cinnamon roll. I like Nasir. His actions and hints made me question other parts of the story.

Well written but the formating of this ARC got in the way of enjoying most of it. I'm sure this formating is not there in the final copy and I should judge by it but it did lessen my enjoyment of the book.

However, the author has a great way of hinting at events and foreshadowing. Yes, it's YA and tent to be right there but at the same time, I enjoyed the breadcrumbs given.

Loved the book even though the formating annoyed me. I will pick up the second book at some point and I'm curious to see what this author does after the series ends.

Hafash Faizal was an amazing breath of fresh air to my world, writing style is wonderful , it's fast-paced and keeps you hooked. The characters are brilliant, fully fleshed, real development across the story, I absolutely loved Nasir, occasionally it felt slightly predictable, but on the whole it blew me away and threw plenty at me I didn’t see coming, so I thought that was really clever. We Hunt the Flame is perfect YA Fantasy adventure

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Zafira is a hunter who disguises herself as a man to provide for her home in a land that prevents women from taking on these roles. The few people who know her true identity want her to stand up as a woman, to show them that women can do brilliant things. Zafira is the only one who can walk through the cursed forest of the Arz and return home safe. So when she's called upon to complete a quest to bring magic back to the land, there's no one else who can protect her people. Nasir is an assassin for his cruel father. His compassion is a weakness to be used against him, and he'll never be free. When he's sent to hunt the hunter, he travels on a journey he never expected.

We Hunt The Flame is a beautiful book filled with lush writing and a wonderful cast of characters. The beginning almost let the book down as we entered the world at such a slow pace it edged on boring. However, when the cast began to come together, and the plot unravelled We Hunt The Flame truly began to shine. Set in a fantasy world based on ancient Arabia, I'm excited to see what happens next.

I'm also a huge fan of the ragtag group of adventurers trope! When you combine clashing personalities, differing loyalties, and conflicting goals and force them into co-operating it's always a lot of fun. Zafira, Nahir, and Altair stood out to me as characters, and I can't wait to see how this trio develop in the next book. Faizal combines grumpy, serious characters with more light-hearted, humorous ones to keep the atmosphere balanced even in the face of danger.

The romance was also incredibly fun. Zafira and Nahir were attracted to each other early on, perhaps too quickly in some people's opinion. What I liked was that despite their attraction the narrative kept placing blocks in their way. They weren't able to explore their burgeoning feelings for the majority of the read. And yes, Zafira might think Nahir is a murderer, but he's a hot murderer y'know. Who can blame her?

I have to admit, I did almost DNF this early on. I'm glad I didn't in the end because I had a lot of fun with this read. The beginning was incredibly slow and lacked any compelling features. We Hunt The Flame is more of a character-focused book, but it truly shines when those characters come together. I also thought the pacing was a little off at times. The introduction of the Big Bad felt a little jarring and sudden. I'm hoping the second book will have solved these issues as this series has a lot of potential.

The ending was fantastic. The hint of mystery? The person it involves? Amazing. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Overall, We Hunt The Flame was a beautiful adventure story with a wonderful cast of ragtag characters. I loved the group dynamic, and despite a slow start and some pacing issues, I had a lot of fun with this read.

4 stars!

I was already pretty sure I was going to love this book, and I'm really pleased that I wasn't wrong! It was so interesting and so captivating and just always kept me wanting to continue reading.

We Hunt the Flame follows Zafira - the Hunter - who dresses as a man in order to go into the Arz and hunt for food for her whole village. Zafira embarks on a quest to recover a lost item that is said to be the only way to restore magic to the world. And in this quest she ends up meeting Nasir, the Crown Prince and also Prince of Death.

This is a book that will also be better when you read it rather than when someone explains what it is about to you. So my advice is really to pick it up and read it. There's adventure, there's a gang, there's witty banter, there's romance, there's magic, there's everything you could want in a fantasy book!

This was really a delight to read and I have fallen completely in love with Zafira and Nasir. I cannot wait to pick up the second book and see where the story leads!

Thank you @netgalley and MacMillan’s children’s books for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Threatened by the encroaching darkness of the Arz, the kingdom of Arawiya and its five caliphates can only be saved by an artifact that will restore magic to the land.

The caliphate of Demenhur once a sand covered land is now a freezing snow covered land. The Hunter works to save people from starvation and unbeknownst to them is actually a 17 year old called Zafira, disguised as a man because in Demenhur women are seen as tainted.

Prince Nadir is his father the Sultsn’s assassin who is sent to kill Zafira when she’s sent on a mission to find a list jewel, but an even greater enemy transforms the relationship between the two into one of allies.

A relatively fun fantasy that carries you along and is enjoyable to read. I would have enjoyed it far more if the formatting hadn’t been so dreadful - conjoining of multiple words throughout the book.

Actual rating 3.75

I actually really enjoyed this book. And since I just finished it, I have to say that I absolutely loved the epilogue, it ended on such an interesting note about 2 characters that I didn't expect, that I just need to read We Free the Stars ASAP.

I'm used to YA being a bit more fast-paced than adult fantasy, so I was kind of surprised how slow it was in the beginning but once the story started going, I got really immersed into it. I'm quite curious to see what's next and I really enjoyed the world the author has built.

I really liked the character interactions and how they got closer. It's been a while since I read a YA book with unlikely allies like that.

I also love the setting. These kind of settings are actually some of my favourite because of how rarely I come across them in books.

While I did see some of the twists in the story coming, what I didn't expect of even think about is the events that were told in the epilogue which is what made me especially excited about the sequel.

From the very first page of We Hunt the Flame, I have been drawn into the world of Arawiya.

Drawn in by the interesting characters, the complex world they live in. And by a story that intrigues me so much, I kept turning the page even though I should have been going to sleep.

The way the land was separated and how they were affected by the loss of magic fascinating. Unfortunately for Zafira the place she calls home is a land of snow and icy. Where women are seen as the reason for the loss of Magic. That women are only good as wives. I felt my anger raise when I read what happened to a woman caught working on their own.

Hafash Faizal writing style easy to read, it's fast-paced with enough details to keep your interest without feeling overwhelmed with all to much information.

One of my favourite element of We Hunt the Flame is the interaction between the characters. Especially Nasir and Altair, I wouldn't call it a love-hate relationship. But the way the needle each other is funny.

There are certain plot strands that I could see coming, but that didn't take away any enjoyment. Also, they made sense for the story.

On the other hand, there were a couple of plot stands that I didn't see coming. Once, in particular, cause me to drop my e-reader on my face.

We Hunt the Flame is a YA Fantasy adventure treasure hunt. Perfect for fans for Throne of Glass, An Ember in the Ashes and Kingdom of Copper.

My rating for We Hunt the Flame is 4.8 out of 5.

A unique and diverse fantasy debut, We Hunt the Flame is full of rich worldbuilding and intricate characters. Overall I did enjoy this but it did drag sometimes; I felt like perhaps the book didn't need to be nearly 500 pages long, but I enjoyed it enough to give it four stars.

An interesting start to a duology. I enjoyed the characters and the setting. It took me a while to get situated but once I did I was hooked. An interesting ending of a cliff hanger. Going to read the next one.

I very rarely DNF books, especially when I'm this far (a third of the way) in. Usually, if I've read this far and I'm not enjoying it, I either force myself to read through as quickly as I can to the end to get it out the way or I shelve the book and come back to it later (sometimes even years later) when I may be more in the mood for it. But this time, with this book, I really couldn't ignore the part of my brain telling me that this book was never going to grow on me, and I really couldn't see myself ever making it through to the end because it was dragging on so much.

I think me not liking this book was perhaps my own fault. Fantasy isn't my favourite genre, particularly not YA fantasy. I did use to read YA fantasy years ago but I've long since got bored of the genre and moved on from it, so I should've taken that as a sign initially that this book wasn't going to be for me. However, I kept hearing about this book (as the sequel is soon to come out) and I was particularly interested in the fact that it's heavily inspired by Arabian/Middle Eastern cultures. Plus, I was keen to support a Muslim author.

I think one of the main issues I had with (what I read of) this book was that the characters felt very two-dimensional. Pretty much every single character we encounter falls into a generic trope, from the self-sufficient, withdrawn "chosen one" main character and the moody, tortured-soul love interest to the pretty, likeable best friend and the caring, innocent younger sister. I also felt kind of uncomfortable with the way gender is talked about in this book. The main character, a female, dresses "as a man" in order to conceal her identity as the Hunter and because the position and respect afforded to women in the society she lives in is so low. The author generally talks about gender in a very binary way and then there were weird sentences like this one:

"Could she describe the sea as beautiful? Yes, very much so. But was that a word a man would use? Her brain refused to think, so she settled with a nod."

I think was the point where I noped out of there and realised I was not going to be able to finish this book.

It's a shame about these issues because generally, I didn't mind the author's writing style and I thought the world building was pretty interesting and had a lot of potential. If you tend to enjoy reading YA fantasy, particularly early 2010s stuff, then you may well enjoy this series, and it's definitely nice to see a YA fantasy protagonist that isn't presumably white and a setting that's influenced by Eastern cultures.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

We Hunt the Flame follows the story of Zafira and Nasir, both are well known in their kingdom for separate reasons, one as the Hunter who helps her people, the other as the Prince of Death assassinating on behalf of his father. Thrown together in their journey to find a book which will restore magic to the land, they reluctantly work together to survive the Island where the book is hidden.

The book was really hard to get into, there was a lot of detail with the world building and the main characters get introduced in a way in which we find a lot about them and their issues, it did feel like info-dumping. The writing style itself is not bad but it took me like 100 pages to get used to it, it was very descriptive and because the book is slow paced it made the story move very slowly, however once I got used to it, I actually found the book and the plot really enjoyable and fun to read. The first half of the book focuses on the main characters separately, their lives before the journey they take and I really liked how well we got to know both Zafira and Nasir in such a short time, not just from their own thoughts/feelings but mainly from how they interacted with the side characters around them, it showed who they were really well.

The plot moves very slowly especially in part two of the book, once the characters get onto the Island, very little happens in terms of the plot/action and a majority is focused on dialogue and how the group of characters interact with each other. There was a lot of dialogue which was very light-hearted, it was a bit weird because it did not suit these characters who were portrayed as emotionless which was a bit confusing, I expected more conflict between the characters especially at the start of their journey and everything that happened then.

The final part of the story moves faster, it focuses more on the reveals and the characters dealing with their emotions, but I was really confused because so much was happening which did not lead anywhere and although the reveals were good, the way the characters reacted and then moved on was very quick.

I liked how the story sets up for the next book and I ended up really liking all the characters in the book, the setting and the story of the past/magic was interesting too, the book does build up to some romance which I did like, I liked the slow pace to their relationship.

3/5

I finished this book in a single day.

I loved the immersive use of Arabic.

A really beautifully written epic fantasy with lots of twists and turns.

Very excited to read the sequel and see how all of the threads are resolved.