Take a photo of a barcode or cover
abinthebooks 's review for:
We Hunt the Flame
by Hafsah Faizal
*3.5
I remember when this book was very hyped on Booktok, and I immediately went out and bought myself a copy. I was really excited to read this story, mainly because I was told it was set in an Ancient Arabian inspired fantasy world. But then I let it sit and collect dust for at least 4 years. However, I was cleaning my shelves the other day, looking for some books to unhaul, when I saw We Hunt the Flame sitting there in its dusty, hardbacked glory. Out of renewed curiosity, I looked at the more recent reviews on Goodreads to determine if I’d finally read We Hunt the Flame, and I got excited to read it all over again.
After finishing it, I think this story did a lot of things well. The writing and prose was very clean I think is the right word. Very pretty, but not overly so. The world and its building was good, very YA in its simplicity, but original nonetheless. The characters were enjoyable to follow, especially our to MC’s: Zafira, a Katniss Everdeen, Robin Hood copy, and Nasir, a depressed, sad boi edgelord. The romance was also compelling, with said Katniss Everdeen cutout knocking some sense into her edgelord boyfriend.
I just think my main issue with We Hunt the Flame was the pacing. This story is very very slow starting out, and takes almost 200 pages to really pick-up. The beginning is really getting to know our MC’s and this world, which was fine, but wasn’t particularly interesting for me as the reader. However with me saying this, I still think those 200 pages were important to the story, no matter how slow. It just took me awhile to get through, hence the “lower” rating.
Despite the pacing issues, I still thought this was a really fun, unique, and well written YA fantasy. If I read this when I bought it, I’d have probably rated it higher (as I’m getting older, I think I’m kind of outgrowing the YA fantasy genre, unfortunately). Once you get past those first 200 pages, the story really becomes worth the experience. I’m also really intrigued to read book 2 because of that ending!
3.5 stars
* * *
Fun YA fantasy! RTC
I remember when this book was very hyped on Booktok, and I immediately went out and bought myself a copy. I was really excited to read this story, mainly because I was told it was set in an Ancient Arabian inspired fantasy world. But then I let it sit and collect dust for at least 4 years. However, I was cleaning my shelves the other day, looking for some books to unhaul, when I saw We Hunt the Flame sitting there in its dusty, hardbacked glory. Out of renewed curiosity, I looked at the more recent reviews on Goodreads to determine if I’d finally read We Hunt the Flame, and I got excited to read it all over again.
After finishing it, I think this story did a lot of things well. The writing and prose was very clean I think is the right word. Very pretty, but not overly so. The world and its building was good, very YA in its simplicity, but original nonetheless. The characters were enjoyable to follow, especially our to MC’s: Zafira, a Katniss Everdeen, Robin Hood copy, and Nasir, a depressed, sad boi edgelord. The romance was also compelling, with said Katniss Everdeen cutout knocking some sense into her edgelord boyfriend.
I just think my main issue with We Hunt the Flame was the pacing. This story is very very slow starting out, and takes almost 200 pages to really pick-up. The beginning is really getting to know our MC’s and this world, which was fine, but wasn’t particularly interesting for me as the reader. However with me saying this, I still think those 200 pages were important to the story, no matter how slow. It just took me awhile to get through, hence the “lower” rating.
Despite the pacing issues, I still thought this was a really fun, unique, and well written YA fantasy. If I read this when I bought it, I’d have probably rated it higher (as I’m getting older, I think I’m kind of outgrowing the YA fantasy genre, unfortunately). Once you get past those first 200 pages, the story really becomes worth the experience. I’m also really intrigued to read book 2 because of that ending!
3.5 stars
* * *
Fun YA fantasy! RTC