sunflower_fantasy's reviews
58 reviews

A family drama imagined and brought to life through a delicate and poetic voice.  In The Inheritance, Cordova creates a lyrical tapestry about generational trauma, claiming your own destiny, and writing your wrongs.

While it’s a mystical and whimsical tale, it’s also firmly rooted in the realities and experiences of large and loving migrant families, exploring the complexities and strength it takes to forge out a new life so your loved ones can thrive. It’s a beautiful story. 

There were some elements of the magic system and back story that I didn’t quite understand, but it didn’t detract me from anything. 

I’d like to give this another go. I got confused partway through

Don’t like the writing style. Not sure I can make it through. 

I tried reading this one twice. It’s good. I just never seem to finish it. 

It was okay. I just slowed down in my pace and didn’t get through it before I needed to take it back to the library 

I feel a little conflicted about this one.

I really loved The Final Strife and I was excited to see where the story would go. While I wasn’t totally disappointed, I think the plot just took a turn that changed the entire dynamic of the series and made a lot of what happened in Book 1 a bit redundant. While I enjoyed the mystery element, Anoor’s character was painfully annoying and she almost reverted back to herself from the beginning of Book 1. Sylah & Jond’s arch was the most interesting as it fleshed out more of the world, but

I low-key wanted them to get back together, or at least reconnect

, and the ending made 0 sense to me.

Why would Jond & Sylah think Sylah could use the orb after barely a year’s training… why didn’t other members of the council try if it were that easy?

I was also rooting for them to turn back to each other. Hassa’s storyline was good, I wonder where she’ll go next.

The ending of the book happened quite quickly, with there being little surprises. I’ll finish the series, but I think there was something charming about Book 1 that’s lost for me. 

Well.. that was unsettling. I hope I don’t dream about it.

A brilliant sequel to Dread Nation. My only wish is that this was split into two books with a slower pacing so that I could fully appreciate the character development. 

The book is split into two parts with a year and a half time jump that separates the two. In the years that pass, our beloved characters change quite a bit. Though Jane does more so than Katherine. The first half was so tense and the stakes were so high. The second half explored the expansion to the Western states and our characters as they traverse this new terrain in search of their own peace. 

I wish there were more. I could keep reading on. 

New favourite author pending…

I originally thought The Final Strife was a YA novel. I couldn’t be farther from the truth.

This book is dark. It explores oppression and resistance in all its horror and pain. It explores whether those raised in privilege can truly confront their power and roles in upholding suppression. It has themes of drug use, genocide, radicalism, and slavery. The Final Strife misses no detail in its portrayal of empire and subjugation.

Having previously read Faebound, I knew I’d enjoy this trilogy. And yet, I didn’t realise El-Arifi’s debut would be so much richer in detail, have fully fleshed out characters, and have an original unexpected plot.

Things I loved:
• deeply flawed characters who are products on their environments
• layered worldbuilding with twists and turns
• Arabic and African influences
• tense mysteries and hidden secrets
• explorations of family and belonging
• badass protagonists

Things I’m looking forward to in the next two books:
• More of Hassa’s character 
•

an exploration of the wider world