We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
Genre: YA Fantasy
Blurb (on back of book): People lived because she killed.
People died because he lived. 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.
MY OPINION: ****
I found this book from TikTok and I couldn't be more thankful. The enemies-to-lovers trope is definitely one of my favorites but it's so hard to find in Young Adult literature. I enjoyed this book through and through and am excited to read the sequel!
I will admit I started out not enjoying it as much as I had hoped. By the third chapter, I felt like giving up and DNF-ing it but it soon got way better and I became addicted to the plot and to the characters and to the romance. We had to wait for the removal of a certain character for the book to actually get interesting, in my opinion. I'm glad I decided to keep going because it was definitely worth it.
Zafira is known as the Hunter, braving a cursed forest to find game to feed her people. She has dressed herself as a man and only a select few close friends know that she is truly a woman. I actually genuinely liked Zafira, even though sometimes she didn't make sense. I liked how she realized that love is not a weakness and is actually a strength and something worth fighting for and it was interesting to watch her slowly come to this final realization. I loved how this book dealt with gender and discrimination and how she felt she had to hide herself away to be appreciated for her accomplishments. If she had revealed herself as woman earlier, she would not have been as lauded and accepted for being the Hunter as she was when disguised as a man.
Nasir is the son of the Sultan and is known as the Prince of Death. His main job in life is hunting down and brutally murdering those who are defiant to his father. However, as we got to know more about Nasir and his life, it was increasingly apparent that he was a compassionate and lovable person, rather than the cold shell of a man he forced himself to be to try to please his father.
Both Nasir and Zafira are sent to retrieve the same artifact that will help bring back magic into the kingdom and stop the curse of the Arz. Zafira is guided by the White Witch, a character that is seemingly one-dimensional but soon reveals her many aspects of her life and her history, which I loved. Nasir is meant to kill the Hunter after retrieving the artifact but everything changes when he realizes she's a woman.
I loved Nasir's general, Altair, because he seemed to not care about Nasir in the beginning though we soon realize just how much he cares. I liked his role in the story and how he gradually evolved from the cold, annoying general to the fatherly/brotherly figure in Nasir's life. His sense of humor also helped to lighten the mood in some cases, which I loved.
The plot itself wasn't the most thrilling but I liked everything that happened on the adventure leading up to the climax. I loved seeing each of the relationships between the characters grow, change, and evolve, most especially Nasir's and Zafira's. While their romance did seem a bit forced and happened quite quickly in my opinion, I liked seeing how they both realized that they weren't the people they believed each other to be and thus fell in love.
The world building was exquisite and I loved imagining the various landscapes they found themselves on. While the book is quite slow-going, the extra detail was worth it because it really helped to decorate my mental image of their world.
I would recommend this book to readers looking for an enemies-to-lovers, fantasy novel.
Main Character: Zafira, Nasir
Sidekick(s): Altair, Yasmine, Deen, Benyamin, Kifah, etc
Villain(s): Arz, sultan, etc
Fantasy Elements: This book was set in a fantasy world.
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