Can all three work together to bring change to the Empire? Is there more going on beneath the surface? Will their differences destroy everything? The Final Strife is the first book of The Ending Fire Trilogy, inspired by “Ghanaian folklore and Arabian myths.” As the first book is epic in the truest sense of the word, I can only imagine the places the series will go. El-Arifi drops us into her rich world and tells us, “OK, go,” so it takes a few chapters to get your bearings. Upon reflection, I love The Final Strife all the more for that choice. The characters are fully fleshed out, with POVs from Sylah, Anoor, and Hassa driving the story. You really get a feel for each of these characters and their relation to this world, and this helps drive the narrative throughout. When these three characters interact with each other, it’s funny, irritating, emotional – you really feel what the characters feel in their interactions.

Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm.Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes.

I have a number of different issues with this book, some little and some not-so-little, so come along with me on this uncoordinated ride. Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Book Review: The Final Strife". Publishers Weekly. 17 February 2022 . Retrieved 20 May 2022. the final strife was the first book in a trilogy, and even though i want everyone to read this immediately, the wait will kill me!! there was most definitely a cliffhanger and the second book has not been announced so i will be hung up on these characters for the foreseeable future. there’s so much depth and life and history and love in the stories this book tells. it’s easily the best told fantasy book i have ever come across, and will be recommending it for years to come. Only, it didn’t go to plan. Sandstorm was discovered, and all but Sylah and her Duster mother were believed dead. Sylah used her martial training to earn a living as a cage fighter, but with no hope of fulfilling her purpose, became a drug addict, addicted to Joba seeds. Desperate for money for a fix, Sylah breaks into Anoor’s bedroom – feeling that anything Anoor had, should have been her birthright. Anoor turns out to be not such a weak, entitled milksop as Sylah had expected, and imprisons Sylah, forcing her to go cold-turkey.I think where this fell down for me, personally, was that I wasn’t so in love with the writing style that I could deal with this. I had to start skimming just a bit, so I could get to the action again. That, and the love triangle.

In The Final Strife, mixed-race children always have blood the color of their marginalized parents. It’s freaking brilliant. The Aktibar — a set of trials held every ten years to find the next Ember rulers of the Empire — is about to begin. I just want to say that I am still processing what this book did to me... Not because I found it particularly emotionally traumatizing, but so much of this read was just okay until we got to the last ten percent or so and suddenly the book was really something that I was interested in. It was the type of apology that one person does for a collective. A pathetic assurance that everyone was sorry for the bigotry committed, even if they didn’t show it. It was the apology of the bystander, and Sylah regretted it as soon as it came out of her mouth.” Like the fantasy aspects, the social aspects of the world were well done. Although it certainly has fun parts between the tournament and a developing friendship (or maybe romance), The Final Strife is largely a story about injustice. This setting does not have obstacles for women or LGBTQ+ people—as shown through the lives of the three main characters, a trans woman and two women who are attracted to each other—but instead, has divisions based on blood color. The different classes do not always fit neatly into boxes, even in addition to two individual characters’ situations being reversed: although clear-blooded servants and blue-blooded workers are definitely treated worse than those with red blood, many of the latter are just doing their best to make a living. There are plenty of red-blooded people who need to take jobs doing necessary tasks like cooking and cleaning for those people who actually are living in luxurious homes dining in splendor.

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Despite feeling overwhelmed by initial waves of worldbuilding information, I was soon captivated by the expansive and brutal world that emerged. Even more impressive were the intricate layers constantly added to the worldbuilding throughout the story. All this is delivered with a simple yet rich writing style that brings the world and story to life. This was so long and it didn’t need to be so drawn out. You have to get half way into the book for anything to actually start happening. I’ve noticed a lot of books are suffering from that this year. Sylah’s mission had been to enter the Aktibar for the Warden of Strength. She misses the deadline and instead is forced to help Anoor train for it. Anoor has always been underestimated. Her mother (current Warden of Strength) hated and abused her for her low blood.

To that point: there's a lot of supplementary material here. Each chapter starts off with a verse from a song, or a story from a storyteller or an excerpt from some piece of literature in this world. This could've been cool, perhaps, but it just ended up coming off as a lazy storytelling device. Like whenever she wanted to introduce something instead of weaving it into the narrative, we got whatever it was flatly stated in this world's Bible. Or this worlds newspaper. Or this world’s town crier. Hear ye, Hear ye! Amirite laydies? Anoor is beautiful, stronger than she knows and so wonderfully kind. Sylah, broken, at the depths of loss and sorrow, but still fighting for more, and better, despite herself and Hassa, a beautiful, courageous soul! Anoor is a rarity, having reached young adulthood after being left in another child’s place on the Night of the Stolen. Although most parents killed the replacement children, the Warden of Strength at the time did not. Too many people would question her ability to protect the empire if they knew she had failed to protect her own daughter, so she hid the fact that her child was taken. She raised Anoor as her own, sending her to an elite school and arranging for her to mix a dash of her blue blood into a servant’s red to do blood magic. However, the Warden despised Anoor and made it clear she resented her for not being her trueborn daughter. Wishing to prove herself after a lifetime of abuse and belittlement, Anoor enters the tournament that will decide the next Disciple of Strength, who will prepare to succeed her mother when her term ends in ten years. But when she agrees to teach Sylah blood magic in exchange for being trained for the various strength trials, Anoor comes to realize just how sheltered she’s been from the horrors the other classes endure—and determines to win so she can better their lives, blue- and clear-blooded alike. The characters. I think the characters suffered from certain issues which I'll point out later, but I enjoyed Sylah and Anoor very much. I even liked Hassa, even though she winded up feeling like an afterthought.

Socialise

This book delivers on all fronts, political dynamics, intrigue, twists, gurns and totally devastatingly emotional! Plus, romance and relationships that pull you in and turn you inside out! My answer: The erus! These are lizards-like creatures you ride like horses. For some reason, I find this concept incredibly fascinating, and I wish we had more of these creatures in the story. Because what if that don’t understand, what if they don’t understand and in doing that show that they don’t understand the piece of you that also lives there. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Final Strife' once the story got going. Everything from the writing style to the characters and narration blew me away, so I can't wait to see how the series progresses! I am strongly reminded of The Jasmin Throne by Tasha Suri, and I would recommend that for those who enjoyed this.