We Hunt the Flame

We Hunt the Flame by Hasfah Faizal

Interesting cover? Mythology I'm unfamiliar with? That's all it takes to get me to read a book sometimes! ...most times! ...plus a cool title.

An amazon summary, "Set in a richly detailed world inspired by ancient Arabia, Hafsah Faizal's We Hunt the Flame―first in the Sands of Arawiya duology―is a gripping debut of discovery, conquering fear, and taking identity into your own hands.

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 sultan. 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 Zafira and Nasir 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 sultan 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." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Some time ago, there were six sisters who presided over the world and magic was prevalent. Then one day, the fire nation attacked, a man decided to use a different magic and overthrew the sisters peaceful reign. In a desperate attempt to trap the man who was bent on chaos, the sisters trapped him on Shar; an island in the middle of a treacherous which the country surrounds. The day the man was trapped (or the Lion as many called him), magic disappeared from the land, and the Arz forest grew. No one has seen any of the sisters since then.

Zafira is the Hunter who feeds her village by venturing into the magic forest, the Arz, and manages to find her way out. Most who venture into the Arz become lost and never seen again, or find their way out only to be insane. Zafira, disguised as a man, goes into the Arz, kills game, and comes out of the Arz in tact. Not once, not twice, but many, many times. Zafira lives in a small village where people look after each other, and her friends Yasmine and Deen are the ones who help maintain her disguise as the Hunter. Yasmine is her best friend, while Deen is a close friend who may be something more.

Nasir is the prince; his father, the Sultan, treats him terribly. Nasir was raised to be an assassin and excels at it. He doesn't question his father's orders; he kills as the Sultan sees fit. Nasir rebelled once, and the slave who had been kind to him when his mother died, had her tongue cut out.

Zafira is approached by the witch (the only one seemingly still able to do magic at all, and who may or may not lie) to retrieve an artifact to stop the Arz from destroying her village, but she must venture to Shar to find it. No one besides her closest friends know she is a woman, and woman are often thought to be far less capable of men. Still Zafira decides to embark on the quest, and her best friend Deen joins her.

Nasir is sent to retrieve an artifact from Shar, but he must follow the Hunter to be successful. After retrieving the artifact, he must kill the Hunter and also the general sent along with him to guide the mission.

Dun dun dunnnn That's enough summary.

First, the narration switches between following Zafira, following Nasir, and then kind of a third person middle ground. It was a little off putting since sometimes I wasn't sure which one I was reading until they 'thought' something very distinctive. Like, (complete example, not a quote), "His eyes were gray", then I'd cue in that oh, I'm reading from Zafira's perspective, etc etc.

Alright, I'm really at odds with this book. On the hand, I WANT to like it. On the other hand, I just CAN'T. It's all probably because I struggle so much with not being familiar with their culture so when they say every day language for them, I have to go google it to figure out what's going on.

I also love reading about mythology, especially mythology I haven't encountered before. But this book treated all the different creatures as if I should know them already and they don't need to spend time developing or telling any kind of legend about them.

There was also a lot of concentration on physical touch, physical attributes, and a weird tension in the relationship between Zafira and Nasir. I wanted it to make better sense based on their interactions and what they knew about each other, but there was so much emphasis on the PHYSICALITY of it that it was just bothersome and getting in the way of the actual story. Plus, there was too much comic relief from one of the characters about their maybe budding romance that was also just distracting and didn't do anything to add to the plot.

So really, maybe my frustrations were more that they concentrated on the human relationships rather than the action, the mythology, and the general plot. The plot felt more like a mechanism to keep the characters together so romance may occur, rather than actually being important.

Perhaps this book just wasn't for me. I did finish reading all of it, there will be a sequel, but I don't know at this point if I'd pick it up or not.

Happy reading!