There were crumbs scattered here and there, teasing us with questions about what just happened, or what might happen next. Next, I enjoyed how the author didn’t just lay everything out for us. (I regularly come across words I don’t know in books, even as an adult). I looked up a few of the arabic words to better understand what I had just read, and that was not any sort of hardship for me. I also love that she didn’t take time to explain what it was or were, to avoid slowing the pacing of the adventure. I loved that the author mixed in bits of her culture, such as language, terms of endearment, food, clothing, customs, and weapons into the story. It may have elevated what may have been an above average story into something much more magical. Wagers’ use of Indian culture in The Indrana War series and I really enjoyed it here. Things that I liked about this bookįirst and foremost, I have not yet come across a book in the YA genre that used middle eastern culture as the basis for the world in the book. To explore and unravel the complex world, to understand what had really happened to the main female character and her family.

Rather than do a long explanatory prologue (Like I saw recently in Queen’s Assassin by Melissa de la Cruz), Faizal jumps right into the story, pulling the reader behind her as we sort of scrambled to figure out what was up and what was down.Īfter having had so much of a story and world building force fed to me in previous books, it was refreshing to wait and see how all the pieces fit together. The first few chapters might be confusing to some who like and expect to have a clear picture of what is going on. (No surprise, since the author herself is of Sri Lankan/Arab descent and is an American Muslim). The book opens up right in a fantasy world set in what could have been ancient middle eastern lands. Yes, this is a book that is topical at times (much like many young adult novels), but still sophisticated enough to capture the attention of well-read adults like myself. We Hunt the Flame is an intricate, creative, complex, thoughtful book. I’m going to be waiting impatiently for this one! And here’s why. We Hunt the Flame was released in May of 2019, and it appears that the sequel is not due until sometime in 2021 (booooo). I am happy to say that was NOT what happened at all. So I sat down and prepared to be underwhelmed. I had also started Scythe, which tons of people praised, and I found that I couldn’t get into it. I think my expectations were pretty low, because I had just tried to read Sophia, Princess among Beasts (which was so disappointing).

We hunt the flame series book 3