We Hunt the Flame (and Book 2!) by Hafsah Faizal

We Hunt the Flame was an epic tale of inner strength and finding your light. The story follows Zafira, Nasir, and Altair. Zafira is a compass and able to find her way in a magic forest that threatens all of Arawiya. Nasir is an assassin that is cold and calculating, but also the Crown Prince. Altair is the general of the armies of Arawiya, and a huge goofball and ladies man, but he is not a bad person. The plot follows these three and their newfound friends as they go to Sharr, a magical island that holds the key to returning magic to Arawiya, but also holds more dangers and painful deaths one could imagine.

For starters, I loved the dynamic of this book. It didn't make the characters feel too overbearing, and shifting between Nasir's POV and Zafira's POV easy to follow and not confusing in the least. I also loved how each of Zafira's friends had wildly different personalities. Yasmine was fiery and fierce in both love and opinions, Deen was quiet, protective, and loving, and Lana was gentle but firm. Nasir, on the other hand, only had Altair as a friend, and he saw him as annoying, frivolous, and a waste of time. It's only when Nasir begins to thaw that he sees people as friends with different personalities. It's as if Nasir saw everyone as the same gray blob, while Zafira saw everyone for who they are. It's a wonderful bit of symbolism and characterization that really shows how incredible this author is.

We Hunt the Flame did not have a lot of romance. Toward the end it did have some big moments, but it was never overly romantic or sappy and thankfully didn't include those horrible YA "sex" scenes that end with "and we became one" as the chapter ends. If you fear too much romance, this book is definitely for you. All plot and maybe 2% romance. There isn't a lot of huge battles or fight scenes either, but I suspect it is mostly because Zafira is the main character and she does make a point to compromise rather than kill, a commendable trait that many main protagonists don't have these days.

Throughout the book, Nasir always calls Zafira the Huntress or the Hunter. Even when they travel together, he never used her name. So I knew it would be a huge moment when he used her real name for the first time. And let me tell you, it was. It was every big cliche moment the romantic sap in me loves to see. I'm a sucker for tropes like this. It wasn't cheesy at all, though. There were also a few lines, such as "to define is to limit" that are so deep and meaningful you'll want them stamped on your forehead.

There wasn't much I didn't like about this book. My biggest complaint is it's kind of slow at the beginning of the story, but I imagine that in such a huge world with rich lore and history you couldn't condense that without losing the magic of the setting, and it's not like it really took away from the story. But once you get into the book, you won't be able to put it down. Other than that, this book was a solid one, with plenty more to look forward to in the rest of the series to come!

Peace, love, and good books,

Lexi

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