“There once was a boy with a future. Until all he had left was his past”. *sob*

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About We Hunt the Flame

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.

Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.

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My Review

I. Love. This. Book. So. Much.

For starters, any book that takes place in Arabia, or an Arabia-inspired setting, is an auto-read for me. The Wrath and the Dawn, Rebel in the Sands? Love them. So I knew right away that I would enjoy this for the setting, at the very least. What I didn’t expect was to find myself emotionally invested enough to start crying in the first 1/5th of the book. Not just that, but there were passages that literally gave me goosebumps because the writing was so beautiful. I rarely annotate my books the first time around, but I found myself reaching for my page flags right away!

Zafira is just an awesome and strong main character. She lives in a world where women are super undervalued, but her masculine alter-ego “The Hunter” is famous throughout their country. As she undertakes her quest, we see her finally able to cast of her disguise and flourish as her own self. She is witty, and direct, and brave. I loved seeing her grow into herself. I also loved her determination to finish her quest, despite all of the horrible things that happen on her way.

Nasir is broken and broody and everything I love. I just want to wrap him in a hug and tell him everything is going to be okay. The poor guy has been trained as a ruthless assassin, made to believe he is worthless and only fit for killing. His father, the king, is a royal doucebag and treats him like garbage, calling him a mutt and worse. Ugh. I loved seeing Nasir’s growth throughout the quest, as well, and watching as he becomes more and more taken with Zafira. He deserves happiness and I want the world for him!

This book had soooo many twists and turns and I was caught off guard at just about every other page! Hafsah Faizal weaves a brilliant story here, and peppers it with rich characters and plot hook after plot twist after emotionally powerful scene. We also got left with a crazy cliffhanger, which had me scrambling that there were no more pages left to read! I cannot wait for the next book in this series, We Free the Stars. On that same note, we got a cover reveal this week and it it is STUNNING! Check out the covers side by side:

I cannot recommend this book enough! It is a total 5 star read for me, and I have already ordered the sequel! Have you read it yet? If so, share your thoughts in the comments below!

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