Overall, We Hunt the Flame was a pretty middle-of-the-road YA fantasy for me. It had some really strong points - the writing style, the Act I setting - but other aspects seemed to rely on a lot of YA tropes and ended up not being very memorable.
Liked:
❧ Writing - Faizal is extremely skilled with creating lush descriptions and using lyrical prose to describe the characters, setting, situations, everything. Definitely the highlight of this novel. Very atmospheric, felt very much like a typical YA fantasy (in a good way).
❧ Main characters - I really enjoyed reading about Zafira and Nasir. Yes, they were pretty trope-y (Zafira is basically just like every other YA fantasy heroine with a special ability, and Nasir is just like every other YA fantasy hero with a dark past and blood on his hands) but the dual POV was executed nicely and the pair complemented and contrasted each other well.
❧ Setting/World-Building - I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed into this world in Act I. The ancient Arabia-inspired culture and places explored in the first part of the book were so fascinating; I loved getting to know the kingdom and its many textures and nuances, and I really wish we'd stayed there longer - ironically, moving the story to the magical island resulted in the writing losing some of its magic because there was less to describe.
Not So Liked:
❧ Story - Not really memorable at the end of the day; ragtag team searches for an artifact, etc. Honestly, after all the main characters were introduced, I found myself starting to lose interest because all they did for a while was wander around, banter amiably, fight some creatures, and repeat. Thus, the pacing was a bit messy on Sharr - the slow pages of exposition mixed with sudden bouts of violence and conflict made the story feel a little uneven. Everything was also sort of predictable, though some of the plot twists were cool (and I enjoyed the epilogue!).
❧ Minor characters - While the trope-i-ness of Zafira and Nasir worked fine for the story, that quality made me feel detached from the rest of the gang: Altair just seemed to be there as comedic relief for the most part, and Benyamin and Kifah didn't really stick out to me, partly because they joined the cast relatively late in the game, but also because they just felt like embodiments of various character tropes. And the sort of almost love triangle with Deen felt very lackluster. :/ I actually found Yasmine to be more intriguing than some of the characters that got more page time, so I was disappointed that her part was so small.
❧ Romance - This novel had some great points of tension, but I feel like a lot of the hate-to-love potential wasn't fully explored, and Zafira and Nasir's romance ended up being a little rushed. By the end, I knew a lot about them individually, having witnessed both of their internal narration, but what did they really know about each other? Also, maybe this was just me trying to read into nonexistent things, but part of me feels like Zafira and Yasmine had more chemistry?? There was definitely something there.
Anyway, this was a pretty good read, but not particularly ground-breaking or memorable. I might read Book 2 when it comes out, if I still remember enough by then...
Liked:
❧ Writing - Faizal is extremely skilled with creating lush descriptions and using lyrical prose to describe the characters, setting, situations, everything. Definitely the highlight of this novel. Very atmospheric, felt very much like a typical YA fantasy (in a good way).
❧ Main characters - I really enjoyed reading about Zafira and Nasir. Yes, they were pretty trope-y (Zafira is basically just like every other YA fantasy heroine with a special ability, and Nasir is just like every other YA fantasy hero with a dark past and blood on his hands) but the dual POV was executed nicely and the pair complemented and contrasted each other well.
❧ Setting/World-Building - I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed into this world in Act I. The ancient Arabia-inspired culture and places explored in the first part of the book were so fascinating; I loved getting to know the kingdom and its many textures and nuances, and I really wish we'd stayed there longer - ironically, moving the story to the magical island resulted in the writing losing some of its magic because there was less to describe.
Not So Liked:
❧ Story - Not really memorable at the end of the day; ragtag team searches for an artifact, etc. Honestly, after all the main characters were introduced, I found myself starting to lose interest because all they did for a while was wander around, banter amiably, fight some creatures, and repeat. Thus, the pacing was a bit messy on Sharr - the slow pages of exposition mixed with sudden bouts of violence and conflict made the story feel a little uneven. Everything was also sort of predictable, though some of the plot twists were cool (and I enjoyed the epilogue!).
❧ Minor characters - While the trope-i-ness of Zafira and Nasir worked fine for the story, that quality made me feel detached from the rest of the gang: Altair just seemed to be there as comedic relief for the most part, and Benyamin and Kifah didn't really stick out to me, partly because they joined the cast relatively late in the game, but also because they just felt like embodiments of various character tropes. And the sort of almost love triangle with Deen felt very lackluster. :/ I actually found Yasmine to be more intriguing than some of the characters that got more page time, so I was disappointed that her part was so small.
❧ Romance - This novel had some great points of tension, but I feel like a lot of the hate-to-love potential wasn't fully explored, and Zafira and Nasir's romance ended up being a little rushed. By the end, I knew a lot about them individually, having witnessed both of their internal narration, but what did they really know about each other? Also, maybe this was just me trying to read into nonexistent things, but part of me feels like Zafira and Yasmine had more chemistry?? There was definitely something there.
Anyway, this was a pretty good read, but not particularly ground-breaking or memorable. I might read Book 2 when it comes out, if I still remember enough by then...