And while there is nothing inherently wrong with these “shocking revelations”, the fact that they are overused makes them utterly boring and predictable. There are a few plot twists that seem to be extremely popular among authors of YA fantasy. Maybe I’ve just read so many YA fantasy novels, but I feel like many twists were awfully predictable in this story. Clichésįurthermore, We Hunt the Flame ends up in the quicksand of clichés. A quest to find an artifact that can restore magic, two protagonists with conflicting missions, tragic backstories… We’ve seen this so many times before. It also didn’t help that – apart from the Arabian setting – the premise is not all that different from dozens of other YA fantasy novels. She had to retrieve the mysterious artifact, but she could just sense where it was? Like “to the north, we’re getting close”.

This was mainly because her quest felt so dull. Unfortunately, I didn’t really care about Zafira. He seemed very care-free, but this was a very thin layer of paint. I also liked Altair, the most important of the side characters. He is a very conflicted character who has to put on the mask of a ruthless assassin, despite being very compassionate and craving his father’s approval.

The story is told from the points of view of Zafira and Nasir. The underlying story of the Six Sisters was fascinating as well, although I struggled a bit with the timeline. The story has elements from Arabian mythology, like dangerous ifrit. I would have liked a bit more world-building though. The setting is inspired by ancient Arabia, which I always enjoy reading about. Let’s start with what I liked about this. But an ancient evil stirs and the artifact might pose a threat greater than either can imagine. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic, Nasir is sent by the king on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact… and kill the Hunter. Both are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya, but neither wants to be. Nasir is the Prince of Death, an assassin in service of his father, the king. She disguises herself as a man when she enters the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. And that is why I picked up We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal, which takes place in a world inspired ancient Arabia. Do you have a favourite world to escape to? I just love every possible fantasy setting because they take me away from the real world. Hi everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all safe and healthy! And that you manage to find distractions in this situation.

We hunt the flame book cover