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The basics before my review – the empire is ruled by red-blooded Embers, who hold all the power. Blue-blooded dusters are the workers, the poor. Clear-blooded Ghostings are the servants, the invisible. Like the fantasy aspects, the social aspects of the world were well done. Although it certainly has fun parts between the tournament and a developing friendship (or maybe romance), The Final Strife is largely a story about injustice. This setting does not have obstacles for women or LGBTQ+ people—as shown through the lives of the three main characters, a trans woman and two women who are attracted to each other—but instead, has divisions based on blood color. The different classes do not always fit neatly into boxes, even in addition to two individual characters’ situations being reversed: although clear-blooded servants and blue-blooded workers are definitely treated worse than those with red blood, many of the latter are just doing their best to make a living. There are plenty of red-blooded people who need to take jobs doing necessary tasks like cooking and cleaning for those people who actually are living in luxurious homes dining in splendor. the final strife was the first book in a trilogy, and even though i want everyone to read this immediately, the wait will kill me!! there was most definitely a cliffhanger and the second book has not been announced so i will be hung up on these characters for the foreseeable future. there’s so much depth and life and history and love in the stories this book tells. it’s easily the best told fantasy book i have ever come across, and will be recommending it for years to come. the final strife is a solid, well-crafted afro-arab inspired fantasy with a fascinating world and a cool magic system - unfortunately, its mediocre plot along with several other issues prevented me from enjoying it as much as i wanted to.
The worldbuilding was spellbinding, with the terrifying tidewinds that swept away the lives of so many, and El-Arifi's use of blood as an indicator of social classes and how the ruling classes institute racism was eye-opening.
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In this book, the oppressive class have mutilated people they "need" to do essential work. We see the clear blood people doing household tasks, such as cooking and cleaning. We are then told that their oppressors...modify their houses. And tools. And kitchen equipment. Just so... these handless slaves can work. Epic in scope, its worldbuilding as intricate as filigree. The Final Strife sings of rebellion, love, and the courage it takes to stand up to tyranny, following three women whose journeys will keep you gripped to the last' —Samantha Shannon, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree and of course, this book is sapphic. sylah and anoor, that’s all i want to say. another thing about the characters: sylah struggles with addiction. even in such a heavy fantasy setting, this is real, and the way it’s written and respected within the story made my heart hurt for her.
At least until the ninety percent mark when the reader discovers why shit hasn't been adding up the whole time. When we got this twist though it definitely felt like we were following the wrong character for this story. Yes, there were breadcrumbs along the way and I think that a reader could see this shit coming from a mile away because even my dumb ass was seeing that the math wasn't mathing. Some of that I definitely was intentional, and so I don't hold it against the book for telegraphing the twist for some way, I'm happy when books are like that and the revelation feels earned. Here though reading that made me want to just read that book and not so much the one I had been. I just want to say that I am still processing what this book did to me... Not because I found it particularly emotionally traumatizing, but so much of this read was just okay until we got to the last ten percent or so and suddenly the book was really something that I was interested in. Anoor, a blue-blooded Duster left behind as a decoy when the Ember children were stolen, brought up in the Ember world, in their privilege, but always less than. Even with three strong protagonists, I generally found the supporting characters memorable, as they are given clear personalities and well-thought-out roles. I just wished we had more of Jond's character as there is so much I wanted to know about his life - but maybe this will be revealed in the next book. Sylah was destined to win the trials and be crowned Warden of Strength. Stolen by blue-blooded rebels she was raised with a Duster’s heart; forged as a weapon to bring down from within the red-blooded Embers’ regime of cruelty. But when her adopted family were brutally murdered those dreams of a better future turned to dust.All three main characters are interesting and sympathetic for various reasons. Anoor is part of a wealthy, respected family, but she’s not had a great life since her mother hates her and cannot get past any part of her that reminds her she is not her biological daughter, like her having a curvy figure so unlike her own. However, Anoor has still absorbed the propaganda about how everyone is treated justly, and she’s horrified to see how things really are in poorer parts of the city after Sylah takes her there: particularly, that fair trials do not actually apply to other people and they can be brutally executed without one. As a bright, dreamy, optimistic person, she then seeks to educate herself and consider what she might do to improve conditions for everyone if she does become the next Warden of Strength. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm. UPDATE: much too late since ive technically known this almost since i posted my "review", but yes, there are indeed lesbians. it is confirmed. i was correct. i was joking randomly into the universe, talking in secret from a bottomless yearning to get the cherry on top, not expecting anything in return as gayradar signals can easily be confused with projected desires and heterosexuality likes to play dress up, and still i managed a strike in the dark and land correct. confirmed canon lesbians. do i have secret powers ive been myself oblivious too the entire time or dont i? were is my chosen one arc? El-Arifi writes beautifully. I’m usually a big-time highlighter, but I went a little heavier than usual with The Final Strife. I’d like to share a few of my favorite quotations. Of course, be aware these are from an advanced, unfinished copy. In conclusion this was a bad book with a decent premise. Similar to The Gilded Ones, there were a number of interesting ideas present that in the hands of a more skilled author might have been cool to read. But as per the usual new releases, these cool concepts were plunked down in front of us unceremoniously with the author going: "See look at how cool this is!" With no further work done.
This book, the first in a trilogy, follows Sylah, a red-blooded Ember stolen by blue-blooded Dusters when she was a baby and raised to infiltrate the Ember ranks and bring the empire down. I digress though. Ostensibly this is a training novel, where by circumstances that you discover in the beginning section of the book Sylah and Anoor are brought together and Sylah agrees to help Anoor train for this competition. Only the training sequences are short and the trials for the competition are also short sequences and so for a lot of the book it feels like we're spinning wheels because the plot we think we're going to get has to be this competition and what is going to come from it? There are some books that when you read them, you just know. You know that these characters and their stories are going to live in your head for years. I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not affecIn The Final Strife, mixed-race children always have blood the color of their marginalized parents. It’s freaking brilliant. Despite feeling overwhelmed by initial waves of worldbuilding information, I was soon captivated by the expansive and brutal world that emerged. Even more impressive were the intricate layers constantly added to the worldbuilding throughout the story. All this is delivered with a simple yet rich writing style that brings the world and story to life.
The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022, and unfortunately one of my biggest disappointments. Herndon, Jaime (2022-08-29). "SFF I'm Reading Right Now to Escape the Hellscape That is Our Timeline". BOOK RIOT . Retrieved 2022-12-12.
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Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Book Review: The Final Strife". Publishers Weekly. 17 February 2022 . Retrieved 20 May 2022. The protagonists are flawed but made me want to root for them desperately. Hassa was such an interesting character, and I longed to hear from her perspective more, as a Ghostling who had so many secrets of her own. Sylah was physically powerful yet bore the scars of her past in her debilitating drug addiction, lost to oblivion until she meets Anoor. And Anoor, sweet Anoor, had the best BAMF character growth in this story!! Her privilege and sheltered upbringing never negated her true self, and the more she learns, the more she gains empathy and resolves to shake things up in the Empire. To that point: there's a lot of supplementary material here. Each chapter starts off with a verse from a song, or a story from a storyteller or an excerpt from some piece of literature in this world. This could've been cool, perhaps, but it just ended up coming off as a lazy storytelling device. Like whenever she wanted to introduce something instead of weaving it into the narrative, we got whatever it was flatly stated in this world's Bible. Or this worlds newspaper. Or this world’s town crier. Hear ye, Hear ye! Amirite laydies?
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