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.

Anoor, a Duster child left behind as a decoy when the Ember children were stolen, has lived her entire life knowing she is different, that she needs to hide who she is. And it’s not easy being a Duster when your “mother” is the Disciple of Strength, soon to become Warden of Strength. When Anoor crosses paths with Sylah, she decides to enter the Akitbar herself and prove everyone wrong – Anoor wants to create change from within, but to win the Aktibar, she needs Sylah’s help. This design's red, white and grey colours make it aesthetically pleasing and subtly hint at the gritty, brutal storyline. The abstract patterns and bold font also beautifully convey the fantasy genre of the story. 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. From the first interaction between the characters, I loved their easy connection and banter. Besides this, their slow-burn romance is incredibly well shown and never told, allowing readers to feel their raw chemistry and the tension of Will They/ Won't They. giving fantasy synopses is tiring. but, you get it. the final strife, the stolen, sylah’s grump to anoor’s sunshine, sylah’s determination to anoor’s frill.The Final Strife is a shining example of how to write a diverse, inclusive, brilliant cast. From skin colour to blood colour, disability to LGBTQ+, El-Arifi has made a place for everyone, and she has done it effortlessly. This should be an example to any author or writer: diversity is not difficult. Diversity is necessary, a reflection of our beautiful world, and I can only hope this way of writing becomes the norm. Sylah’s mission had been to enter the Aktibar for the Warden of Strength. She misses the deadline and instead is forced to help Anoor train for it. Anoor has always been underestimated. Her mother (current Warden of Strength) hated and abused her for her low blood. Sylah, stolen by Dusters, was destined to win the Aktibar, the trials that take place every ten years to find the next Ember rulers of the Empire (Wardens), and become Warden of Strength. Taken by the Dusters as a child, they raised her to win, until her entire adopted family were murdered. Six years later, Sylah is a completely different person, without a cause, without hope, and she has turned to Joba Seeds, an addictive drug. She lives day by day, always looking for her next fix.

All can join but not just anyone can win; it requires great skill and ingenuity to become the future wardens of Strength, Knowledge, Truth and Duty.

It’s set in a perilous empire, dangerous due to both the tidewind, a destructive blend of blue sand and salt air that sweeps through the land wreaking havoc every night, and the people in power. It mainly follows three young women—one from each social class based on blood color—striving to impact their world in their own way: by helping another prepare for a tournament to choose a guild’s leader, competing to become a Warden of one of the four guilds, or using the fact that she’s overlooked and underestimated to hide clandestine activities. 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?

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. It is my fervent belief that severing the hands and tongues of Ghostings benefits their wellbeing. Those whose wounds fester are weeded out young, their frail countenance discarded before they become a nuisance to their masters. Those who survive understand the power of pain and the importance of subservience. —Journal entry by Aveed, Disciple of Duty” First off, let me just say that The Final Strife has had so much hype surrounding it and, sometimes, when a book is this hyped, it fails to meet expectations. Not so in this case – The Final Strife not only met those expectations but exceeded them. It was every bit as great as everyone has been saying, if not more so. The Final Strife is the first book of The Ending Fire Trilogy, inspired by “Ghanaian folklore and Arabian myths.” As the first book is epic in the truest sense of the word, I can only imagine the places the series will go. El-Arifi drops us into her rich world and tells us, “OK, go,” so it takes a few chapters to get your bearings. Upon reflection, I love The Final Strife all the more for that choice.

Magazine

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. The sapphic romance between Anoor and Sylah was a sweet, slow burn, and was honestly so cute my heart couldn't take it!!! The nature of the book is dark, but the lightness in their relationship was like a beacon in the dark and I loved to see it. I absolutely loved The Final Strife, the first instalment in the Ending Fire trilogy. EL-Arifi has blown me away with her talent for storytelling. I hope you're ready for another twisty, unflinching tale of love, strife, and the heady power of fighting for something you believe in. Then we have Hassa, a Ghosting servant and friend of Sylah, who’s status renders her all but invisible to Embers. Hassa uses this to her advantage, gaining work in the heart of the Ember’s home, gathering information to help other Ghostings.

As much as I enjoyed the setting, the world felt thin around its edges. Again, it seemed more like a world you'd find in a YA fantasy. Why do none of the characters in the Empire question its origins until Sylah randomly finds a map? I get that indoctrination and propaganda are powerful forces, but what about the Dusters? Why would they not have questions when they clearly have some sort of resistance to the Empire? How did the Empire ensure none of the Embers who first came to the land passed on information about how they came? A lot of this book was just too coincidental, working out too perfectly. I might forgive these issues if there was a nuanced portrayal of how deeply propaganda ran in the Empire (and I don't mean the Embers writing out passages about how the Dusters and Ghostings are naturally inferior. I mean actual nuance, showing how it affects every small part of their lives, how they themselves might come to believe these things, how it might affect their youth, etc.) but like I said, everything is just so heavy-handed. It's exhausting. What can I say, these are characters who love, bleed, love and try, live and dance and just won’t leave me. They feel so strongly and so deeply, they fight for their and the future of those they care for. Although The Final Strife is mainly set in the capital of an empire with only 13 cities, it seems vast and epic due to rich history and storytelling that makes it feel real and lived in. The fantastic epigraphs add to this effect, as well as the interludes containing more oral stories, such as that of the clear-blooded people’s rebellion 400 years before and the tale of the god Anyme and the spider. I just loved all the details that fleshed out this world, especially since part of the story involves characters seeking the truth after finding a piece of a map that doesn’t fit the historical accounts they’ve all heard. The way Saara El-Arifi parcels out information leading to bigger revelations is expertly done, and there are some great twists—even when they’re expected, they work well because of how it gradually builds to the clear conclusion. (And there was still a revelation right at the end that I was not anticipating at all.)The beginning of the novel is definitely captivating. It builds up this incredibly brutal world where people are divided depending on their blood colour. Sylah is an Ember, but only she and her adoptive mother, Lio, know that. She was raised as a Duster and sees the terrible injustices around her daily, yet without the rebel faction, the Sandstorm, she feels unable to continue the cause.