The Final Strife: The Most Hotly Anticipated Fantasy Debut of the Year (The Ending Fire, Book 1)

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If your blood runs red, go straight ahead. If your blood runs blue, you’re not coming through. Translucent hue, who are you, who are you, who are you? We’d tell you exactly who we are, if only we could, Hassa thought. The words, starting in the throats of the officers, had crawled across the river into the mouths of countless children. A nursery rhyme, they thought. Isn’t that how propaganda starts?

The characters are fully fleshed out, with POVs from Sylah, Anoor, and Hassa driving the story. You really get a feel for each of these characters and their relation to this world, and this helps drive the narrative throughout. When these three characters interact with each other, it’s funny, irritating, emotional – you really feel what the characters feel in their interactions.

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Scenes across three different conti I'm really proud of myself for this one. The Final Strife was my debut, but The Battle Drum is where I started to hit my stride. Expect: 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. The politics, the intrigue, the twist and turn of the plot, the world building all leave you so immersed, so breathless that all you can do is want more I think where this fell down for me, personally, was that I wasn’t so in love with the writing style that I could deal with this. I had to start skimming just a bit, so I could get to the action again. That, and the love triangle. 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.

Protagonists Syla, Anoor and Hassa are all strong, compelling characters in their own way. Their distinct personalities, struggles and growth are brilliantly presented, making each character realistic and easy to root for. 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. Racism is a huge part of this story. But how can a society so chill about sexuality and gender be racist? Easily. I couldn’t find information about racism in pre-colonial societies (which doesn’t necessarily mean it didn’t exist). But we only need to look at racism within the queer community today to know this is a thing. 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.Set in an extremely hierarchical society, people are divided based on the color of their blood. Embers rule with their red blood and oppress everyone else. Dusters have blue blood and are low working class while Ghostings have translucent blood and have their hands and tongues removed as infants. But 20 years ago, a Duster rebellion stole Ember infants and replaced them with their own children. Now Sylah is grieving the family she lost when the resistance was decimated, addicted to drugs and fighting to survive. But things are about to change...

Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes. 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. This thrilling beauty is everything you could ever hope to experience in fantasy—magnificent and layered worldbuilding, unpredictable and intricate plotting, endlessly intriguing and entertaining twists and turns, gorgeous slow-burn romance, riveting action, outstanding voice, rich in detail, and of course believable characters you're rooting for from the start. Looove Sylah, Anoor and Hassa to bits (also, the humour is wonderful—Sylah is too much! :D) This novel is also so effortlessly and beautifully diverse <3 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. Yes, please! Please, I need the following two books of this series to happen 😈. But, in all seriousness, if you enjoy dystopia and high fantasy, racial or queer justice, global folklore … or all of the above … you will enjoy The Final Strife. I urge you to read the content warnings below because The Final Strife might be too triggering for some.Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But when Sylah and Anoor meet, a fire burns between them that could consume the kingdom—and their hearts.