HAFSAH FAIZAL We Hunt the Flame. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley

Hafsah Faizal draws on Arabic culture in her first novel, spinning a tale of an evil forest, a lost jewel, and a magical quest. 

Love is for children, said the girl.

Death is for fools, said the shadow.

Darkness is my destiny, said the boy.

Allegiance is my undoing, said the eagle.

Suffering is our fate, said the beauty.

And they were all horribly wrong.

In Hafsah Faizal’s debut, the first of her Sands of Arawiya series, Zafira is the legendary Hunter of the Arz: a dark enchanted forest, from which she is one of the few to ever return. It’s been nearly a century since the ability for people to perform magic was lost and the Arz appeared, along with many other magical blights on the land. It has been spreading ever since and everyone knows that it’s only a matter of time before it covers the world in shadow.

Zafira braves the evil forest to feed her village as food grows ever scarcer. But she fears the growing connection she’s been feeling to the Arz:

Something else beckoned from the darkness, enticing her. Growing with her every visit. It was as if a thread of her heart had snagged in the forest and was trying to reel her back in.

When Zafira is offered the opportunity to travel to the cursed island of Sharn on a quest to retrieve the lost Jawarat (Jewel), a book that could return magic to the land, she finds she cannot refuse. This is her chance to change the world and to prove how much women can do, rather than simply hiding who she is behind the Hunter’s hood and letting her every success be attributed to a man.

At the same time that she is sent on her quest, Nasir, the Crown Prince of Death, is sent on his own mission: to kill the Hunter and take the Jawarat back to his father, the Sultan. Trained as an assassin since he was a child, Nasir finally needs to decide whether his mission or his conscience is more important. There’s so much blood on his hands already – what’s just a little bit more, in the grand scheme of things?

It’s always refreshing to read fantasy that isn’t set in Western Europe (although I love those too). Some readers might want to look up the odd unfamiliar word, but it is generally pretty clear from the context what’s a kind of coffee pot (dallah) or a kind of robe (thobe) if you’d rather not put the book down to look them up. I enjoyed learning a few Arabic words for a change.

It can be slightly hard to follow at the start and feels a tiny bit rushed in places: a few too many admiring mentions of one character’s curly hair and a description of freeing someone manacled to a wall that didn’t sound physically possible, for example. But everything is tied up in the end with a great deal of finesse and some clever plot twists. It’s very action-packed once the plot gets going, with minimalist description and short chapters. Switching between the two main characters showcases the contrasts and parallels between Zafira’s and Nasir’s attitudes to particular events. Full of solid world-building, complicated characters and tense relationships, this book is enjoyable and well-paced. Without spoiling all of the best lines, the dialogue is also quite fun:

‘Does that work?’  she asked flatly. The wind howled, throwing stray strands of hair across her face.

‘Hmm?’

‘Stepping too close and pulling that hairbrained smile. Does it work?’

Hafsah Faizal We Hunt the Flame Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc 2019 PB 480pp $18.99

Amelia Dudley is currently taking a break from a Master’s degree focussing on plant biology. She is the proud auntie of many nieces and nephews. In her spare time she reads, gardens, draws, paints and doesn’t get to do enough writing.

You can buy We Hunt the Flame from Abbey’s at a 10% discount by quoting the promotion code NEWTOWNREVIEW here.

To see if it is available from Newtown Library, click here.

 

Tags: Hafsah | Faizal, Sands of Arawiya series, SFF, We Hunt the Flame