well-crafted world building that factors in real-world horrors of oppression and class division in a way that is brutal and honest, but still an immersive fantasy setting Only, it didn’t go to plan. Sandstorm was discovered, and all but Sylah and her Duster mother were believed dead. Sylah used her martial training to earn a living as a cage fighter, but with no hope of fulfilling her purpose, became a drug addict, addicted to Joba seeds. Desperate for money for a fix, Sylah breaks into Anoor’s bedroom – feeling that anything Anoor had, should have been her birthright. Anoor turns out to be not such a weak, entitled milksop as Sylah had expected, and imprisons Sylah, forcing her to go cold-turkey.

Saara El-Arifi deftly facets every layer of her debut. Epic in scope, its world building 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.’ Sylah may have her flaws and issues but I loved her. Seeing her journey and struggle with drug addiction. The strength she has to power through and try help others. I know I pointed out some flaws in this book, but I want to reiterate that I only did so to demonstrate to some readers why this book might not work for them as well as The Final Strife did. I personally loved this book and I am eagerly awaiting the next book! I do not even know where to start with a review for this book. I mean, sometimes you come across a book that grabs you by the face and just demands to be read. This is one of those books. Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollinsUK for this eARC of 'The Final Strife' by debut author Saara El-Arifi. My review is purely my own opinion.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. 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?

There are so many themes in this book, love, loss, addiction, revenge, and racism all set in an immense fantasy world. The world-building was vivid and rich, and while it does follow the age-old assassin, enemies to lover’s trope, this book does it with ease. The plot followed smoothly and had lots of twists and revelations which I didn’t see coming. I loved the character of Sylah, she was just so beautifully flawed, hard, edgy, and suffering from extreme loss and addiction. The Final Strife is the debut novel by Saara El-Arifi, and it’s hard to believe this is her debut it’s that good. This reads like a seasoned pro. The world building in this book is incredible – some books pile information upon information on the reader and it makes it difficult to fully immerse yourself in the story. That wasn’t the case here – the Empire was intricately woven and built-up for the reader, without detracting from the narrative as a whole. It left you with a deep understanding of the world, but you were fully immersed at the same time. Anoor is the first blue-blooded ruler of the Wardens’ Empire. But when she is accused of a murder she didn’t commit, her reign is thrown into turmoil. She must solve the mystery and clear her name without the support of her beloved, Sylah. It's a strange thing giving your own book five stars. Especially when you first wrote it, you didn't think anyone but your cat would read it - and she doesn't like fantasy all that much so she still hasn't got round to it.

Voice

The red-blooded Embers command, the blue-blooded Dusters work, and the transparent-blooded, mutilated Ghostings serve. Sylah is a secret Ember, stolen as a toddler by the rebellious Duster sect known as the Sandstorm, who left a Duster in her place and raised her to revolution. Soldiers slaughtered the Sandstorm, and Sylah has spent the past several years as an aimless drug addict and fighter in an underground betting ring. A fellow Sandstorm survivor reenters her life and encourages her to enter the Aktibar, the fierce competition to become an heir to the empire’s ruling wardens. Due to some poor choices, Sylah ends up training another competitor instead: Anoor, a young woman everyone believes to be the Warden of Strength’s daughter when in fact she is one of the Duster children left by the Sandstorm. As Anoor advances in the Aktibar, Sylah must decide whether to rejoin the new Sandstorm or follow a different path to rebellion. Meanwhile, Hassa, a trans woman Ghosting who’s a friend of Sylah’s, seeks freedom for her people, all the while hiding secrets which strike at the Empire’s very foundations. The concept of people having different blood colors seems implausible and basing prejudice on it, ridiculous; but then, this is the same genre in which enormous dragons fly and breathe fire in sheer defiance of physics, appearing in stories written by authors from a world that foolishly constructs prejudice around skin color. Racism based on blood color also leads to some interesting possibilities for “passing,” which the author exploits to their fullest extent. The message is hardly subtle, but our current climate does not support much subtlety, and this blunt allegory—which also draws from Ghanaian and Arabian tales—is crafted into a compelling story with sympathetic characters. The depictions of Anoor, overcoming both the naïveté of a woman brought up in a pampered bubble and the bruised self-esteem of an abuse victim, and of Sylah, battling confused loyalties and a devastating addiction, are particularly well done.