We Hunt the Flame Plot Summary

Ever since losing its magic, the kingdom of Arawiya has been slipping further into darkness. Its ruler has become cold and uncaring, and the evil Arz forest is creeping closer by the day. Zafira hunts in the forest to feed her people, she’s the only person who can enter and exit the Arz without losing their mind. And their life. Nasir, the Prince of Death, is a cold-blooded assassin, feared across the land. The two will meet on a quest to retrieve an ancient artifact and return magic to the land. And they may come to find that they have more in common than they originally imagined.

My Thoughts

We Hunt the Flame, by Hafsah Faizal, is a YA fantasy set in a world inspired by ancient Arabia. It’s really nice to see a fantasy not set in the same euro-centric fantasy vision as so many of the most popular fantasy series. I also love the core premise of the book – a quest for lost magic? Yes please!

The story follows Zafira, the hunter, who poses as a man while feeding her community with meat hunted in the deadly Arz forest. Our other protagonist is Nasir, son of the sultan, who kills anybody daring to voice opposition to his father. We alternate between the two perspectives, the close third-person narrative giving us an insight into each character’s thought process throughout the story.

We Hunt the Flame had a range of characters

I liked the character of Zafira – and she had some interesting characters around her as well. There’s her close friend Yasmine, who is about to get married when the story begins. Also Deen, with whom we can see the glimmer of something more than friendship. Zafira lives with her sick mother and her sister, Lana, who plays nurse at home.

Nasir’s boundless self-loathing makes his chapters a bit of a slog at times. His chapters are brightened up somewhat by his ally/frenemy, the wisecracking general Altair. I was definitely glad to have Altair’s humour in play! Although the banter-filled relationship the author seemed to be encouraging between them fell flat for me most of the time.

I found the characters reasonably interesting, all the more so when Zafira and Nasir began their adventure in earnest. I thought the book settled into a more compelling rhythm once they, and their accomplices, were in the same place.

The story has a slow build

Although the opening chapter from each main character’s point of view has a lot going on, the plot took a while to get going in earnest. The author settled into some world-building after those opening scenes. I would normally be happy enough to go along with this, but unfortunately I couldn’t settle into the writing in We Hunt the Flame at all.

I found a lot of the descriptions difficult to interpret, and felt that a lot of the comparisons and imagery made scenes more confusing rather than clearer. Sometimes I found the description excessive, feeling like it got in the way of the story. But more often it was the choice of descriptive language that I found difficult to unpick.

This is probably a personal taste thing! And I have no doubt that a lot of people have found the descriptions in this book unique and interesting. For me though, they got in the way of the story pretty consistently and hindered my enjoyment of the plot.

Summary

I loved that We Hunt the Flame was set in a world based on the Middle East, and you felt that in every aspect of the book from fashion to language to food. The female protagonist was interesting, although I didn’t personally connect with her, and there was a cool premise at the heart of the book. I just didn’t get on with the writing at all, making this an unusually slow read for me.

If you like floral and complex descriptions, and you’re ready for a fantasy that puts a different spin on a familiar quest set-up, I’d definitely recommend checking out We Hunt the Flame.

If you want to hear me talk more about the book, check out episode nine of The Island Library Podcast!