The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi is an amazing fantasy/fiction/scifi novel that is the first in a trilogy. This first book is an exciting read for many reasons. The world-building is excellent. A lot of time is spent delineating the various racial groups that populate this world. These can be told apart only by the color of their blood and their role in society: the Embers have red blood and hold all the power; Dusters have blue blood and are destined for labor; and Ghostings have clear blood and delegated to being servants. Physically, they are set apart from the other two as their hands and tongues are amputated at birth as a retaliation from an insurrection from 400 years earlier.
There are three main characters, Sylah (the protagonist and an Ember stolen from her family and raised as a Duster), Anoor (the love interest and a Duster raised as an Ember), and Hassa (a Ghosting). These three women are likable, though flawed, as they search for the truth about their homeland. There are plenty of plot twists and characters who aren’t what they seem.
The novel seems a bit long in the introductory phase while the climax seems a bit hurried with a cliff-hanger for the next volume, but those flaws don’t overshadow what is great about this book: depictions of strong females of varying sexualities, the female/female enemies to lovers romance trope, the consistent—and correct—usage of the their/their pronouns in referring to characters of indeterminate gender, and the sensitivity in depicting trans and disabled characters.
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The Final Strife (Del Rey, June 21, 2022) is available through:
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