I’m glad I read the glossary (at the back) first, because it really helped my comprehension to know things like daama was a cuss. Zafira was more suspicious of them than of her actual mission. Then, once they’d discovered they’d all been sent with opposing missions but with some link the Silver Witch, they didn’t feel that suspicious. All the descriptions and reactions were that it was a bad place. I was rather confused why everyone was agreeing to go to the Sharr. There was a purpose to it, and it also provided levity when Zafira was eyeing Nasr suspicious and Nasir was brooding over having to kill people he likes.

He’s also quippy, but it wasn’t an annoying quippy. I far preferred the unpredictable Altair, who had so many layers that gradually peeled back. The characters were the best bit. There was a lot of talk about the two main boys – POV Nasir and non-POV Altair. I feel like there’s an interesting plot brewing there to be revealed in the next book (because of the official’s captive son). The world is rich, and I’d love to explore the different caliphates more – particularly the palace and Sarasin. It’s an engaging start to a series, introducing the leads and conflict without feeling like its sole purpose is to set up a series. I think I will re-read it in a few months, because I don’t feel like I got everything the book had on offer.

Maybe if I hadn’t been less tired and hadn’t looking forward to it so much, and if I hadn’t heard so much praise, then I might have enjoyed it even more because my expectations were so high. This was one of my most anticipated reads of this half of the year, and I was really excited when it Macmillan announced they’d acquired it. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds, and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine . . . And when Zafira embarks on a quest to restore magic to her suffering world, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve magic and kill the hunter. If he refuses he will be punished in the most brutal of ways.īoth are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya – but neither wants to be.

Nasir is the infamous Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If she is exposed as a girl, all of her achievements will be rejected. Forced to disguise herself as a man, she braves the cursed forest to feed her people.

We hunt the flame book 2