[Review] When the Forest Turns Evil: We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

"We hunt the flame, the light in the darkness, the good this world deserves."

An evil forest creeping closer, a caliph dead, a dangerous assassin, a strange witch, and a young hunter just trying to survive. The world of Arawiya is struggling. There used to be magic, countries had different climates, people didn't have to fight so hard to survive in this world. That was until magic disappeared. Now the young hunter - who actually is a huntress called Zafira - and the dangerous assassin - called Nasir - are both on their way to a dangerous island to achieve different outcomes to the question if magic can be restored.

This young adult high fantasy novel, strongly inspired by Arabic mythology, is a tale of hope, of people learning to trust, about truth, about the fight for the right thing and that it's not always easy, and that as sentient beings everyone is not just good and evil.

We Hunt the Flame delivers a beautiful world with interesting world building and the glimpses of the magic system we get are quite fascinating but still a tiny bit vague. Our two main characters - Zafira and Nasir - come from such different backgrounds but are pulled into the same direction for a reason. They both have different talents but they work well for their journey.

Zafira originates from Demenhur where it is always cold. She hunts in the Arz, a forest that is evil and creeping closer and closer to where humans live. But she has to hunt in disguise as the caliph of Demenhur spews his misogynistic ideals that women can't and should not do anything like this as they would basically bring doom to everyone else. But she's also the only one who can go into the Arz and not get lost in it. No one else comes out again the same except for her.

Nasir was taught to be an assassin and was basically turned into the sultan's lapdog, especially after the sultana died. He is a grumpy one and mostly silent, but when talking to himself in his head he's harsh and mean, as his father is to him. Nasir does what he is ordered because he has no choice, but he also still has some compassion left, something his father doesn't agree with.

On the journey three more people come along. One of the sultan's generals - a man called Altair -, travels with Nasir to the island. On this island they will meet a female Pelusian warrior called Kifah and a male safi from Alderamin called Benyamin.

What will probably be a deciding factor for many to get this book is the amount of representation this has. The Arabic influences are strong and enrich this world, and while the characters are not all necessarily people of color there are still more of them than in most high fantasy books. Also, the already mentioned safi are this world's version of elves/elfs, unless there are similar creatures in Arabic/Islamic mythology I don't know of. They do read as elves to some extent. And I bet people will be happy to hear that they can be basically any skin color, as far as I can remember.

This book offers a lot of information on this world but in a slow pace and still some information is missing so far. Faizal tells her story in a flowery prose that moves somewhere between adult and classic novel but doesn't sound pretentious. Though I do have to say that the pacing of the writing needs some work, as well as a few more added sentences here and there to make it flow better.

As this is Faizal's first published novel I won't judge her too harsh on the things that still need work. I merely find it important to point it out because these things might make people dislike the book. Like I said the pacing needs work but also how she works the relationships into the story. The romance(s) or romance potentials aren't gripping enough in my opinion and maybe a bit tropy. This is often my issue with young adult novel romances so this might be a more personal thing. Just be warned that if you aren't the biggest YA fan this might turn you off. There are also two small, slightly problematic things about the romance plotlines but I would say it's still easy to deal with. Though the whole "push and pull" of that one potential romance is what makes me mad at various YA novels and I'm still not a fan of that. But I bet many YA readers won't mind it one bit.

What I also have my issues with is that this book got three family reveals. While I usually love those. three are too much for a book of not even 500 pages. Especially since most happen towards the end. And while these reveals are important to the story and character development it sometimes seems a bit too obvious or just plain unnecessary. The last one especially didn't work for me despite what it will offer for the continuation of the story.

I also feel like the side characters of Kifah and Benyamin weren't fleshed out as well as they could have been. We do get to know more about them and there are few small things here and there about them but I had issues connecting to them in any way. I didn't connect to anyone strongly but I do like Zafira, Nasir, and Altair. Kifah was mostly there to be a fighter and Benyamin was there for exposition. They both needed a few more moments, especially in connection with Nasir and Zafira who are both the main characters, to flourish better. I hope we get to see more in the next book.

Unfortunately I'm also way too used to strongly fleshed out fight scenes which make me feel like I'm there with the characters. This book didn't manage to do that. But I do know writing good fight scenes is hard so it's more of a thing Faizal can work on in the future.

Overall I must say though that Hafsah Faizal has written a story that has potential, and her writing style has a lot of that as well. I do feel like if she works on it she might become one of those authors who will be able to amaze you with the way she phrases her stories. Also, her influences deliver a rich world, and it's not just Arabic mythology. I'm pretty sure I've seen some Assassin's Creed in there as well, and maybe a tiny bit from Pirates of the Caribbean.

I also enjoyed the interpretations of certain creatures I've seen differently interpreted by German author Akram El-Bahay in his "Die Bibliothek der flüsternden Schatten" ("The Library of Whispering Shadows") trilogy. I would say for Germans who like that trilogy this might be another book you could enjoy. In general I guess many avid YA readers will enjoy it or at least like it. People who mostly read adult fiction or have a difficult relationship with YA might have issues. For the most part because of tropes I mentioned before.

I will definitely look out for the next book and I'm curious to see what Hafsah Faizal will write in the future and how she will develop as a writer. As I said, she has potential.

And that is why I rate this book 3/5 ☆. It definitely captured me despite what I didn't like and I can say I liked this book. I'm not entirely in love (sadly..) but I'm not mad at it either.

___
Disclaimer: This post isn't sponsored in any way. I bought the book myself and all my opinions are my own. Characters, quotes, names, and so on all are part of Hafsah Faizal's creation. Except for what I mentioned about Akram El-Bahay of course. Also, I hope this was constructive and not mean. As Faizal is a first-time author I don't want to be too harsh. I'm trying to write myself and I know it's not easy.