Her writing is immersive, capturing a sense of the scope of the world as well as the intricacies of her characters. She’s poetic, without being overly flowery. One of the first things I noticed was Faizal’s way with words. And I cannot believe I slept on this book for so long, as it is freaking incredible. With her endorsement reinvigorating my interest, I picked it up, going in mostly blind. I’ve had We Hunt the Flame on my TBR for a while, bumping it up in the wake of the revelation that Hafsah Faizal was the target of anti-Asian bullying at the hands of Emily Duncan (among others), but then forgetting about it until Reads with Rachel, a BookTuber and fan of Faizal’s work made a video recounting the situation as part of one of her ongoing series on her channel. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds–and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya–but neither wants to be. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan.

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people.

New York: Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2019.

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