We Free the Stars (Sands of Arawiya #2) by Hafsah Faizal
Published: January 19th 2021 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review:
Myth: 4/5
A sweeping story, giving fantastic character arcs to Zafira, Nasir and Altair. I really enjoyed the interwoven story bringing the characters back from Sharr and thrown back into the messy politics of the ‘real world.’
Zafira and Nasir will drive you mad with longing as we’re privy to all of their complicated thoughts about each other but they have this inability and continued interruption on the path of articulating their feelings to each other.
Magic: 4/5
I felt like I had a much better grasp on the magic system and the history of the sisters in this second installment. I also loved Zafira’s relationship with the Jawarat. I loved the evolution of their binding and adored the well placed hums of the Jarawat to Zafira’s decisions.
Overall: 4/5
A beautiful conclusion to the Sands of Arwaiya duology. Zafira, Nasir, Kifah and Altair find themselves doing what they must to secure the future of Arwaiya for which they’ve been fighting. They hunted the flame, but now they must free the stars. There were some fantastic quotes between Zafira and Nasir, but my favorite was Zafira to her sister:
“We were not born to fight, but our cradles were built from struggles and hardship. Pens, swords, sticks—weapons shoved into our fists as soon as we’re old enough to grasp them. So we fight because the world will cut our throats otherwise. We fight, because we won’t go down without one.”
Other books in the series:
