The Final Strife: The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller: Book 1 (The Ending Fire)

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Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for granting my wish and providing me with an eARC of this book! I’m so excited that it’s my first Netgalley review. The Final Strife is the first book in a fantasy trilogy, and I absolutely loved it. I thought it was a brilliant read, and I'm really looking forward to the direction the story takes as the series progresses.

All three main characters are interesting and sympathetic for various reasons. Anoor is part of a wealthy, respected family, but she’s not had a great life since her mother hates her and cannot get past any part of her that reminds her she is not her biological daughter, like her having a curvy figure so unlike her own. However, Anoor has still absorbed the propaganda about how everyone is treated justly, and she’s horrified to see how things really are in poorer parts of the city after Sylah takes her there: particularly, that fair trials do not actually apply to other people and they can be brutally executed without one. As a bright, dreamy, optimistic person, she then seeks to educate herself and consider what she might do to improve conditions for everyone if she does become the next Warden of Strength. Sapphic enemies to lover of course i was there plus its fantasy and sci fi and going to be a trilogy, excuse me while i go scream for joy. All can join but not just anyone can win; it requires great skill and ingenuity to become the future wardens of Strength, Knowledge, Truth and Duty.

Sylah, stolen by Dusters, was destined to win the Aktibar, the trials that take place every ten years to find the next Ember rulers of the Empire (Wardens), and become Warden of Strength. Taken by the Dusters as a child, they raised her to win, until her entire adopted family were murdered. Six years later, Sylah is a completely different person, without a cause, without hope, and she has turned to Joba Seeds, an addictive drug. She lives day by day, always looking for her next fix.

Sylah believes only what Sandstorm told her – that all Embers were bad. Anoor had a very sheltered upbringing – but a very keen curiosity and sense of fairness, and through Sylah discovers much about the privilege and destitution of the outside world. Both learn so much from each other, and become better people because of it. They also learn a truth about the empire, that they never in their wildest dreams would have considered possible. Hassan, as the lowest of the low, and as an unseen and ignored servant to Embers, sees all layers. It tells the story of Yeeran Teila, a Colonel who becomes exiled, and her sister Lettle, a seer. A series of dramatic events forces them to live amongst a hidden tribe of Fae, and their attempts to find a way out to warn the Elves of the Fae they thought were We also shared in Sylah’s deep felt sorrow of past events in her family and how this was driving her on to her ultimate goal.Can Anoor win the Aktiba? If so, what then? Can things change? and for the better, for all? Anoor states: multi dimensional characters that truly develop as people as the story goes on, Sylah's battle with addiction, and Anoor's struggle to prove herself are just the main points of the personal journeys both characters go on. Book one in this trilogy, Faebound, is due to be release Feb 2024. Faebound takes place in a world where Humans and Fae are long dead, and are survived only by the Elves that now rule and fight over the remaining lands.