Book Review: The Ending Fire by Saara El-Arifi

The Ending Fire by Saara El-Arifi

Book title: The Ending Fire
Author: Saara El-Arifi
Genre: Fantasy
Published: September 10, 2024
512 pages
My rating: 4/5

“But small rebellions don’t change the world.
Some truths were too big to hide among the pauses of a soliloquy. They needed to be shouted. They needed to be confronted.”

The Warden’s Empire, the Blood Forged, and the Zalaam are preparing for a coming war. In the Warden’s Empire, a vigilante called Truthsayer raises an army against the wardens, and Sylah and Hassa have to navigate the changing political system while searching for Anoor. After joining her grandmother, Anoor is celebrated as the Child of Fire who will bring victory to the Zalaam. She finds herself a new purpose as they set off on their last voyage to wage war against the other nations.

The Ending Fire is the third and final book in Saara El-Arifi’s fantasy trilogy. I read the first book The Final Strife (4/5 stars) last year and the second book The Battle Drum (3.5/5 stars) right before this book. There is again a helpful recap of the events of the previous book as well as a glossary and a list of characters.

How I’m Re-Outlining My WIP

Over the years, I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) that writing is so much easier if I have an outline. My latest writing project, a soon-to-be-published Pride and Prejudice retelling Comes with an Attitude was the easiest book I’ve ever written, and I attribute that for the large part to the extensive prepping and outlining I did before I started the first draft (granted, it did help that I was following literary genius Jane Austen’s already existing outline!).

My next writing project most likely won’t be as easy. I’m getting back to an urban fantasy novel I started in 2021. I wrote the first draft during NaNoWriMo, and even though I did have some kind of an outline, it wasn’t enough. While the first and the third acts of that book are in a tolerable shape (at least in terms of the outline and the order of the scenes), the second act is a complete mess of disconnected events and scenes. That means that before I can start the second draft, I need to sort out that mess and come up with a functioning outline.

I’m hoping that this blog post will be helpful if you (like me) are a recovering plantser who wants to improve an old project or if you’re a pantser and you want to reverse outline a project before starting the second draft.

(Disclaimer: there’s nothing wrong with not outlining a book. If you can finish a book without an outline, awesome! There’s no right or wrong way to write. I just happen to be one of those writers who works better with an outline.)

Book Review: The Battle Drum by Saara El-Arifi

The Battle Drum by Saara El-Arifi

Book title: The Battle Drum
Author: Saara El-Arifi
Genre: Fantasy
Published: May 23, 2023
560 pages
My rating: 3.5/5

“Freedom is not free. It has a cost. But it cannot be bought or given. Only taken. And it’s time to take ours.”

Anoor is the first blue-blooded ruler of the Warden’s Empire, but before her reign has even started she is falsely accused of a murder, and she must solve the crime without the help of her lover, Sylah. Sylah has left the Empire in search of a solution to the hurricane that threatens her land. The new truths she learns change everything she knows, and soon she must prepare for an oncoming battle. Meanwhile, Hassa, the Ghosting spy, uncovers more atrocities of the Empire’s past and present.

The Battle Drum is the second book in Saara El-Arifi’s fantasy trilogy The Ending Fire. I read the first book, The Final Strife, last year and gave it four stars. The Battle Drum is a solid sequel to the first book, but unfortunately it suffers from a middle book syndrome.

April Wrap-Up and May Hopefuls

April reads

April Wrap-Up

• Finished: 8
• Started but not finished: 3
• Total pages read: 2,620
• Average rating: 3.25

I finished two novels in April: the second book in Rebecca Ross’s young adult fantasy duology, Ruthless Vows (4/5 stars) and Gabrielle Zevin’s literary fiction Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (3/5 stars). You can find my reviews behind the links.

I also finished five nonfiction books about the ancient Greek novels and Psyyke, a Finnish psychology handbook. In terms of ratings, April wasn’t the best month, as I only gave three or four stars to all of the books I read. Here’s hoping that May gives me more enjoyable reads!