The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi

Red is the blood of the elite, of magic, of control.

Blue is the blood of the poor, of workers, of the resistance.

Clear is the blood of the slaves, of the crushed, of the invisible.

Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes.

Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But when Sylah and Anoor meet, a fire burns between them that could consume the kingdom—and their hearts.

Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm.

As the empire begins a set of trials of combat and skill designed to find its new leaders, the stage is set for blood to flow, power to shift, and cities to burn.

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Normally when there's two covers, I don't really have a favourite. Different artists focus on different aspects of the story, and I love exploring that. However, I feel that the American artist has made this feel like a YA novel, and it really isn't. For one thing, it's 600+ pages: for another, it's very intricate with a lot of moving parts; finally, because of course teens can handle all of those things, there is a lot of violence and sex, plus our main character is a drug addicted twenty something dropout, in as much as 'dropout' is a concept we can apply in a fantasy setting.

I didn't enjoy this as much as I'd hoped. I don't tend to enjoy the kind of story where we're dropped n the middle without explanation, which this is. Plus, our Main Character is deliberately unlikeable. However, the writing is really intricate and well thought out, and it's easy enough to follow for all its' length. I don't know enough about Arabic folklore to know what this is based on, but it's fascinating stuff...I'll have to do some research.

I'll probably read the other books, because I do want to know what happens next - I found this one a bit confusing, but now that most of the backstory is out of the way, the other volumes will probably be more straight forward. And if not, I'll just enjoy the lovely writing instead!

The Final Strife is available now in the US (top image) and UK (lower image). I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.