Book Review: We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal

We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even though this took me a long time to read, I have to say, this was a very satisfying read. I enjoyed the action, the romance between Nasair and Zafira was beautiful, and I hope the Lion is burning in hell for what he did to Altair and Aya and Nasair's father, even though Nasair's father was a horrible person to him. I also liked how Lana and Yasmine were in it and somehow grounded Zafira because I had a scary thought that the Jawarat was going to control her and make her do things she would regret, like the time she killed the Demenhune caliph. Was I proud of Zafira in that moment when she did so? Yes, yes I was. But then, was I a bit sad that she did that, but she never really killed anyone other than the things she hunted in the Arz, and now that the Arz is gone, she is no longer the Huntress. She is Zafira bint Iskandar (hopefully I got the name right), and she is her own person.

In fact, I really liked how, in the whole book, they gave her space. She was going through so much throughout the book, along with planning on how to take down the Lion so he can go to hell, and to also find a way to restore magic. It felt like she was struggling--from her thoughts and feelings with the Jawarat near her, her feelings for the Prince of Death, and her feelings about trying to stop the Lion. I'm going to be honest, I really didn't like Zafira and Nasair together, but once I started reading this book, that's when I started to ship them and even loved them, cheering them on with their relationship.

Let's talk about Altair for a minute. I was ready to throw hands when he betrayed them, only to turn around and say that he was trying to kill the Lion, his father, mind you, himself. I was both shocked and still wanted to throw hands at him. But when Aya...sweet, kind, strong healer Aya betrayed us....these hands were rated E for everyone at this point. Because I was so mad at the both of them for betraying the zumra for the Lion, and the Lion taking Altair's eye just about to make me go off. I kinda felt sorry for Altair for watching his father get his heart implanted in, but was damn glad he escaped and turned around to face his father once more.

This duology might be one of my favorite books of all time, and I'm so glad that read it. It was a wild ride and I loved every bit of it.

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