I feel like there’s an interesting plot brewing there to be revealed in the next book (because of the official’s captive son). The world is rich, and I’d love to explore the different caliphates more – particularly the palace and Sarasin. It’s an engaging start to a series, introducing the leads and conflict without feeling like its sole purpose is to set up a series. I think I will re-read it in a few months, because I don’t feel like I got everything the book had on offer. Maybe if I hadn’t been less tired and hadn’t looking forward to it so much, and if I hadn’t heard so much praise, then I might have enjoyed it even more because my expectations were so high. This was one of my most anticipated reads of this half of the year, and I was really excited when it Macmillan announced they’d acquired it. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds, and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine . . . And when Zafira embarks on a quest to restore magic to her suffering world, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve magic and kill the hunter.

If he refuses he will be punished in the most brutal of ways.īoth are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya – but neither wants to be. Nasir is the infamous Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If she is exposed as a girl, all of her achievements will be rejected. Forced to disguise herself as a man, she braves the cursed forest to feed her people.

We hunt the flame we free the stars