A story about a world with discrimination against blood colour and religion. It is written in third person, but each chapter follows a different character which I personally think works well as each storyline interlinks to create a bigger picture.

I haven't read the first two stories so felt a little lost at the start and struggled to get into the story at the beginning as there as so many names and unusual terminology. However, I think it would have been easier to get into if I had read the first two books as the world building has already been done.

The glossary and the character list at the end I'm sure would be helpful to some people. I'm not the biggest fan of using them.

I liked that religion although a strong theme in the book wasn't too pushy and cringe worthy. Most likely as it portrayed different religions that is more like the real world.

The storyline once you've understood the characters and their roles and relationships is very interesting. I haven't read a book quite like it. It wasn't a complete shock story as things were a little predictable, but for a fantasy book, I don't mind that.

To concept of bloodwerk is new to me but I feel it has been written well, as it could have been much darker.

If I had read the first two books then my reading may have been higher; they have now been added to my TBR list!

I would definitely recommend reading this to anyone who enjoys dark fantasy novels, but to look at trigger warnings first.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book.

*Gracias a Netgalley y Harper Voyager por la copia adelantada de este libro*

Me apena mucho escribir esta reseña, ya que muches sabeís que "The Final Strife" y "The Battle Drum" son de mis libros favoritos y nunca me he cansado de recomendarlos. Sin embargo, "The Ending Fire" no ha cumplido las altas expectativas que tenía.

En comparación con las dos partes anteriores, he sentido que la trama era muy caótica y poco definida. Los personajes se pasan el 80% del libro dando vueltas y yendo de un sitio. Aunque todos tienen propósito claros (la guerra contra los Zaalam), en muchas ocasiones sus acciones no quedan claras y como lectora he sentido que la historia no avanzaba. La autora peca de exposición en la parte final de la trilogía y el ritmo es intermitente, por lo que la lectura se ve entorpecida.

En cuanto a los personajes, volvemos a re encontrarnos con Sylah, Anoor, Hassa y Jond, los cuatro puntos de vista que ya conocíamos. Aunque siempre he alabado la creación de personajes de la autora, en esta tercera parte quedan desdibujados y no nos enseñan nada nuevo. Todos los puntos de vista se mueven por la inercia y la cadencia de la propia historia sin aportar grandes revelaciones. Me duele especialmente con el personaje de Anoor, quien creo que durante las dos últimas partes de la trilogía ha estado perdida y escondida detrás de otros personajes. Su conflicto en este tercer libro, bastante dramático e interesante desde mi punto de vista), se resuelve en apenas cinco páginas, sin darle más importancia. Su arco dramático se detiene de manera abrupta y el personaje queda en un limbo del que la autora no sabe salir.

El último 20% del libro es especialmente confuso. La autora introduce puntos de vista nuevos y puntuales, intentando dar una visión extra de la batalla final, sin conseguirlo. Es en el final de la historia cuando más quieres saber de los protagonistas, sin embargo, son relevados a un segundo plano como meros espectadores.

A pesar del final agridulce para mí, considero que hay muchos detalles destacables en la trilogía y que está llena de representación (queer, disca, nb, trans, racial...), por lo que animo a la gente a leerla y a conocer a la autora.

3/5

What an ending for this trilogy!
The plot and pace were great and the new characters introduced were too… but what truly made it absolutely fantastic was the new depths our main characters reached and how they evolved to fit into the shoes destiny had designed for them.
While I wasn’t a big fan of the direction Anoor’s arc went in book 2 and the first 50% of this book, I totally get it was needed for her to achieve the ending she did.
I can honestly not recommend this book and this series enough, and I know it’ll be one of my top books of the year!

The Ending Fire started off with a little tale of what had gone before in the Battle Drum and I enjoyed the way this delivered.

We continue with our main characters and multiple points of view of Anoor, Sylah, Hassa and Jond. Saara El-Arifi has already made you care for these characters and there were many points where I was heart broken for each one and felt the emotional turmoil they were going through.

Anoor has ended up manipulated and on the wrong side of the war led by her grandmother. There were some parts of this that were very frustrating because although she has always been a bit naive, this was hard.

Sylah has fought her way back to Anoor to find she has gone and she now finds herself deciding if she goes in search for Anoor or stays to help fight the impending War.

Jond has found himself a home in Tenio and has become a teacher preparing for war. He spends time with Kara recruiting people to their cause to save as many people as possible. The miscommunication here had me throwing my iPad (not actually because it’s precious).

Hassa continues to develop her bloodwerk and fight for all the ghostings who have been silenced.

There is only so much that can be said without revealing anything and it is something you need to experience because it’s damn good. The battles, the creations, the god beasts, the side characters were done really well! This was a satisfying end to the series. To be honest I wished there was a bit more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

So far I've read everything by Saara El-Arifi and she's yet to give me a 5 star read.
Such a great ending to a great story.
I loved the character, the unique magic system, the great world building.
Can't wait to read more from El-Arifi!!

After being disappointed by Faebound, I was cautious about this final instalment. There was no need. El-Arifi proved her skill through her beautiful writing and incredible, thoughtful world-building with complicated characters.

Home isn't the opposite of not belonging. It's choosing where you belong.

Anoor has been caught in the spider’s game, joining The Sandstorm’s Yona - Wife, grandmother. Anoor is prophesied to be the saviour of the Zalaam, to bring the Ending Fire. But the disciples, her new allies, aren't what they seem.

Sylah has returned, reuniting with Hassa who spreads the news that the Zalaam use bone marrow to shift the balance of the world and they are bringing war.
Even if the Zalaam don't kill them, the weather, made worse by Bloodwerk, eventually will.

Sylah’s mind is loveclouded. She cannot see beyond Anoor, much to Hassa’s chagrin who wants Sylah to see beyond one person and for the rebellion to succeed.
Sylah reverts back to her cruel self she was in book one. Similarly, we see Anoor changing, becoming disillusioned and losing her heart.

The pieces of her weren't the same: where they had once been as pliable as warm sand, they were now glass, fragile but sharp.

I was worried all the character development would unravel, but El-Arifi handles her arcs with such care, you can see the threads, temptations, and relationships linking from the first book to the finale.

Even till the end, my heart was in my throat.

I do wish this might have been four books long to spend more time learning the different parts of the world, their knowledge, culture, and lore.
This is clearly a compliment to El-Arifi’s world-building, being aware of so many different aspects which weren’t explored but were there.

I am wavering between three and four stars. ⭐️

This is one of my favourite series of all time and I am so happy to have read the finale! I can't believe it's actually over.

All of the extra world-building and expansion from book 2 came into play here as we follow our four main POVs as each try to prepare for the upcoming war in their own way.

This book is gripping, devastating, hopeful and humorous and I already want more from this world. The characters are flawed and realistic and I routed for all of them. There were definitely a lot of times where I just wanted to shout at one of the characters and shake sense into them but their actions made sense given their personality, history and the events in the book.

The final quarter or so of this FLEW by as everything built to a dramatic climax. I was hooked! I particularly loved how in this section we were given POVs from other characters too (my favourite being the cat) which was a really nice way of seeing what was going on elsewhere in the war in locations far away from our main characters.

I will never stop recommending this series to people! I find the world so fascinating and really hope we get more from this world in future, whether that be set in the future or the past, I'd be interested in either. There is so much scope for more books, this world and its history (and I'm sure future) are vast!

Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for this eARC to review.

How did one singular book break every single sheet of my soul then repair it back together in about four chapters? I don’t know, ask the author of this bloody trilogy.

The perfect ending for the perfect trilogy, for once every book in it I rated five stars 🌟

Multi POV but easy to keep up with? Oh yes.

There’s even a POV from a cat, a bloody cat, it was amazing.

An epic battle and epic redemption arcs? High stakes and high fantasy? Yes yes yes


I cannot wait to own the physical copy when this book releases and I cannot wait to re read the trilogy and be broken and pieced together again. Reading this before release was truly wonderful to experience and I now envy every person who gets to read the magic of this trilogy for the first time

A great ending to this amazing trilogy. Book 1 will forever be a favourite fantasy. A fantastic build up to the final climax… such a fun read.

I've loved this entire series and this was a great conclusion. Honestly, after staying up most of the night finishing this I probably need time to digest it fully. However, it felt that the major threads were tied off. Anoor and Sylah's arcs were satisfying and the final battle which has been building for three books now was satisfying. Overall, I really enjoyed this and it's cemented the series as one of my favourites.

After eagerly awaiting the end to this trilogy for over a year (I was lucky enough to get an eARC of part 2 as well!) I'm sat here sort of dazed after the ending! A lot of the book was given to getting the POV characters back together so that an almighty battle could occur to overthrow the Zalaam and end the global problems such as floods, tidewinds etc that using bone marrow for powering magic had caused. Anoor went off with her grandmother at the end of book 2 as she was declared to be "The Child of Fire" - I love Anoor as a character but all throughout the series she has been shown to be incredibly naive and that doesn't stop in this book. Sylah has made her way back to the Warden's Empire after failing to defeat the Tannin and is feeling down in the dumps when she realises that Anoor has left to go off on a spiritual quest, this upsets Hassa who thought that Sylah should get on with the larger plan at hand of helping battle the people seeking to continue the history of segregation and servitude that has befallen people purely due to the colour of their blood. Jond is still hanging around with Kara and a cat he rescued (because sure, why not). So when the battle actually happens, down to it being largely essentially robot based the overall genre of the book seemed to flip - magic has been used for weapons throughout the series but now it's used en masse to have thousands of spider monsters wanting to trash the place and kill everything in sight as well as a SUPER ROBOT that will be powered by a sacrificial lamb. It was really strange to me that from something so historic fantasy feeling in the previous two parts that there was such a focus on these mechanical creations - I know they'd been introduced in book 2 but the scale of them was immense and what was the endgame for the Zalaam if they won? Just that they'd have cleared out all the non-believers and could just sit around praying to a God that really really enjoys sacrifices?! I did really enjoy the book, but did feel that section was quite jarring. I loved the extended POVs we got for the great battle, and I loved that there was a clear ending for all our main characters throughout the series.