Although she does not identify with the elites, technically she is one. Yet notwithstanding her poverty and her intimate understanding of the lives of the oppressed, Sylah herself is able to assume the mantle of privilege just by showing the color of her blood. Yet the rebels were discovered and snuffed out, her purpose was never fulfilled, and now Sylah spends her days wracked with guilt, existing just to score her next dose of mind-numbing drugs. Sylah was born to the ruling class (red blood) but stolen away by lower class activists and secretly trained as a weapon. Yet my fears were overcome in time, and on the whole, The Final Strife consistently explores and reinforces its main theme: thwarting tyranny both by engaging directly with oppressive political structures and through the efforts of small, on-the-ground grassroots organizations.īecause the three protagonists are so important to the text and the theme described above, it is worth discussing them each in turn. Honestly, at several points, it seemed as if the author was going down a road that undermined the entire premise of the book. People are messy and inconsistent and flawed, and so portraying fully human heroes requires acknowledgement of that fact. But any plan must be shaped by the individual participants, and El-Arifi’s mastery over her characters is made very clear by how the protagonists’ choices and personalities shape the story and subvert readers’ expectations.

On the tin, this may look like your standard “oppressed peoples rebel against tyranny” fantasy plot (nothing wrong with that!), and that is indeed how the book begins. It’s also a book that takes familiar themes and tropes, but twists them to create something wholly new.

This is an intelligent, politically-savvy novel that grapples with complicated situations where there are no easy or clear answers. Saara El-Arifi’s debut fantasy, The Final Strife, contemplates these questions and more over the course of its 600+ pages. What if the Chosen One can no longer fulfill their role? What if the Rebellion serves a nefarious agenda beyond liberating the oppressed? What if there’s more to the privileged princess than meets the eye? What if the most fundamental, foundational truths of your society are all lies?

The final strife series