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A review by smokedshelves
The Battle Drum by Saara El-Arifi
5.0
thank you to random house publishing house ballantine, del rey, and netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
how do i share my love for this book without spoiling absolutely everything…
the battle drum is the sequel to one of my favorite reads of 2022, the final strife. so of course i’m going to try to stay a bit vague in terms of the plot when discussing my absolute love for this series. clearly, i personally really enjoyed the second installment in this trilogy.
it’s not a fast moving book, but neither was the final strife. it picks up a ton near the end, but i personally felt that it was so appropriate for the story. we’re following a lot of individuals, all moving pieces in a much grander scheme. we get a new pov in this book too, so finding a way to battle sharing five peoples’ thoughts, making them unique, it’s difficult. and i’ve found that el-arifi has done an absolutely incredible job. again.
we had our four povs from the first book, each of which we have already become familiar with their thoughts, with their motivations. and this fifth person, they were such a strong character in terms of ideals. it wasn’t difficult to add them to the arsenal. we follow sylah, anoor, and jond (hassa too, but to a lesser extent) essentially experiencing their entire world-views flipped upside down time and time again. it was fascinating to see where they each landed. and i worry to see where they’ll go.
so much new information was given to us, but it was never overwhelming. with each tidbit, my mind would reel with the implications but we’d move to another perspective. essentially, if you want to scheme and try and figure it out first, you’d have to put the book down and think. and that’s exactly what i did. many times. and i love that about this series. reveals were never too late, never too early. and personally, i’d make the connection and then in the next chapter, so would our main characters. it was just crafted so exceedingly well, in my opinion.
of course there’s still so many questions i have. but i have to just trust that these characters will get themselves put together in the final book and win. otherwise, i’m not sure i’ll survive tbh…
ps. if you’ve read the book, my theory for book three’s cover is nayeli with a yellow background (on both the us and uk editions). it’ll converge and it makes sense given where we end, yk?
how do i share my love for this book without spoiling absolutely everything…
the battle drum is the sequel to one of my favorite reads of 2022, the final strife. so of course i’m going to try to stay a bit vague in terms of the plot when discussing my absolute love for this series. clearly, i personally really enjoyed the second installment in this trilogy.
it’s not a fast moving book, but neither was the final strife. it picks up a ton near the end, but i personally felt that it was so appropriate for the story. we’re following a lot of individuals, all moving pieces in a much grander scheme. we get a new pov in this book too, so finding a way to battle sharing five peoples’ thoughts, making them unique, it’s difficult. and i’ve found that el-arifi has done an absolutely incredible job. again.
we had our four povs from the first book, each of which we have already become familiar with their thoughts, with their motivations. and this fifth person, they were such a strong character in terms of ideals. it wasn’t difficult to add them to the arsenal. we follow sylah, anoor, and jond (hassa too, but to a lesser extent) essentially experiencing their entire world-views flipped upside down time and time again. it was fascinating to see where they each landed. and i worry to see where they’ll go.
so much new information was given to us, but it was never overwhelming. with each tidbit, my mind would reel with the implications but we’d move to another perspective. essentially, if you want to scheme and try and figure it out first, you’d have to put the book down and think. and that’s exactly what i did. many times. and i love that about this series. reveals were never too late, never too early. and personally, i’d make the connection and then in the next chapter, so would our main characters. it was just crafted so exceedingly well, in my opinion.
of course there’s still so many questions i have. but i have to just trust that these characters will get themselves put together in the final book and win. otherwise, i’m not sure i’ll survive tbh…
ps. if you’ve read the book, my theory for book three’s cover is nayeli with a yellow background (on both the us and uk editions). it’ll converge and it makes sense given where we end, yk?