Incredible as ever -- what a perfect ending to this series! Anoor and Sylah continue to captivate throughout, except we see their truest motivations and hearts shine through. I can't believe the series is over. 😭 Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc! I absolutely LOVEDDDD this series. 😭

I am seriously going to miss it so much, butttt I cannot lie- this last book was great but underwhelming for me. Points that I felt should've been expanded on due to the build up felt rushed, and some character plot lines also left me feeling like something was missing/off.

Regardless, that ending made me tear up. What an amazing world with the most powerful messages. I'll never stop recommending this series!!! 💖

Edit: I just saw an edit in the epilogue of the final copy that was different in the arc, and now I'm sad all over again wtf... 😭

Amazing conclusion to an incredible trilogy! I loved this series so much!!!! Saara El-Arifi is a definite auto-buy author for me!!

A powerful ending to an incredible series. I loved this series from the moment I read the first sentence in The Final Strife and the following books have been just as phenomenal.

This was the most epic, shocking and gut wrenching conclusion to a trilogy! I freaking loved it so much! What a wild ride!

3.5 stars. Overall, The Ending Fire provided a satisfying (yet often quite predictable) conclusion to a plot books in the making, including a massively-expanded world, but with a lot less heart than the previous installments.

Hassa deserves the world and more.

It was very difficult to be in Anoor’s brain, especially when she had multiple chances to extract herself from a bad situation and ALWAYS made the wrong choice.

Sylah’s storyline offered more plot progression than anything deeper.

Jond was my favorite perspective; his friendship with Kara and their interactions were the core of my interest in the story.

I had a really hard time believing in true love when our main couple spent the majority of the book apart, and in fact, have not seen each other since the end of the first book in this trilogy. It rang with a sense of insincerity that was wholly unexpected.

In summary, all characters and partnerships tracked in a logical direction without necessarily causing me to feel much at all and I was left feeling disappointed that this was the wrap-up to such a stellar series. I’d still recommend it, and I’d still call the trilogy as a whole *very good* – but it definitely feels like this last book was the weakest of the bunch.

When the second book of this trilogy ended, our main characters were all in different areas of the known world. Near the beginning of this one, Sylah does land back on shore in the Wardens’ Empire, putting her on the same land as Hassa. But the rest of them don’t make it back to that land until much further on.

All factions are gearing up for war. Turin has taken over as the Warden of Crime, and Hassa is still working for her. There are a few other Ghosting servants left, as well, but many have fled. Early on in this one, Hassa tries to manipulate a man who is doing Turin a favor, because he is a smith and can make her an inkwell. She realizes quickly, though, that this man is her father. Although he is an Ember, he is committed to helping her.

A new underground leader, known as the Truthsayer, encourages Dusters and Ghostings to overthrow the Wardens – and they actually manage to do it. The Truthsayer is revealed to be Gorn, Anoor’s former servant.

While this is good news for many, it doesn’t automatically bring harmony. For example, Hassa is traveling when the Wardens’ Empire is taken over – with her dad, who is an Ember. The locals want to throw him in jail, and try him for the crimes of all Embers, but he and Hassa manage to escape.

Meanwhile, Yona and Anoor have arrived in the Volcane Isles, along with the other Disciples from the Empire. Yona has been revealed to us as the Wife, the leader of the people there, who had gone overseas to bring back the Child of Fire – Anoor. The Disciples tour the villages there, and learn more about the people and culture. But ultimately, they are there to help Yona’s people – the Zalaam – begin the war, or the Ending Fire.

Over in the mistforests near the Academy, Jond is helping the Blood Forged to prepare for their part in the coming war. He and Kara are tasked with traveling to other lands to recruit more factions to fight with them. These travels take them to The Entwined Harbor – a country that exists entirely on the sea, without land. It takes them to The Winterlands, and other places as well. They bicker, but most other people think they are romantically interested in each other.

As the book progresses, the varying factions make their way toward The Wardens’ Empire. The Zalaam arrive first, and bury themselves in the desert outside the capitol for a short time. Sylah, knowing Anoor is with this group, attempts a rescue. But even if she can physically grab Anoor, will she be able to convince her to change sides?

Once the Blood Forged also arrive, the war begins.

Most of the book is told through the alternating perspectives of Sylah, Anoor, Hassa, and Jond. But the final part – the war – is told in short chapters from many points of view. We even get a chapter from Rascal’s POV (that’s Jond’s cat)!

The war only lasts a few days, but we see many characters lose their lives. While some of them are just periphery characters, even some of these have been in this story from the beginning. Our main characters do not get out unscathed, of course… but I won’t say more than that, for those readers who are willing to go on this ride themselves.

The longer I sit with the ending of this trilogy, the more disappointed I feel. I was so annoyed with some of the main characters that I really didn't care if they lived or died. If it weren't for Jond and Hassa, I may have thrown my Kindle across the room. There was very little tension throughout the story, some things were so freaking obvious and overall, what should have been a top read of the year was just fine? I am not sure what happened here but I missed the excitement of the first two books and how flat this one felt.

big thank you to netgalley and libro.fm for the arc of this book.
this trilogy has come to an emd and what a beautiful ending it was. it follows sylah, jond, anoor and hassa on their final stretch of the story into battle. watching these characters grow was wonderful. jond becoming my favorite character in the trilogy was truly not something i expected but i have a soft spot for boys trying to redeem themselves. i did have some issues with the ending particularly with anoors character innthe sense that her story at the end was way too rushed. overall though, this trilogy was fantastic

I got through 50% of this eARC, and for some reason, it feels like pulling teeth every time I read. I'm officially DNF-ing at 50%. It's been nearly two months since I first started. I just don't think I am in the mood to read this; something is disconnecting in my brain with this book. I adored The Battle Drum, so I'm heartbroken to feel this way. I hope to come back to this title at a later date.

Thanks to Del Rey Books and Netgalley for the ARC.

The Ending Fire brings to a close one of the best trilogies to be released in recent years. The world that Saara El-Arifi created here is a complex world built on different blood colors, fantastically created creatures, and filled with political battles as well as the final battle that has been building since book 1. It's filled with flawed characters who don't always make the best decisions, but you can understand how they got there. In book 2 the world expanded greatly, and we got engage with the other cultures that make up this world and in this book all the different factions choose their sides. There are new characters, more adventures and difficulties, and of course a few surprises along the way.
Partway through book 2, I was drawn more to Jond's POV, and that held throughout this book as well. I really liked his journey and the rocky relationship with Kara (and of course, he has Rascal, and you can't not love a cat companion!). It felt like his character had the most growth throughout the series and I liked where his story ended. Hassa was also a favorite character as she had the most to overcome in the series and her journey to becoming a leader of the Ghostings was so beautifully written. This is a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, and the different blood magics that are used in the final battle are so very cool. There were times that I felt there was a lack of tension in the story, but overall, it's a fantastic series with remarkable world building and shows that we have a lot of wonderful stories to look forward to from Saara.
I listened to the audiobook and the narration is terrific and can highly recommend it as a way to read this series!

I can't really say much without spoiling the previous books but this anticipated series finale definitely lived up tot the hype. I loved every single second. I was captivated from beginning to end. I laughed, I cried, I raged. It was absolutely perfect and I'm so sad to leave those characters behind. I will miss them and probably reread this entire series someday!
Yes. An excellent ending to an excellent series. I cannot wait to read all the books Saara El-Arifi ever writes.

At the end of the day, this was a satisfying conclusion to The Ending Fire trilogy. And once again, I’m floored by the cover illustrations in a series. I love these!

Like I’ve seen other reviewers state, there seems to be something missing in this story and I think it was Sylah’s character. I get the WHY as it pertained to the plot, but I think that’s what was lacking compared to the first two books. This really did allow some of the other characters to shine, especially ones that I truly didn’t care for at the start of the trilogy.

While shelving this I did notice that the books having been getting shorter throughout the series, which is the opposite of what I usually see. This might be why some feel like this ending was rushed, but I think that the scope and length of this book was appropriate compared to the amount of plot introduction and world building that had to happen at the start of the series.

Overall, I do recommend this trilogy. It has an interesting and complex magic system, fantastic characters, an expansive world, and good romance plot lines. Also, the audiobook narrators, Nicole Lewis and Dominic Hoffman, are incredible.

DNF 20%

This was one of my most anticipated releases because I love Saara El-Arifi’s books and world building and these characters. I don’t know what happened, but I just could not with this book. I’ll more than likely come back to it because it is so anticipated and a part of me definitely wants to see how the series resolves, but the actions being taken by the main characters was just frustrating me and making it hard to get behind them.

The Ending Fire is near. As Sylah, Anoor, Jond and Hassa all navigate back to the Warden’s Empire, the seeds of revolution and change are in full swing. Corruption, love, betrayal and hope all come together as the battle drum sounds.

This was a satisfying close to the series. The expansion of the world in the second book all knit back together as our protagonists reconnected for the final battle in the Warden’s Empire. At times I was, once again, bogged down with the story as some story lines were abruptly or weakly knit together. But overall, the author did a good job off wrapping the series. The pacing near the end of the novel complemented the story nicely for a well written ending. 3 stars.

Review based on a digital Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by Random House - Bellantine, Del Rey and NetGalley. Thank you!

A satisfying conclusion to an absolutely epic series, The Ending Fire managed to weave together all of the many plotlines that had been started in the previous two books in a way that made sense and was enjoyable. I was shocked to find myself very much buying in to the Jond redemption arc, and enjoyed seeing Hassa finally coming in to her own and thriving.

I am truly disappointed but I’m DNFing this book at 47%. It appears my experience is very different from the vast majority of readers so far but I could not get into this book.

This writing in this series has reverted for me. I thought book 1 was just okay and book 2 was vastly better in terms of character depth and storytelling. The ending fire has similar issues to me that book 1 did, but I’m left feeling more disappointed in it because I thought the author was growing as the series progressed.

All the story beats just seem to happen with little to no internal dialogue or conflict from the POV character of each chapter. Oh, Yona tells Anoor that we must sacrifice people in the name of a god she’s only known about for a month? Sure, that’s fine. She’ll struggle with it for one sentence and then move on. Sylah gets back to the empire and finds Anoor is gone driving her to grief and her old drug habit. No that only lasts one paragraph before she kicks it. Hassa finds her father and he actually loved her mother and has been searching for her his whole life? Yeah that reunion was so emotionless it was appalling.

I think I wrote before that in book 1 it felt like the characters were pieces on a chess board being moved to advance the plot but completely lacking any internal life. And that’s what it feels like again in the finale of this triology. To me the life has been so sucked out of these characters that I’m DNFing because I simply do not care what happens to them. Why should I care when the characters themselves don’t?

I hate to be so harsh because I waited a long time for this book and was so excited for the conclusion of this story. But clearly now that the book has published, I am in the minority with my opinion so take this review as you will.

Thank you to NetGalley and DelRey for a ARC of this boo to review.

I absolutely adore El-Arifi's storytelling style. From the very first book, I was sucked into this story. It's entirely gripping.

"The pages were full of Anoor's dreams for the empire. But her dreams had been waylaid, and so.had Anoor's."

This story is dark and bloody and angry.
Rightly so.

"The Zalaam wanted the Ending Fire. And I think we might be able to provide it."

Was I, the reader, waiting for a happily ever after? It wasn't ever that kind of SFF. But this is a powerful narrative that will linger for a long time.

"To win we must begin again."

***

"A koori bird should never be caged."
(I'm currently reading Maya Angelou, which makes these words seem even more striking.)

Saara El-Arifi does an amazing job at world-building. She has brought this world to life so well I felt like I was walking its streets, getting reading for the coming war.
The characters. I'm not sure how I'm feeling about them, People I previously loved I found annoying and didn't really care about how they were progressing in the story. I think I was missing that emotional connection.The only person who managed to make me love them even more than I did before is Hassa. From the moment we met her in the first book I was rooting for her in every way, and I only loved her more in each book.
I loved the recap at the beginning, The ending is quite action-packed, and I felt was a great conclusion to the story.

A roaring, incandescent ending for Saara’s trilogy - she has a lot of threads to weave together in this finale, and lots of challenges for pacing what with travel, resolution, confrontation and battle all crashing together. Somehow she manages to do this coherently and satisfyingly. The pacing is perhaps not quite as taut as the frantic beat of The Battle Drum, but I enjoyed the differing perspectives and storylines - from Anoor’s descent and potential for redemption and Jond’s self-discovery and blossoming romance, to Sylah’s growth - she’s still that headstrong woman we love, but her reflection and character development is really evident. And Hassa! I love Hassa. Saara’s characters are all so clearly defined that I would have enjoyed spending more time with them exploring them, and some of the aftershocks of the reveals, but the plot demands an ending - and here we are. What a journey!