
The Final Strife
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $22.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Nicole Lewis
-
Dominic Hoffman
-
By:
-
Saara El-Arifi
About this listen
In the first book of a visionary fantasy trilogy with its roots in the mythology of Africa and Arabia that “sings of rebellion, love, and the courage it takes to stand up to tyranny” (Samantha Shannon, author of The Priory of the Orange Tree), three women band together against a cruel empire that divides people by blood.
“A game-changing new voice in epic fantasy . . . There are no Chosen Ones here, only bad choices and blood.”—Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Oprah Daily, Autostraddle
Red is the blood of the elite, of magic, of control.
Blue is the blood of the poor, of workers, of the resistance.
Clear is the blood of the slaves, of the crushed, of the invisible.
Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes.
Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But when Sylah and Anoor meet, a fire burns between them that could consume the kingdom—and their hearts.
Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm.
As the empire begins a set of trials of combat and skill designed to find its new leaders, the stage is set for blood to flow, power to shift, and cities to burn.
Book One of The Ending Fire Trilogy
Don’t miss any of Saara El-Arifi’s searing Ending Fire Trilogy:
THE FINAL STRIFE • THE BATTLE DRUM • THE ENDING FIRE
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2022 Saara El-Arifi (P)2022 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Monsters We Defy
- By: Leslye Penelope
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Washington D. C., 1925. Clara Johnson talks to spirits, a gift that saved her during her darkest moments in a Washington D. C. jail. Now a curse that’s left her indebted to the cunning spirit world. So, when the Empress, the powerful spirit who holds her debt, offers her an opportunity to gain her freedom, a desperate Clara seizes the chance. The task: steal a magical ring from the wealthiest woman in the District.
-
-
absolutely perfect!
- By Kindle Customer on 02-22-23
By: Leslye Penelope
-
The Spear Cuts Through Water
- A Novel
- By: Simon Jimenez
- Narrated by: Joel de la Fuente
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—hold the countryside in their choking grip. They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace.
-
-
Unlistenable
- By Justin West on 08-01-24
By: Simon Jimenez
-
The Women's War
- A Novel
- By: Jenna Glass
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 20 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a nobleman’s first duty is to produce a male heir, women are treated like possessions and bargaining chips. But as the aftereffects of a world-altering spell ripple out physically and culturally, women at last have a bargaining chip of their own. And two women in particular find themselves at the liberating crossroads of change.
-
-
Feminism without Inclusion is not Feminism
- By Salomé AK on 04-18-19
By: Jenna Glass
-
Spinning Silver
- By: Naomi Novik
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father's inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty - until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk - grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh - Miryem's fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered.
-
-
One of my favorite authors. Only 1 small complaint
- By R. W. Olsen on 11-30-18
By: Naomi Novik
-
Nubia: The Awakening
- By: Omar Epps, Clarence A. Haynes
- Narrated by: Amir Abdullah, Emana Rachelle, Jeorge Bennett Watson
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Zuberi, Uzochi, and Lencho, Nubia is a mystery. Before they were born, a massive storm destroyed their ancestral homeland, forcing their families to flee across the ocean to New York City. Nubia, a utopic island nation off the coast of West Africa, was no more, and their parents’ sorrow was too deep for them to share much of their history beyond the folklore. But New York, ravaged by climate change and class division, is far from a safe haven for refugees, and Nubians live as outcasts.
-
-
Too much cursing
- By Maxine on 01-24-23
By: Omar Epps, and others
-
The Blood Trials
- The Blood Gift Duology, Book 1
- By: N.E. Davenport
- Narrated by: Jeanette Illidge
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The blood spilled between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor long ago. The blood gifts of Mareen’s deadliest enemies. The blood that runs through the elite War Houses of Mareen, the rulers of the Tribunal dedicated to keeping the republic alive.
-
-
Fantasy on steroids!
- By Angela T. Williams on 05-14-22
By: N.E. Davenport
-
The Monsters We Defy
- By: Leslye Penelope
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Washington D. C., 1925. Clara Johnson talks to spirits, a gift that saved her during her darkest moments in a Washington D. C. jail. Now a curse that’s left her indebted to the cunning spirit world. So, when the Empress, the powerful spirit who holds her debt, offers her an opportunity to gain her freedom, a desperate Clara seizes the chance. The task: steal a magical ring from the wealthiest woman in the District.
-
-
absolutely perfect!
- By Kindle Customer on 02-22-23
By: Leslye Penelope
-
The Spear Cuts Through Water
- A Novel
- By: Simon Jimenez
- Narrated by: Joel de la Fuente
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—hold the countryside in their choking grip. They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace.
-
-
Unlistenable
- By Justin West on 08-01-24
By: Simon Jimenez
-
The Women's War
- A Novel
- By: Jenna Glass
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 20 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a nobleman’s first duty is to produce a male heir, women are treated like possessions and bargaining chips. But as the aftereffects of a world-altering spell ripple out physically and culturally, women at last have a bargaining chip of their own. And two women in particular find themselves at the liberating crossroads of change.
-
-
Feminism without Inclusion is not Feminism
- By Salomé AK on 04-18-19
By: Jenna Glass
-
Spinning Silver
- By: Naomi Novik
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father's inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty - until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk - grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh - Miryem's fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered.
-
-
One of my favorite authors. Only 1 small complaint
- By R. W. Olsen on 11-30-18
By: Naomi Novik
-
Nubia: The Awakening
- By: Omar Epps, Clarence A. Haynes
- Narrated by: Amir Abdullah, Emana Rachelle, Jeorge Bennett Watson
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Zuberi, Uzochi, and Lencho, Nubia is a mystery. Before they were born, a massive storm destroyed their ancestral homeland, forcing their families to flee across the ocean to New York City. Nubia, a utopic island nation off the coast of West Africa, was no more, and their parents’ sorrow was too deep for them to share much of their history beyond the folklore. But New York, ravaged by climate change and class division, is far from a safe haven for refugees, and Nubians live as outcasts.
-
-
Too much cursing
- By Maxine on 01-24-23
By: Omar Epps, and others
-
The Blood Trials
- The Blood Gift Duology, Book 1
- By: N.E. Davenport
- Narrated by: Jeanette Illidge
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The blood spilled between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor long ago. The blood gifts of Mareen’s deadliest enemies. The blood that runs through the elite War Houses of Mareen, the rulers of the Tribunal dedicated to keeping the republic alive.
-
-
Fantasy on steroids!
- By Angela T. Williams on 05-14-22
By: N.E. Davenport
-
The Priory of the Orange Tree
- By: Samantha Shannon
- Narrated by: Liyah Summers
- Length: 25 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction - but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.
-
-
In a word, WOW
- By Kevin Potter on 03-09-19
By: Samantha Shannon
-
Beasts of Ruin
- By: Ayana Gray
- Narrated by: Keylor Leigh, Benjamin Charles, Yinka Ladeinde
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After having promised to use her new powers to serve Fedu, the cunning god of death, and assist in his plans to remake the world, Koffi finds herself a prisoner in Thornkeep—a luxurious mansion with well-manicured gardens. But Fedu’s beautiful realm is a lie. Koffi and many other darajas are trapped there by a deadly, inscrutable mist, making escape impossible. But something within the mist calls to Koffi, igniting her magic. It soon becomes clear that the very thing imprisoning her could be the key to not only her freedom, but unlocking the remaining mysteries of her own magic.
-
-
plot twists
- By Ronda Dailey on 02-04-25
By: Ayana Gray
-
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
- A Novel
- By: Shannon Chakraborty
- Narrated by: Lameece Issaq, Amin El Gamal
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.
-
-
Not City of Brass, A Fun Swashbuckling Adventure
- By Pele on 03-23-23
-
House of Hunger
- By: Alexis Henderson
- Narrated by: Jeanette Illidge
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marion Shaw has been raised in the slums, where want and deprivation are all she knows. Despite longing to leave the city and its miseries, she has no real hope of escape until the day she spots a peculiar listing in the newspaper seeking a bloodmaid. Though she knows little about the far north—where wealthy nobles live in luxury and drink the blood of those in their service—Marion applies to the position. In a matter of days, she finds herself the newest bloodmaid at the notorious House of Hunger. There, Marion is swept into a world of dark debauchery.
-
-
Definetely was a letdown.
- By LPST on 02-07-23
By: Alexis Henderson
-
Beasts of Prey
- By: Ayana Gray
- Narrated by: Keylor Leigh, Tovah Ott, Ronald Peet
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There’s no such thing as magic in the broken city of Lkossa, especially for sixteen-year-old Koffi, who indentured to the notorious Night Zoo, knows the fearsome creatures in her care and paying off her family's debts to secure their eventual freedom can be her only focus. But the night those she loves are gravely threatened by the Zoo’s cruel master, Koffi unleashes a power she doesn’t fully understand, upending her life completely.
-
-
I like the story........but
- By Squeaky on 08-05-22
By: Ayana Gray
-
The Jasmine Throne
- By: Tasha Suri
- Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Exiled by her despotic brother, princess Malini spends her days dreaming of vengeance while imprisoned in the Hirana: an ancient cliffside temple that was once the revered source of the magical deathless waters but is now little more than a decaying ruin. The secrets of the Hirana call to Priya. But in order to keep the truth of her past safely hidden, she works as a servant in the loathed regent’s household, biting her tongue and cleaning Malini’s chambers.
-
-
I had to stop
- By Evanlee on 07-11-21
By: Tasha Suri
-
Blood Like Magic
- By: Liselle Sambury
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
- Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A rich, dark urban fantasy debut following a teen witch who is given a horrifying task: sacrificing her first love to save her family’s magic. The problem is, she’s never been in love - she’ll have to find the perfect guy before she can kill him.
-
-
Message: Morality is a myth & Balance is essential
- By Timisha on 01-07-22
By: Liselle Sambury
-
Someday, Maybe
- By: Onyi Nwabineli
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Someday, Maybe is a stunning, witty debut novel about a young woman’s emotional journey through unimaginable loss, pulled along by her tight-knit Nigerian family, a posse of friends, and the love and laughter she shared with her husband.
-
-
Gut wrenching & heart warming
- By Ramonè Paris on 06-07-23
By: Onyi Nwabineli
-
Blood Scion
- By: Deborah Falaye
- Narrated by: Liz Femi
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifteen-year-old Sloane can incinerate an enemy at will—she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods. Under the Lucis’ brutal rule, her identity means her death if her powers are discovered. But when she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army on her 15th birthday, Sloane sees a new opportunity: to overcome the bloody challenges of Lucis training, and destroy them from within.
-
-
The whole book took place over a month.
- By A.C. on 04-24-22
By: Deborah Falaye
-
The Final Empire
- Mistborn Book 1
- By: Brandon Sanderson
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 24 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison.
-
-
Prepare for sleepless nights
- By tercia on 10-21-18
-
Demon in the Wood
- A Shadow and Bone Graphic Novel
- By: Leigh Bardugo
- Narrated by: Ben Barnes, Benjamin Valic, Cassandra Morris, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before he led Ravka’s Second Army, before he created the Fold, and long before he became the Darkling, he was just a lonely boy burdened by an extraordinary power. Eryk and his mother, Lena, have spent their lives on the run. But they will never find a safe haven. They are not only Grisha—they are the deadliest and rarest of their kind.
-
-
Too short
- By Julie D on 12-12-22
By: Leigh Bardugo
-
Six of Crows
- By: Leigh Bardugo
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder, Brandon Rubin, Fred Berman, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price - and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone.
-
-
7 Narrators, But That's Not a Good Thing
- By KM on 03-18-16
By: Leigh Bardugo
Critic reviews
“Saara El-Arifi deftly facets every layer of her debut. Epic in scope, its world building as intricate as filigree, The Final Strife sings of rebellion, love, and the courage it takes to stand up to tyranny, following three women whose journeys will keep you gripped to the last.”—Samantha Shannon, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree
“With a heroine with bite, a supporting cast of flawed but deeply human characters, and world building that is raw, unforgiving, and richly textured, The Final Strife is the real deal: epic fantasy turned on its head in the most compelling way imaginable.”—Kalynn Bayron, bestselling author of Cinderella Is Dead and This Poison Heart
“El-Arifi debuts and launches the Ending Fire series with a fast-paced epic fantasy inspired by Ghanian and Arabian folklore. . . . El-Arifi keeps the pages flying even while building an intricate secondary world, allowing readers to learn its rules through action rather than exposition. This sets a high bar for the series to come.”—Publishers Weekly
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The History of a Difficult Child
- A Novel
- By: Mihret Sibhat
- Narrated by: Waceke Wambaa
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wisecracking, inquisitive, and bombastic, Selam Asmelash is the youngest child in her large, boisterous family. Even before she is born, she has a wry, bewitching omniscience that animates life in her Small Town in southwestern Ethiopia in the 1980s. Selam and her father listen to the radio in secret as the socialist military junta that recently overthrew the government seizes properties and wages civil war in the North. The Asmelashes, once an enterprising, land-owning family, are ostracized under the new regime.
-
-
Intriguingly Unusual
- By Mule Maven on 10-07-23
By: Mihret Sibhat
-
This Cursed House
- By: Del Sandeen
- Narrated by: Chanté McCormick
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over. But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma.
-
-
The 1960s setting makes it even more interesting
- By NMwritergal on 11-01-24
By: Del Sandeen
-
My Name Is Venus Black
- A Novel
- By: Heather Lloyd
- Narrated by: Alex McKenna, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Venus Black is a straitlaced A student fascinated by the study of astronomy - until the night she commits a shocking crime that tears her family apart and ignites a media firestorm. Venus refuses to talk about what happened or why, except to blame her mother. Adding to the mystery, Venus’ developmentally challenged younger brother, Leo, goes missing. More than five years later, Venus is released from prison with a suitcase of used clothes, a fake identity, and a determination to escape her painful past.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Yikes on 03-24-18
By: Heather Lloyd
-
Perish
- A Novel
- By: LaToya Watkins
- Narrated by: Jeremy Michael Durm, Keyonni James, Chanté McCormick, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bear it or perish yourself. Those are the words Helen Jean hears that fateful night in her cousin’s outhouse that change the trajectory of her life. Spanning decades, Perish tracks the choices Helen Jean—the matriarch of the Turner family—makes and the way those choices have rippled across generations, from her children to her grandchildren and beyond. This family’s “reunion” unearths long-kept secrets and forces each member to ask themselves important questions about who is deserving of forgiveness and who bears the cross of blame.
-
-
listened twice...great performance
- By Carol on 09-20-22
By: LaToya Watkins
-
The Gardins of Edin
- A Novel
- By: Rosey Lee
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Though regarded as a close-knit family and pillars of the community of Edin, Georgia, the four women of the Gardin family privately know their relationships are rapidly fraying. They struggle to hold the family and its multimillion-dollar peanut business together, as a looming crisis threatens the legacy of their formerly enslaved ancestors.
-
-
Wonderful read
- By kindlecustomer on 01-16-25
By: Rosey Lee
-
The Romantic Agenda
- By: Claire Kann
- Narrated by: Adrienne Walker
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thirty, flirty, and asexual Joy is secretly in love with her best friend Malcolm, but she’s never been brave enough to say so. When he unexpectedly announces that he's met the love of his life—and no, it's not Joy—she's heartbroken. Malcolm invites her on a weekend getaway, and Joy decides it’s her last chance to show him exactly what he’s overlooking. But maybe Joy is the one missing something…or someone…and his name is Fox.
-
-
This book frustrates me, and not because of the asexuality.
- By brownskinblue on 07-16-23
By: Claire Kann
-
The History of a Difficult Child
- A Novel
- By: Mihret Sibhat
- Narrated by: Waceke Wambaa
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wisecracking, inquisitive, and bombastic, Selam Asmelash is the youngest child in her large, boisterous family. Even before she is born, she has a wry, bewitching omniscience that animates life in her Small Town in southwestern Ethiopia in the 1980s. Selam and her father listen to the radio in secret as the socialist military junta that recently overthrew the government seizes properties and wages civil war in the North. The Asmelashes, once an enterprising, land-owning family, are ostracized under the new regime.
-
-
Intriguingly Unusual
- By Mule Maven on 10-07-23
By: Mihret Sibhat
-
This Cursed House
- By: Del Sandeen
- Narrated by: Chanté McCormick
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over. But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma.
-
-
The 1960s setting makes it even more interesting
- By NMwritergal on 11-01-24
By: Del Sandeen
-
My Name Is Venus Black
- A Novel
- By: Heather Lloyd
- Narrated by: Alex McKenna, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Venus Black is a straitlaced A student fascinated by the study of astronomy - until the night she commits a shocking crime that tears her family apart and ignites a media firestorm. Venus refuses to talk about what happened or why, except to blame her mother. Adding to the mystery, Venus’ developmentally challenged younger brother, Leo, goes missing. More than five years later, Venus is released from prison with a suitcase of used clothes, a fake identity, and a determination to escape her painful past.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Yikes on 03-24-18
By: Heather Lloyd
-
Perish
- A Novel
- By: LaToya Watkins
- Narrated by: Jeremy Michael Durm, Keyonni James, Chanté McCormick, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bear it or perish yourself. Those are the words Helen Jean hears that fateful night in her cousin’s outhouse that change the trajectory of her life. Spanning decades, Perish tracks the choices Helen Jean—the matriarch of the Turner family—makes and the way those choices have rippled across generations, from her children to her grandchildren and beyond. This family’s “reunion” unearths long-kept secrets and forces each member to ask themselves important questions about who is deserving of forgiveness and who bears the cross of blame.
-
-
listened twice...great performance
- By Carol on 09-20-22
By: LaToya Watkins
-
The Gardins of Edin
- A Novel
- By: Rosey Lee
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Though regarded as a close-knit family and pillars of the community of Edin, Georgia, the four women of the Gardin family privately know their relationships are rapidly fraying. They struggle to hold the family and its multimillion-dollar peanut business together, as a looming crisis threatens the legacy of their formerly enslaved ancestors.
-
-
Wonderful read
- By kindlecustomer on 01-16-25
By: Rosey Lee
-
The Romantic Agenda
- By: Claire Kann
- Narrated by: Adrienne Walker
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thirty, flirty, and asexual Joy is secretly in love with her best friend Malcolm, but she’s never been brave enough to say so. When he unexpectedly announces that he's met the love of his life—and no, it's not Joy—she's heartbroken. Malcolm invites her on a weekend getaway, and Joy decides it’s her last chance to show him exactly what he’s overlooking. But maybe Joy is the one missing something…or someone…and his name is Fox.
-
-
This book frustrates me, and not because of the asexuality.
- By brownskinblue on 07-16-23
By: Claire Kann
-
I Almost Forgot About You
- A Novel
- By: Terry McMillan
- Narrated by: Terry McMillan
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In I Almost Forgot About You, Dr. Georgia Young's wonderful life--great friends, family, and successful career--aren't enough to keep her from feeling stuck and restless. When she decides to make some major changes in her life, including quitting her job as an optometrist and moving house, she finds herself on a wild journey that may or may not include a second chance at love. Georgia’s bravery reminds us that it’s never too late to become the person you want to be, and that taking chances, with your life and your heart, are always worthwhile.
-
-
I Almost Forgot About You
- By Brown Sugar Carolyn on 06-11-16
By: Terry McMillan
-
Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
- Vintage International
- By: James Baldwin
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the height of his theatrical career, the actor Leo Proudhammer is nearly felled by a heart attack. As he hovers between life and death, Baldwin shows the choices that have made him enviably famous and terrifyingly vulnerable. For between Leo's childhood on the streets of Harlem and his arrival into the intoxicating world of the theater lies a wilderness of desire and loss, shame and rage. An adored older brother vanishes into prison. There are love affairs with a white woman and a younger black man, each of whom will make irresistible claims on Leo's loyalty.
-
-
Long story
- By A. Baulkman on 08-01-24
By: James Baldwin
-
The Art of Prophecy
- A Novel
- By: Wesley Chu
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So many stories begin the same way: With a prophecy. A chosen one. And the inevitable quest to slay a villain, save the kingdom, and fulfill a grand destiny. But this is not that kind of story. It does begin with a prophecy: A child will rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, a cruel immortal god-king, and save the kingdom. And that prophecy did anoint a hero, Jian, raised since birth in luxury and splendor, and celebrated before he has won a single battle.
-
-
Feast of the Girl Bosses
- By maria on 07-31-24
By: Wesley Chu
-
Pride and Protest
- By: Nikki Payne
- Narrated by: Kacie Rogers, Ron Nery Jr.
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Liza B.—the only DJ who gives a jam—wants to take her neighborhood back from the soulless property developer dropping unaffordable condos on every street corner in DC. But her planned protest at a corporate event takes a turn after she mistakes the smoldering-hot CEO for the waitstaff. When they go toe-to-toe, the sparks fly—but her impossible-to-ignore family thwarts her every move. Liza wants Dorsey Fitzgerald out of her hood, but she’ll settle for getting him out of her head.
-
-
The CHEMISTRY
- By Kristen Killen on 09-18-23
By: Nikki Payne
-
The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill
- By: Rowenna Miller
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is no magic on Prospect Hill—or anywhere else, for that matter. But just on the other side of the veil is the world of the Fae. Generations ago, the first farmers on Prospect Hill learned to bargain small trades to make their lives a little easier. Much of that old wisdom was lost as the riverboats gave way to the rail lines and the farmers took work at mills and factories. Alaine Fairborn’s family, however, was always superstitious, and she still hums the rhymes to find a lost shoe and to ensure dry weather on her sister’s wedding day.
-
-
Characters and world building
- By Amandahawkes on 02-14-24
By: Rowenna Miller
-
The Water Dancer (Oprah’s Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Narrated by: Joe Morton
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her - but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known. So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the South to dangerously idealistic movements in the North.
-
-
We Must Always Remember
- By Cammie on 09-28-19
By: Ta-Nehisi Coates
-
In the Upper Country
- A Novel
- By: Kai Thomas
- Narrated by: Milton Barnes, Tymika Tafari, Wesley French
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fates of two unforgettable women—one just beginning a journey of reckoning and self-discovery and the other completing her life's last vital act—intertwine in this sweeping, deeply researched debut set in the Black communities of Ontario that were the last stop on the Underground Railroad. In the Upper Country weaves together unlikely stories of love, survival, and familial upheaval that map the interconnected history of the peoples of North America in an entirely new and resonant way.
-
-
good story
- By Leo Garofalo on 04-14-24
By: Kai Thomas
-
The Unsettled
- A Novel
- By: Ayana Mathis
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the moment Ava Carson and her ten-year-old son, Toussaint, arrive at the Glenn Avenue family shelter in Philadelphia 1985, Ava is already plotting a way out. She is repulsed by the shelter's squalid conditions: their cockroach-infested room, the barely edible food, and the shifty night security guard. She is determined to rescue her son from the perils and indignities of that place, and to save herself from the complicated past that led them there.
-
-
Well that was depressing
- By Holly on 12-05-23
By: Ayana Mathis
-
Las Madres
- A Novel
- By: Esmeralda Santiago
- Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the award-winning, best-selling author of When I Was Puerto Rican, a powerful novel of family, race, faith, sex, and disaster that moves between Puerto Rico and the Bronx, revealing the lives and loves of five women and the secret that binds them together.
-
-
Important piece of work
- By Angie Santiago on 01-01-24
-
Rules for Ghosting
- A Novel
- By: Shelly Jay Shore
- Narrated by: Petey Gibson, Shelly Jay Shore
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ezra Friedman sees ghosts, which made growing up in a funeral home complicated. It might have been easier if his grandfather’s ghost didn’t give him scathing looks of disapproval as he went through a second, HRT-induced puberty, or if he didn’t have the pressure of all those relatives—living and dead—judging every choice he makes. It’s no wonder that Ezra runs as far away from the family business as humanly possible. But when the floor of his dream job drops out from under him, Ezra finds himself back in the thick of it.
-
-
Cozy Spooks
- By Jessica M on 10-31-24
By: Shelly Jay Shore
-
Caucasia
- A Novel
- By: Danzy Senna
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Birdie and Cole are the daughters of a black father and a white mother, intellectuals and activists in the Civil Rights Movement in 1970s Boston. The sisters are so close that they speak their own language, yet Birdie, with her light skin and straight hair, is often mistaken for white, while Cole is dark enough to fit in with the other kids at school. Despite their differences, Cole is Birdie's confidant, her protector, the mirror by which she understands herself. Then their parents' marriage collapses.
-
-
Fabulous all around! ❤️
- By R. Ramanujam on 12-25-24
By: Danzy Senna
-
Unmarriageable
- A Novel
- By: Soniah Kamal
- Narrated by: Soniah Kamal
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this one-of-a-kind retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan, Alys Binat has sworn never to marry - until an encounter with one Mr. Darsee at a wedding makes her reconsider.
-
-
Could be entertaining if not for unlikable heroine
- By Web_mistress on 02-06-19
By: Soniah Kamal
Excellent Book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great storytelling and compelling world building
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Incredible
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I liked it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Absolutely loved this!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I liked.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Triumph over oppression in dystopia landscape
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Additionally, I can't not rave about how refreshing it is to have a predominantly black fantasy series given how white the genre seems to skew. And as if that wasn't enough for me to pick it up, there are so much beautiful queer representation in this book, including the romance btw the two main characters and a couple of trans and nonbinary characters as well.
In short,
Saara El-Arifi I'm obsessed with what you created.
And to anyone thinking about it-
YOU SHOULD ABSOLUTELY READ THIS BOOK.
10/10
I can't wait for book two, and in the mean time I'll be here, re-reading and waiting for the fandom this book deserves to emerge.
Everything I wanted from a fantasy series.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good Read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Beautiful and Detailed.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.