The son of a librarian, Chris M. Arnone's love of books was as inevitable as gravity. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri - Kansas City. His cyberpunk series, The Jayu City Chronicles, is available everywhere books are sold. My Name Was Baby: An Intersex Memoir, is forthcoming in 2026 from Plainspoken Books. You can find him writing more books, poetry, and acting in Kansas City. You can also follow him on social media (Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, website).
The son of a librarian, Chris M. Arnone's love of books was as inevitable as gravity. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri - Kansas City. His cyberpunk series, The Jayu City Chronicles, is available everywhere books are sold. My Name Was Baby: An Intersex Memoir, is forthcoming in 2026 from Plainspoken Books. You can find him writing more books, poetry, and acting in Kansas City. You can also follow him on social media (Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, website).
When you read a lot of fantasy books like I do, you start to see patterns. Whether it’s the world-building or the magic systems or the stories, you see books trying to replicate the brilliance of Tolkien and the success of Sanderson. I’m not knocking either of those authors, and their influence is powerful. But when a book comes along as an epic fantasy that completely breaks that mold AND delivers a great story? I take notice.
The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi
Enter The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi, the first in the Ending Fire trilogy. It’s set in a harsh world, where people are segregated by the color of their blood. Those with red blood rule. Those with blue blood are peasants. And with clear blood? Their hand and tongues are removed, enslaved for their whole lives as some eternal penance for a long-ago failed rebellion. The story that unfolds circles around three women, one of each color blood, and how their worlds collide.
The magic system is intricate, based on blood and runes, with every clear rule and system in place that must be taught and practiced. The world-building is deep and complicated, oppressive and forcing itself upon the story like the desiccating winds that sweep across the continent every night. But more than anything, it’s the powerful anti-colonial story that takes center stage.
As is always the case, the ruling class has lied to get and keep power. They’ve effectively shaped history to their will, but revolution is imminent. Whether it’s Sylah, the working-class revolutionary infiltrating the upper echelons, or Hassa, the enslaved woman pulling strings from the shadows, those secrets are going to come out. The Final Strife isn’t patterned after a single real-world story of colonialism, but rather reflects our world’s troubled past (and present) with colonialism.
It’s hard to talk too much about The Final Strife without giving away spoilers, but the world that El-Arifi has built really opens up once you proceed to the second and third books in the series, including a satisfying, epic battle that every epic fantasy needs. Add in a complicated and well-done web of romantic subplots with a dash of spice, and The Final Strife is the perfect epic fantasy to break out of the Tolkien and Sanderson archetypes.
Looking for more recommendations? Check out last year’s 20 best fantasy books or these highly influential fantasy reads.
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