We Hunt the Flame

Although We Hunt the Flame takes place in a fictional setting, the novel is directly inspired by ancient Middle Eastern culture, history, and geography, drawing on Hafsah Faizal’s Sri Lankan and Arab heritage. Faizal makes use of cultural signifiers such as names, objects, and practices—among other narrative elements—to create a world inspired by Middle Eastern folklore. As a result, she departs from the prominent Western European framing of contemporary American fantasy and offers an often underrepresented culture within the genre.

The characters’ names, nicknames, and titles are all traditionally Middle Eastern, and their meanings characterize the protagonists. Zafira means “successful”; Nasir means “helper”; Altair means “eagle”; Benyamin means “son of the right hand”; and Kifah means “fight.” The characters’ last names also follow traditional Arabic structure, such as Zafira bint Iskandar (or “daughter of Iskandar”).

The novel’s political hierarchies echo ancient Middle Eastern titles, with the Sultan overseeing five caliphates. References to the Middle East are also made in the geography and customs of Arawiya. When Nasir visits the caliphate of Sarasin, he walks through the sooq, where “[gusts] of desert air carried the musky odor of hot sands” (12) and vendors sell “bolts of fabric in bright colors [.