Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

28 reviews

taratearex's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

First read 2023
Reread 2024

I really enjoy this little novella! Despite being a novella, it's dense with worldbuilding and strong characters, the world feels fully realized, yet leaves so many questions that it could have easily been a full length novel delving deeper. The writing is also dense, at times a bit hard to follow or doesn't quite flow, but still quite enjoyable and I look forward to more from this author. I absolutely loved the queer normative world and nonbinary and trans main characters, would love for a this to be a series of novellas in this universe. 
The audiobook is excellent, read by one of my favorite narrators Fajer Al-Kaisi. My first read was the audiobook alone and given the dense worldbuilding, I preferred having the physical book this time, but I still listened to the audiobook because I just love the narration. 
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caseyaboutthroughout's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Aroace nonbinary rep. Genderdiversity is the norm. 

Takes a bit of focus to grasp the political landscape of the story. Philosophical and complex. I feel like I’d have to read it more than once to fully appreciate. 
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zydecovivo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I started seeing this book on tons of list for it's asexual and nonbinary representation, so I decided to read it. 
 
The story follows Firuz, a refugee who seeks to become a healer due to their magical abilities. However, Firuz must hide their main magical talents, which is blood healing. Firuz and their family's struggle to get by in a society that hates and fears refugees. There are also mystery illnesses spreading among the patients that Firuz is desperate to find the cause of. 
 
I will admit that it took me a lot of reading to get into this story. While the world seems interesting, I found it difficult to read due to the blatant xenophobia the characters face. And the climatic mystery does not really appear until the final section of the story. This was a very short novel, but I wonder if it would have benefitted from being expanded since I already found the novella length difficult. I did not really understand the magical systems or history that I felt was required to empathize with both our protagonists and antagonists. However, after reading the author's description of the story, attempting to imagine a place where the colonizer is displaced and colonized, I feel better about the story as a whole. Firuz is explicitly nonbinary and asexual, with supporting characters that are also queer and this is one of the few LGBTQ stories I've read that is not a romance. It was a good start and I would be interested in reading similar stories. 
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mnstarr's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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flyinglark's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The Bruising of Qilwa is a snapshot into the queer-normative fantastical Persian-inspired world. Naseem Jamnia always intended it to be a novella, but their worldbuilding left me hungry for more. The magic systems were easy to grasp and rooted in the science we know. 

I enjoyed how Firuz was a relatively "normal" protagonist, a thirty-year-old provider for their family who fled from their home country and does not rock the boat. Jamnia also highlights the nuances of immigration and being prideful of one's culture, as they mention, "[w]hat does it mean to be oppressed when you were once an oppressor."

I look forward to future work from this author, especially future works in this world. 
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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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bea__reads's review against another edition

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4.5

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letsgolesbians's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

wow, i did not know how much i needed to step into a queernornative world. it was a much needed comfort.

confession: i do not world build in my head when i read books. i rarely imagine the characters. which is one of the reasons i rarely read adult fantasy and i am not really the person to listen to when it comes to adult fantasy—i can’t tell you if the magic system or world or conflict made sense because it usually doesn’t make sense to me anyway. i can talk to you for hours about the magic systems in disney movies but that’s about it.

what i can tell you is that i loved the nuance in this book—the protagonist and antagonist are not hero and villain, the problem has been caused by an attempt at healing, and the problem is solved in a way that does not make the protagonist a winner.

in the author’s note, they say they didn’t initially intend to examine the question “what does it mean to be oppressed when you were once an oppressor?” but found themself writing about it as they deepened the story. i think the question, which firuz (the mc) asks themself several times throughout the book, strengthened the story and the character development. jamnia relates it to their being persian and persian history, and about unlearning things they originally never questioned about empire.

this is a quick read and i recommend it for fellow queer folks who want or need to step into a queernormative world.


photo review here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5GmLQLr6VQ/?igsh=NzBmMjdhZWRiYQ==
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prosenheim's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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eni_iilorak's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
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