Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

39 reviews

odunayo_y's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Racism, Violence, and Dysphoria

Minor: Genocide and Colonisation

helen_jackets's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

You can tell Naseem Jamina is a former neuroscientist! The medical magic system was well-explained and extremely cool. I enjoyed reading this medical mystery that also examined various aspects of social injustice. I would have liked the book to be longer, as I feel many characters did not get enough character development, but the length also allowed me to read it in a day. It was also set in a world where pronouns are introduced along with your name and apparently homophobia/transphobia/sexism do not exist, which was refreshing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Bullying and Racism

themdash's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Self harm, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Dysphoria

gncilluffo's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Genocide, Racism, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Racial slurs and Vomit

taratearex's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Gore, Racism, and Xenophobia

treereadingabook's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, and Blood

zydecovivo's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Bullying, Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War

flyinglark's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Racism, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide, Physical abuse, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Oh this book is GOOD! The way it explores its characters and its central themes, the way Naseem Jamnia creates and develops an entire world in so few pages... yes yes yes.

The blood magic was fascinating and dark, and I feel like we receive just enough information about it for its role in the story to land the way its supposed to. The main character and the antagonist are both well-meaning, flawed people. The plot didn't go the way I expected, and it was much more compelling than what I was expecting!

And I loved reading the author's afterword at the end of the book. I generally try to judge books on their own merits, but I do think that authorial intent is relevant, and I always love a thoughtful reflection on why something was written. It made me appreciate the book even more.

The beginning was a bit rough. I didn't get into the book right away. But was I was engaged, I finished the rest of it in one day. I look forward to more from this author/this world!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Racism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

thegillbird's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, and Blood