Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

29 reviews

nessynoname's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

This book has a lot of things going for it, but I found myself wanting it to give a little more. I really do think it could have used an extra hundred pages at least. 

The concepts are all fantastic: a medical-fantasy story set in a queernormative Persian inspired world, with themes of immigration, xenophobia, conquest and class struggle. It is clear that the author writes from such a informed place as a person with a medical background and both Persian and queer identity. I just wish they would take more time with their exposition and character building. 

I feel like I still don't have a very firm grasp on the history/geopolitics of this region because it is all delivered in very quick little spurts throughout the narrative. The characters too, feel... alright, but I don't know that I would really say that I really came to know any of them deeply. 

I picked this book up for its asexual representation, and this is definitely an instance of the "it's not a big deal" kind of representation, where main character Firuz has a moment of internal narration noticing their brother acting flirty and sheepish to another character and Firuz ponders the contrast to their own disinterest to romance and sex, and that's all that's made of it. This is perfectly fine and an important form of representation, though I am personally currently hungry for some books of characters exploring their ace identities more at length. For those who are maybe not ace/aro but who prefer books with no romantic themes this will do nicely. 

This is a good book, and worth the time, it just needed a bit more to be a great book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Death, Xenophobia, Vomit, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Racism and Injury/Injury detail

quinnyquinnquinn's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, and Dysphoria

Minor: Vomit and Fire/Fire injury

kimapede's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Self harm, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Racism, Vomit, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

buttermellow's review against another edition

informative mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Vomit

avisreadsandreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Self harm, Torture, Vomit, Colonisation, and Dysphoria

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

madzie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

The amazing magic system and cool, in-depth writing about healing and the body really makes this book come to life. Unfortunately, while the worldbuilding was good, I wanted a better understanding of it. I enjoyed how it wasn't shoved down the reader's throat at the expense of the story, but I still felt like I wanted more context. At times, it even left me feeling a little lost and confused. The characters were solid, very dynamic, and had great and engaging relationships with each other, and I loved the unashamed queerness! However, I wanted to know more about the characters to feel a connection to them (perhaps a fallout of the length). Additionally, the writing is excellent and straightforward while still being descriptive and capturing the reader's imagination.

The plot was structured pretty basically but used effectively, and the shortness of the book seemed to be used more to its advantage than other short books I've read. The ending was very predictable, but the "villain's" motivation was interesting, so I wasn't too upset for guessing what was happening early. The themes are so pertinent to our time and explore disease, class, and poverty very well. While Jamina makes an inquisitive look into how humans have treated, taken over, and killed one another for generations, I feel like the book could have benefited from more exploration into how horrifying, unquestionably wrong, and detrimental genocide, prejudice, forced assimilation, and loss of culture are.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Dysphoria

Minor: Vomit

This book gets deeply and blatantly into medical aspects of the body, sickness, and death with explicit descriptions.

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Hate crime, Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit

caseythereader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Dysphoria

historic_wince's review against another edition

challenging reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Genocide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jaaay_reads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I really liked this book though there were a few things that did take down my rating. 

Things I loved:

1. The casual queerness in the book. The main character is a non-binary aroace person and I am also one so I loved seeing that representation! There are several other queer characters from the main character's trans brother and other side characters that had different pronouns and orientations. 
2. The characters. The characterization of the characters was easily my favorite part of the book. Especially for Firuz, they are explored really well. I want so much more of these characters. 

What I wanted more of:

1. I want a map of this world so bad. I know it can be expensive to hire an artist and everything but I would have loved a map for the city we are set in and the world at large. 
2. More exploration of the magic system. I mostly got the gist of the magic system but I'm still confused about the details. I wish it was explained more. 

What I didn't like:

1. The ending really confused me. Spoilers for the antagonist:
   I was confused by what happened with Kofi. How does his spell infect other people? Why was he not concerned with causing this new disease? How exactly does his spell work? Why did he suddenly turn so violent against Firuz?
   What happened with the antagonist really soiled the end for me and brought down my rating. 

Still, I am so glad I read this book. I want more from this world and I'm excited to see more from this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Vomit