Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

72 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

nina_rae_131's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I wish it was longer. I want to know more about the world and Firuz’s past.  
I liked how gender was portrayed in this book. I also enjoyed the commentary on how refugees are treated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Medical content

Moderate: Gore and Xenophobia

Minor: Genocide, Vomit, Grief, and Death of parent

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

justcallmeemily's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Dysphoria

Minor: Vomit, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

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

thelonelywizard's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

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

mnstarr's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, and Dysphoria

Minor: Torture and Death of parent

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