Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

48 reviews

chughes5's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Genocide, Racism, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kayladaila's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide and Fire/Fire injury

lovealwaysadi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Physical abuse and Violence

silentquercus's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Medical content, and Colonisation

Minor: Genocide

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

---

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.

---

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

---

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

---

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

idun_aurora's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

A short but impactful read! I do enjoy a fantasy mystery. Great setting, great characters, just beautiful and emotional. The depiction of sibling relationships is touching and genuine, so much so I could almost hear my own baby sisters whining about eggplant in the food at times.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, and Medical content

Moderate: Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Colonisation, and Dysphoria

Minor: Self harm and Fire/Fire injury

content warnings provided by the author: Medical racism Ethnically motivated violence Former colonization/empire Descriptions of a refugee/migration crisis Mentions of genocide Discussions/handling of a plague Child death Disordered eating behavior Mostly mild self-harm (for magic reasons) Body dysmorphia from gender dysphoria (and related medical transitions) Discussions of trauma, including past (childhood) physical abuse (for magic reasons) Implied child neglect Body horror and medical gore, including graphic descriptions of corpses