katbenimble's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
tense
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
4.5
My biggest complaint about this book is that the sequel isn't our 🤣ðŸ˜.
Overall, I loved the characters and the magic and also the revolution piece. Will be very interested to see where the story goes in book 2!
Overall, I loved the characters and the magic and also the revolution piece. Will be very interested to see where the story goes in book 2!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Police brutality, Classism, Bullying, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Gun violence
Minor: Abortion, Sexual assault, and War
smoore236's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Sexism, and Police brutality
Moderate: Hate crime, Death, and Misogyny
Minor: Homophobia, Sexual harassment, and Outing
fromjuliereads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I have too many thoughts so will update with a review later.Â
My biggest thought right now: not sure why the magic system was literally lifted out of Avatar the Last Airbender with the only change being "bending" called "weaving" instead...
My biggest thought right now: not sure why the magic system was literally lifted out of Avatar the Last Airbender with the only change being "bending" called "weaving" instead...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexism, and Gaslighting
Moderate: War, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Abortion, Classism, Grief, Gun violence, Outing, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, and Violence
internationalreads's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexism, Violence, Alcohol, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Abandonment, Blood, Gun violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Abortion
cacole's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Murder, Classism, Death, Police brutality, and Abortion
Minor: Homophobia
ender24's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, War, Xenophobia, Ableism, Biphobia, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Grief, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Outing, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, and Violence
tigger89's review against another edition
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I try to be generous with books, particular when they're first in a series(in this case, The Alamaxa Duology). Sometimes themes aren't developed until later books, and judging characters before they fully develop feels a bit like bullying a child who's still trying to find their place in the world. But all of that said, there were some things I have serious issues with in this book, things that I doubt are going to get better in the second part. Even though there were other aspects that I really liked, I find it incredibly difficult to look past the things that I thought were horrible.
I'll start with what I liked. The setting was gorgeous, and I loved how familiar locations(the map is basically northern Africa and the Mediterranean rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise) and cultures were re-imagined into this fantasy world. This is the second fantasy version of Egypt I've read about recently(the first being P. Djèlà Clark's A Master of Djinn), and of the two it's my favorite setting. I did have to read with google up on my phone to check terminology frequently, but it wasn't any more bother than flipping back to a glossary, which is a familiar exercise for any fantasy reader. I also loved the examination of how social standing grants privilege, particularly in regard to putting yourself and others at risk in the context of protest and activism.
I liked the magic system — divided by element into Earthweaving, Waterweaving, Airweaving, and Fireweaving — well enough, but as a long-time fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender I couldn't help but notice that Weaving was almost exactly Bending. Seriously. You could do a find-replace, that's how close it is. So no wonder I thought it was cool, because I really like A:TLA's magic system. I did appreciate how in Daughters of Izdihar the type of powers weren't determined by character origin, so you weren't constrained to weaving a certain element just because of who your parents were.
Moving on to what I was less fond of, right off the bat I felt that the writing style was a bit odd. I felt like things were moving along at a fast clip, but like I was being told about them rather than getting a chance to truly appreciate them alongside the characters. I noticed this strongly for the first several chapters, but I can't tell if this dropped off as the story got into full swing or if I just got used to it. I also felt that some of the dialogue was anachronistic. The story had a period fantasy feel to it, not medieval but not modern either, but every so often a character would swear like they were in the 21st century. It knocked me out of my immersion every time that happened.
And now we get to the thing I really didn't like. I love a good shades of gray story, where the morals aren't clear and sometimes the ends have to justify the means, but in order to pull this off the shades of gray have to be explored in the story. In this book, the protagonists would do questionable things in the pursuit of good over and over again, and essentially shrug off any criticism. It seemed as if the audience was meant to nod along with them as the objecting characters were dismissed. Particularly inexcusable was the treatment of Nico. After how Nehal treated him in the first half of the book, particularly her dismissal of his obvious distress, I found it next to impossible to like her as a character. And then he just got over it, like it had never happened, and the story didn't bother to examine this at all or act like it was anything less than entirely appropriate.
I grew up around a particularly toxic type of feminism that, frankly, treated it as amusing when women hurt men, like it was some kind of karmic payback. It took me longer than I care to admit to realize how horrible this was, and to distance myself from it. The feminism elements of this story remind me very strongly of something I would've thought was cool back when I still thought that was positive empowerment for women. As I said at the beginning of this(long, sorry) review, it's entirely possible that the author is aware of all these things and intends to wrap them up in the second book. But all I have in front of me is the first book, and given the lack of any kind of reflection on or complex consideration of these themes(in contrast to the themes of class and privilege, which were handled very well), I'm not holding out much hope that they'll be treated any better in the second half of the story.
I'll start with what I liked. The setting was gorgeous, and I loved how familiar locations(the map is basically northern Africa and the Mediterranean rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise) and cultures were re-imagined into this fantasy world. This is the second fantasy version of Egypt I've read about recently(the first being P. Djèlà Clark's A Master of Djinn), and of the two it's my favorite setting. I did have to read with google up on my phone to check terminology frequently, but it wasn't any more bother than flipping back to a glossary, which is a familiar exercise for any fantasy reader. I also loved the examination of how social standing grants privilege, particularly in regard to putting yourself and others at risk in the context of protest and activism.
I liked the magic system — divided by element into Earthweaving, Waterweaving, Airweaving, and Fireweaving — well enough, but as a long-time fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender I couldn't help but notice that Weaving was almost exactly Bending. Seriously. You could do a find-replace, that's how close it is. So no wonder I thought it was cool, because I really like A:TLA's magic system. I did appreciate how in Daughters of Izdihar the type of powers weren't determined by character origin, so you weren't constrained to weaving a certain element just because of who your parents were.
Moving on to what I was less fond of, right off the bat I felt that the writing style was a bit odd. I felt like things were moving along at a fast clip, but like I was being told about them rather than getting a chance to truly appreciate them alongside the characters. I noticed this strongly for the first several chapters, but I can't tell if this dropped off as the story got into full swing or if I just got used to it. I also felt that some of the dialogue was anachronistic. The story had a period fantasy feel to it, not medieval but not modern either, but every so often a character would swear like they were in the 21st century. It knocked me out of my immersion every time that happened.
And now we get to the thing I really didn't like. I love a good shades of gray story, where the morals aren't clear and sometimes the ends have to justify the means, but in order to pull this off the shades of gray have to be explored in the story. In this book, the protagonists would do questionable things in the pursuit of good over and over again, and essentially shrug off any criticism. It seemed as if the audience was meant to nod along with them as the objecting characters were dismissed. Particularly inexcusable was the treatment of Nico. After how Nehal treated him in the first half of the book, particularly her dismissal of his obvious distress, I found it next to impossible to like her as a character. And then he just got over it, like it had never happened, and the story didn't bother to examine this at all or act like it was anything less than entirely appropriate.
I grew up around a particularly toxic type of feminism that, frankly, treated it as amusing when women hurt men, like it was some kind of karmic payback. It took me longer than I care to admit to realize how horrible this was, and to distance myself from it. The feminism elements of this story remind me very strongly of something I would've thought was cool back when I still thought that was positive empowerment for women. As I said at the beginning of this(long, sorry) review, it's entirely possible that the author is aware of all these things and intends to wrap them up in the second book. But all I have in front of me is the first book, and given the lack of any kind of reflection on or complex consideration of these themes(in contrast to the themes of class and privilege, which were handled very well), I'm not holding out much hope that they'll be treated any better in the second half of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Police brutality
Moderate: Outing, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Abortion and Classism
There's a somewhat explicit scene where the point of view character undergoes a virginity check. This is depicted as violating.starrysteph's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The Daughters of Izdihar is filled with elemental magic, female rage, and freedom fighters. However, to me it fell a bit flat and didn’t bring anything new to the genre.
We follow two young women from very different backgrounds in an Egyptian-inspired magical world.Â
Nehal is the wealthy daughter of an aristocrat, forced into an arranged marriage in order to save her family from financial ruin. But what she truly wants is to nurture her waterweaving skills and someday join the first ever all-female regiment of the army.Â
Giorgina is a poor bookshop worker, struggling to suppress her uncontrollable earth weaving power. She’s in love with a man who cannot publicly be with her and secretly writes for the Daughters of Izdihar, a women’s rights group.
Both women connect unexpectedly as they yearn for women’s equality and struggle to make their own choices and live (& love) freely.
The writing wavered at times - it feels very clear to me that this is a debut. Sentences were often a bit choppy or repetitive, dialogue was unnatural, and the plot felt familiar to many other fantasy reads (elemental magic has been done so often & it wasn’t really included in a new way here).
It was a bit draining to input all the sexism, and to see the women’s rights group fall into the same cycles. New protest idea, it gets squandered by men and/or corrupt politicians and police, women have to reformulate, and so on. This is most of the book, and it’s copied & pasted straight from history.
I also felt like Nehal was a stronger character - with a bit more character development. I was antsier reading from Giorgina’s POV, and didn’t care much for her conflict with her love interest. It felt like she was just one-dimensionally tossed in to suffer at the hands of various men. Contrastingly, Nehal’s growth (both in uncovering the realities of her world and discovering her sexuality) was more engaging.
But even so - the queer plotlines (Nehal’s and a random side character who shows up at two convenient moments) felt underdeveloped. And Nehal’s impulsivity grew a little tiring, alongside her unbelievably fast rise in skill with waterweaving. She also NEVER faced any consequences for her harmful actions … and it’s not particularly clear why she desires to be part of the women’s rights movement in the first place. She can’t even be bothered to read the magazines.Â
I felt like there were interesting ideas here - with the setting and with the characters - that simply weren’t explored enough.Â
CW: sexism, misogyny, murder, death, homophobia, lesbophobia, police brutality, sexual harassment, sexual assault, classism, gun violence, grief, war, abortion
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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual harassment, Classism, Body shaming, War, Abortion, Misogyny, Gun violence, Death, Homophobia, Confinement, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Sexism, and Grief
teatowel's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? Yes
3.5
I just couldn't help comparing this book to Avatar the Last Airbender. The setting, so oppressive towards women and LGBTQ+, made it hard for me to get into this book. It just made me sad whenever I read, but towards the last hundred pages the pace picked up.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, War, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, and Violence
powellki's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Police brutality
Moderate: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Homophobia