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
sammy_nor's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Police brutality, Misogyny, and Violence
Moderate: Grief and Classism
Minor: Homophobia
verinvaldez's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
2.0
I nearly DNFed this book but since it's so short and I was already halfway through I decided to finish it. It wasn't the book I was expecting, I was told it was like Avatar the Last Airbender in an Egyptian-inspired fantasy world and therefore was expecting a major focus on the magic aspect. However this is a book primarily focused on politics, women's suffrage, class and female weavers stuggling to control their abilities.
As other reviews have said, the magic system is the exact same as bending in ATLA. A certain plot point was taken directly from ATLA. Which unfortunately made the magic aspect fairly dull because it was too derivative, I expected inspired by ATLA not exactly the same system.
Nehal was a very irritating character, highly stubborn and I found her impossible to like as she appears to be completely disconnected from reality, failing to understand the consequences of her actions and only proceeds to get even angrier when things don't go her way. Nico barely felt like a character, he has somewhat progressive opinions in this world but he just does whatever the plot is asking of him and most of the time he's just pining after Giorgina. Giorgina was the most interesting character to me because she is far more grounded in reality than Nehal and Nico are, however she wasn't compelling.
I am not invested enough in these characters or this world to have any interest in reading the upcoming second book in this duology. Absolutely nothing is resolved by the end of this book, it is all just setup for the next book so don't expect a satisfying ending going into this.
On the positive side, I enjoyed reading a book where the setting is inspired by Egypt, the descriptions of the clothing were fascinating and the political ideas were interesting but the themes weren't married together well.
As other reviews have said, the magic system is the exact same as bending in ATLA. A certain plot point was taken directly from ATLA.
Spoiler
There is a reveal where the waterweaver main character Nehal accidentally bloodweaves and bloodweaving is highly forbidden and kept secret, I'm pretty sure the reason she gets kidnapped at the end of the book is because she is a bloodweaver and she is going to be used by the enemy kingdom as a weapon.Nehal was a very irritating character, highly stubborn and I found her impossible to like as she appears to be completely disconnected from reality, failing to understand the consequences of her actions and only proceeds to get even angrier when things don't go her way. Nico barely felt like a character, he has somewhat progressive opinions in this world but he just does whatever the plot is asking of him and most of the time he's just pining after Giorgina. Giorgina was the most interesting character to me because she is far more grounded in reality than Nehal and Nico are, however she wasn't compelling.
I am not invested enough in these characters or this world to have any interest in reading the upcoming second book in this duology. Absolutely nothing is resolved by the end of this book, it is all just setup for the next book so don't expect a satisfying ending going into this.
On the positive side, I enjoyed reading a book where the setting is inspired by Egypt, the descriptions of the clothing were fascinating and the political ideas were interesting but the themes weren't married together well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, and Confinement
Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Violence, Classism, and Biphobia
Minor: War, Gun violence, Abortion, Grief, and Kidnapping
quinnyquinnquinn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Police brutality, Misogyny, Violence, and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Homophobia
Minor: Alcohol, Abortion, Grief, Child abuse, and Confinement
ellieanor's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Violence and Sexual harassment
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.
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
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. Djèlí 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. Djèlí 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.blkbbyfem's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
3.5
3.5 stars
To be honest, I found myself extremely annoyed for the first 60% of this book. Both fmc were annoying. Nehal was so selfish and a tad naive while Giorgina
had a lot of internal conflict. Although I found them annoying, I thought their struggles were authentic, relevant and interesting given their family dynamics. I also enjoyed how their characters develop. The conflict they had to experience was perfectly done and I’m really looking forward to how the story continues and what’s next for the ladies.
Other thoughts: there were a lot of characters to keep up with but I enjoyed what personality each of them brought. The men were horrible and Elsbai deserves credit for authenticity. There was also a lot of repetitive description ie “wide dark eyes”, a little variety or less description would have been okay.
To be honest, I found myself extremely annoyed for the first 60% of this book. Both fmc were annoying. Nehal was so selfish and a tad naive while Giorgina
had a lot of internal conflict. Although I found them annoying, I thought their struggles were authentic, relevant and interesting given their family dynamics. I also enjoyed how their characters develop. The conflict they had to experience was perfectly done and I’m really looking forward to how the story continues and what’s next for the ladies.
Other thoughts: there were a lot of characters to keep up with but I enjoyed what personality each of them brought. The men were horrible and Elsbai deserves credit for authenticity. There was also a lot of repetitive description ie “wide dark eyes”, a little variety or less description would have been okay.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Gun violence
Moderate: Sexism and Sexual harassment
Minor: Abortion and Homophobia