clarabooksit's review
adventurous
inspiring
fast-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
4.5
Absolutely fantastic. The art is beautiful and filled with life and movement, and the story is gripping and powerful. I loved Aiza and her band of would-be squires and how the story interrogates history, who writes it and what truth actually is or isn’t.
I do think more exposition would have helped at some parts and the pacing was a little too fast, but overall I loved it. It’s full of depth and nuance, and the touches of humor added a lot, too. Highly recommend this one.
I do think more exposition would have helped at some parts and the pacing was a little too fast, but overall I loved it. It’s full of depth and nuance, and the touches of humor added a lot, too. Highly recommend this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gaslighting, Racism, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
Moderate: Injury/injury detail, War, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Death and Blood
kaypringle's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? No
5.0
This was hands down one of the most moving and incredible tales I’ve had the chance to read. “Squire” is has an astonishing impact through its nature of being dually remarkable in both its storyline, characters and visuals along with a stunning yet meaningful underlying message about the narrative in which history paints western war torn minority along with the underlying meaning of how the historical narrative of eastern countries is impacted by the “victors” and ones with most influence. As Aiza’s actions demonstrated, we should never stop fighting for change because if we don’t stand against it, what will end the cycle? Please make sure you read this book folks, I hope it touches you as it has me!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, War, and Racism
Minor: Blood
anniereads221's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, War, Violence, Death, Racism, Injury/injury detail, and Xenophobia
pikitat's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
There were some cool concepts, but I felt like a lot there was a lot more that could've been done with them. The quality of the art was alright, but it didn't particularly blow my mind.
Spoiler
I wish they'd made the twist with General Hende less obvious. I wouldn't say this book was subtle about any of its upcoming plot twists, but the reveal with Hende was so unsatisfying because there was absolutely no build-up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and War
Moderate: Violence
luckykosmos's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
The blurb on the cover says the reviewer wanted to live in the world here, and while I agree that the worldbuilding is beautiful, this story itself is firmly about colonialism and the pain in the colonized identity, fighting against that. The author and artist did an amazing job, and I hope we see where these characters end up next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Xenophobia, Genocide, Violence, and War
asexualandriod's review
adventurous
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? It's complicated
3.75
As a white person, it's not my place to discuss the intricacies of the effect of colonialism on those being colonized, but I thought this story was extremely well written. I really felt connected to Aiza and felt her emotions with her. I was surprised when she was surprised; I was confused when she was confused.
I also thought the art was beautiful, and the style suited the story and the setting perfectly.
I also thought the art was beautiful, and the style suited the story and the setting perfectly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Injury/injury detail, Blood, Colonisation, and Fire/Fire injury
rainzephy's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Racism
Minor: Injury/injury detail
anonymous_k's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
Great graphic novel centered around the deconstruction of this tyrannous empire/nation normalizing, protecting, brainwashing, and promoting imperialism and racism—more specifically, supremacist ideologies—through every system to every level. For example, the idea that, in this novel, identifying as Ornu was to identify as inferior, the lowest of low. We’ve seen this traumatic, devastating, and harmful belief/narrative/ideology play out throughout history thousands of times, and this book focuses on how unfounded and backwards imperialism/supremacist ideology is/are, but what, together, they steal, they destroy all for the benefit of the supposed “superior” race. Great book that even though is “fiction,” can be related to the world’s history. Again, phenomenal novel that dissects, dismantles, and disrupts the imperialist/supremacist/racist ideology that is still protected/promoted/praised worldwide.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and War
amcswede15's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
rnbhargava's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
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
4.0
I really loved this book with its Middle East (Jordan I believe specifically) setting and the protagonist from an ethnicity that’s thought of as “the enemy”. The characters are nuanced and not all are what they seem. The characterizations are all spot on. The main fault with this book is that it kind of wraps up a bit too fast. At least there’s a tease for a potential sequel.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Death, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Violence, Trafficking, Gaslighting, Gore, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/injury detail, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia
This book has all of these themes but does it all in a fairly most ages friendly way. Think of the sensibility of a show like “Avatar: The Last Airbender”