Reviews with content warning for Violence - Squire

I'm always down for some anti-military critique. the second half was too rushed for its own good tho, it didn't hit as much as it could. it's a good story. too bad it didn't get more pages to unravel the change in everyone's minds more slowly

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kissfist's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense 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

4.5

Histories are neutrals tools until they are wielded, and Palestinian-American author Nadia Shammas asks us to confront the stories we are told and that we tell ourselves, including hers, in a quick read that is remarkable visual story telling from artist Sara Alfageeh.

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apple_atcha_reading's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

A compelling and wonderful story with beautiful artwork.

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rainbowrocky's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

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pheebabeeba_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring 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? No

4.5

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saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.5

Beautiful art with warm, saturated colors and a story that deals with themes of militarism, colonialism, and xenophobia. Steeped in an underrepresented historical culture. It's pretty simple, handling the themes by subverting what one would expect from this kind of story, particularly by being critical of the empire. Though I wish the characters had more dimension.

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goodthingsread's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.0

This was a delightful read. The art was interesting, a sort of polished unpolished style full of energy and movement. The story of Aiza and Doruk also kept my interest and was fun to read through. I do wish I could have gotten more about all the other characters, including Hende. It seems to be a standalone novel, and graphic novels don't always allow for <i>the most</i> background on characters since you're limited to the cells and making things cohesive in a visual manner. But I do wish I could get a little bit more about the other characters' motivations. There's precious little for Sahar and Basem has the most background, but a lot of that I got from reading into what was there, not what the book elaborated on.

I would prefer this as a series, because the ending does feel a little bit off, like the beat of the story was established and then we suddenly went to a half-step.

In hindsight, I might have rated this more of a 3.5, but I can see from other reviews and from the writer and artist's own notes that this kind of representation means a lot, so it's easy to round up rather than down. It is nice to have a different look and culture to the characters rather than the same old English inspired knights.

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ehmannky's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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

4.5

A lovely graphic novel set in a fantasy empire and explores the ways that young people can work to reject and fight against (or not) imperialism and colonialist mindsets. I thought that the themes of anti-colonialism were depicted in a way that is accessible for a teen audience, the characters were wonderful, I enjoyed the artwork, and the story is well-paced and thought out. It felt incredibly relevant to the world we're living in right now.

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