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A review by incipientdreamer
The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
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
4.25
Buckle up everyone, because this is going to be a loong review. This book fueled my feminist rage and I was in a constantly ranty mode while reading this. A phenomenal debut; I cannot wait to read the sequel after that cliffhanger of an ending!
The Daughters of Izdihar was everything I wanted by a novel marketed as "two women's quest to fight for women's rights in an Egypt-inspired world with elemental magic". I have read a couple of fantasy books that tackle sexism on a large scale, centring on a group of women fighting for their basic human rights, and while I usually enjoy most of them, The Daughters of Izdihar hits home more than those other books. Part of the reason might be because the world feels so real and close to me. I grew up in a conservative South Asian Muslim country where religious dogma and extremism meant that women were treated as sub-human creatures. A lot of the struggles depicted in Elsbai's book are still rampant/normalized in countries such as my own. Not to mention the feminist revolution taking place in Iran is eerily similar to how the Daughters are treated in this book. Elsbai shows us the ugly truth of the patriarchal society we live in, a place where women are denied the right to vote, go out on their own, sign legal documents, and not be allowed to pursue education. This is the reality faced by women and young girls in Afghanistan and Saudia Arabia. Women who dare to speak out are jailed and beaten and abused.
Both of Elsbai's leading characters are unique perspectives on how sexism affects women differently depending on their social class. Nehal, a wealthy sheltered woman, who doesn't really care about the consequences of her actions because she has her wealth and privilege to fall back on is a study of how most rich women might not care about misogyny in society because they are so sheltered. Meanwhile, Giorgina coming from a poor household, and having no security in life has a more muted or hesitant perspective in fighting for her rights. Not to mention the numerous other members of the Daughters who each have their own circumstances and choose to fight their battles accordingly. I feel like depictions like this, show that there is no such thing as a bad feminist.
I loved the character development of both characters, how Nehal eventually opens her eyes to injustice, and how Giorgina finally gains the courage to live her own life, by stepping out of the shadow cast by her controlling father. Another thing I found interesting was how Nico, Giorgina's love interest was shown to be a very passive person when it came to matters that did not affect him that deeply. It showed the lack of initiative by many men who claim to be "allies".
This book is also unapologetically queer which given the community it's set in, hits painfully home for me. The writing is nothing extraordinary but for a debut book, I would say it's still pretty good given other recent debuts. The worldbuilding is lush and you can see the author's love for her culture in the way she describes the foods and architecture. The magic system is very Avatar-style elemental magic, and I'm excited to learn more about Nehal and Giorgina's growing powers in book two.
The Daughters of Izdihar takes the patriarchy and rips it to shreds. We desperately need more WOC writing books about feminism because they shed light on how underprivileged women in underdeveloped countries are still suffering. Unfortunately, the racist bias in the publishing industry is obvious, given the lack of marketing this book had. Seems like people only care about domestic violence when Collen Hoover rights about it...
Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own
The Daughters of Izdihar was everything I wanted by a novel marketed as "two women's quest to fight for women's rights in an Egypt-inspired world with elemental magic". I have read a couple of fantasy books that tackle sexism on a large scale, centring on a group of women fighting for their basic human rights, and while I usually enjoy most of them, The Daughters of Izdihar hits home more than those other books. Part of the reason might be because the world feels so real and close to me. I grew up in a conservative South Asian Muslim country where religious dogma and extremism meant that women were treated as sub-human creatures. A lot of the struggles depicted in Elsbai's book are still rampant/normalized in countries such as my own. Not to mention the feminist revolution taking place in Iran is eerily similar to how the Daughters are treated in this book. Elsbai shows us the ugly truth of the patriarchal society we live in, a place where women are denied the right to vote, go out on their own, sign legal documents, and not be allowed to pursue education. This is the reality faced by women and young girls in Afghanistan and Saudia Arabia. Women who dare to speak out are jailed and beaten and abused.
Both of Elsbai's leading characters are unique perspectives on how sexism affects women differently depending on their social class. Nehal, a wealthy sheltered woman, who doesn't really care about the consequences of her actions because she has her wealth and privilege to fall back on is a study of how most rich women might not care about misogyny in society because they are so sheltered. Meanwhile, Giorgina coming from a poor household, and having no security in life has a more muted or hesitant perspective in fighting for her rights. Not to mention the numerous other members of the Daughters who each have their own circumstances and choose to fight their battles accordingly. I feel like depictions like this, show that there is no such thing as a bad feminist.
I loved the character development of both characters, how Nehal eventually opens her eyes to injustice, and how Giorgina finally gains the courage to live her own life, by stepping out of the shadow cast by her controlling father. Another thing I found interesting was how Nico, Giorgina's love interest was shown to be a very passive person when it came to matters that did not affect him that deeply. It showed the lack of initiative by many men who claim to be "allies".
This book is also unapologetically queer which given the community it's set in, hits painfully home for me. The writing is nothing extraordinary but for a debut book, I would say it's still pretty good given other recent debuts. The worldbuilding is lush and you can see the author's love for her culture in the way she describes the foods and architecture. The magic system is very Avatar-style elemental magic, and I'm excited to learn more about Nehal and Giorgina's growing powers in book two.
The Daughters of Izdihar takes the patriarchy and rips it to shreds. We desperately need more WOC writing books about feminism because they shed light on how underprivileged women in underdeveloped countries are still suffering. Unfortunately, the racist bias in the publishing industry is obvious, given the lack of marketing this book had. Seems like people only care about domestic violence when Collen Hoover rights about it...
Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Police brutality, and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Abortion, and Sexual harassment