A review by taratearex
The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

First read 2023
Reread 2024

I really enjoy this little novella! Despite being a novella, it's dense with worldbuilding and strong characters, the world feels fully realized, yet leaves so many questions that it could have easily been a full length novel delving deeper. The writing is also dense, at times a bit hard to follow or doesn't quite flow, but still quite enjoyable and I look forward to more from this author. I absolutely loved the queer normative world and nonbinary and trans main characters, would love for a this to be a series of novellas in this universe. 
The audiobook is excellent, read by one of my favorite narrators Fajer Al-Kaisi. My first read was the audiobook alone and given the dense worldbuilding, I preferred having the physical book this time, but I still listened to the audiobook because I just love the narration. 
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