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jjjreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Vomit, Dysphoria, Genocide, Hate crime, Bullying, Child death, Grief, War, Xenophobia, Gore, Death, Blood, Body horror, Self harm, Violence, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Police brutality, and Racism
irasobrietate's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
In The Bruising of Qilwa, Jamnia explores morality, responsibility, guilt, and power in a fascinating fantasy inspired by their Persian heritage. Firuz is a refugee who has fled their home in fear of the systematic attacks against the practitioners of Sassanian blood magic. In the Free Democratic City-State of Qilwa, they find a job in the last free clinic in the city, helping to provide healthcare to the thousands of other Sassanian refugees in the poorest part of the city. When Firuz first starts working at the clinic, the city is beset by plague, which hits the cramped Underdocks the hardest. Yet even when the plague has burnt out, Firuz starts seeing a new disease, which they call blood-bruising among their patients - a disease that seems to affect only the patients of their clinic. And even more worrying is that it seems to be caused by blood magic gone awry. Firuz must discover the cause of this blood-bruising not only to heal those afflicted but also to protect the Sassanian refugees who might be attacked should the incompetent and dangerous use of blood magic be made known.
This was a wonderfully immersive book about the dualities of power and control, freedom and oppression, healing and harm. Jamnia grapples with complex questions that have no easy answers: if a people was an oppressor in the past, does that mean they deserve their oppression in the present? If you can save 1000 people should you ignore the suffering of 50 that it causes? At what point of suffering does a risky cure become more imperative than a liveable problem? As in real life, we are not left with simple answers or clear cut heroes and villains; life is far too messy for that. Instead we have people just trying to make the best decisions they can with the knowledge and skills at their disposal. Their choices are deeply human and achingly real.
And threaded through this, the characters' cultures and identities deeply influence their actions and worldviews. Both the highs and lows of Sassanian culture affect how Firuz lives their life and responds to the pressures they experience as a refugee in a city-state that fears their people's presence. One of the most personally affecting for me was the way gender identity and expression were treated. When someone introduces themself, they preface their name with their pronoun. Firuz is nonbinary and had an alignment as a teenager that allowed their body to reflect their identity. Now their brother Parviz has grown old enough to need his own alignment, except they are now cut off from the elder mages who would have performed the alignment and Firuz must try to create an alignment spell that wouldn't damage or destroy Parviz's body. The whole way Sassanians seem to approach gender identity and expression was just so interesting and validating. I just love seeing creative uses of magic for accommodating gender identity.
My one big complaint is I wanted more from the story. More of Sassanian history. More of Qilwa's history. More of Parviz and of Firuz's student Afsoneh. More of Kofi and his work. More of Firuz's place in their new home and amngst the people they now serve at the clinic. This could have easily been 150 pages longer, fleshing out the world and the characters more.
Still, based on this brilliant debut, I will definitely keeping an eye out for Jamnia's work in the future.
This was a wonderfully immersive book about the dualities of power and control, freedom and oppression, healing and harm. Jamnia grapples with complex questions that have no easy answers: if a people was an oppressor in the past, does that mean they deserve their oppression in the present? If you can save 1000 people should you ignore the suffering of 50 that it causes? At what point of suffering does a risky cure become more imperative than a liveable problem? As in real life, we are not left with simple answers or clear cut heroes and villains; life is far too messy for that. Instead we have people just trying to make the best decisions they can with the knowledge and skills at their disposal. Their choices are deeply human and achingly real.
And threaded through this, the characters' cultures and identities deeply influence their actions and worldviews. Both the highs and lows of Sassanian culture affect how Firuz lives their life and responds to the pressures they experience as a refugee in a city-state that fears their people's presence. One of the most personally affecting for me was the way gender identity and expression were treated. When someone introduces themself, they preface their name with their pronoun. Firuz is nonbinary and had an alignment as a teenager that allowed their body to reflect their identity. Now their brother Parviz has grown old enough to need his own alignment, except they are now cut off from the elder mages who would have performed the alignment and Firuz must try to create an alignment spell that wouldn't damage or destroy Parviz's body. The whole way Sassanians seem to approach gender identity and expression was just so interesting and validating. I just love seeing creative uses of magic for accommodating gender identity.
My one big complaint is I wanted more from the story. More of Sassanian history. More of Qilwa's history. More of Parviz and of Firuz's student Afsoneh. More of Kofi and his work. More of Firuz's place in their new home and amngst the people they now serve at the clinic. This could have easily been 150 pages longer, fleshing out the world and the characters more.
Still, based on this brilliant debut, I will definitely keeping an eye out for Jamnia's work in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Medical content
Moderate: Colonisation, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Dysphoria, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide
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