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historic_wince's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Medical content
Moderate: Vomit, Torture, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, Genocide, Religious bigotry, and Physical abuse
ofbooksandechos's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, and Child death
Moderate: Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Dysphoria, and Colonisation
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Self harm
content warnings provided by the author: Medical racism Ethnically motivated violence Former colonization/empire Descriptions of a refugee/migration crisis Mentions of genocide Discussions/handling of a plague Child death Disordered eating behavior Mostly mild self-harm (for magic reasons) Body dysmorphia from gender dysphoria (and related medical transitions) Discussions of trauma, including past (childhood) physical abuse (for magic reasons) Implied child neglect Body horror and medical gore, including graphic descriptions of corpsesfareehareads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
reflective
tense
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? Yes
4.0
Originally intended to be a short story exercise of medical fiction, the story of Fairuz and company transformed into something more. We follow a small family of Sassanian refugees fleeing the city of Dilmun where Sassanian blood magic practitioners are being persecuted (the queendom of Dilmun was an allegory for the Muslim conquest in Iran). Fairuz, their trans younger brother Parvaiz, mother, and recently adopted orphan named Afsoneh, try to find peace in the city of Qilwa which notoriously hates Sassanians. Fairuz meets a healer named Kofi who runs a clinic that helps people despite their refugee status or financial situation, and just when things seem to be going well, they discover a magical ailment infecting Qilwa called blood-bruising. Corpses begin to come in the local mortuary in odd states and Fairuz uses all of their medical and magical knowledge to figure out the cause & find a cure.
For such a short piece of fiction, the world building in this book was immediately easy to pick up and felt quite grounded. The idea of environmental magic, blood magic, and structuralists had basic rules to function and limitations that wouldn't make any magic user all powerful.
The mentor and student relationship between Afsoneh, an untrained blood adept (magic user) and Fairuz an inexperienced teacher was so heartwarming. The difficulties Fairuz faced simply through lack of access and fear of something going terribly wrong were frustrating and so real. I felt for each of these characters so heavily. This book is heartwarming, raw, emotional, and at some points downright gruesome. If you don't like medical procedures or tons of blood, skip this one! But if you want to explore an extremely unique magic system and learn a bit about the refugee experience through fiction, this is the one for you.
For such a short piece of fiction, the world building in this book was immediately easy to pick up and felt quite grounded. The idea of environmental magic, blood magic, and structuralists had basic rules to function and limitations that wouldn't make any magic user all powerful.
The mentor and student relationship between Afsoneh, an untrained blood adept (magic user) and Fairuz an inexperienced teacher was so heartwarming. The difficulties Fairuz faced simply through lack of access and fear of something going terribly wrong were frustrating and so real. I felt for each of these characters so heavily. This book is heartwarming, raw, emotional, and at some points downright gruesome. If you don't like medical procedures or tons of blood, skip this one! But if you want to explore an extremely unique magic system and learn a bit about the refugee experience through fiction, this is the one for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Blood, and Self harm
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Violence
theirgracegrace's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
A powerful and heart-wrenching debut from Naseem Jamnia. Firuz is trying to raise their family of refugees from a nearby country under military occupation in the free city of Qilwa. However, to make ends meet, they have to hide their blood magic abilities while working in the one free hospital in the city. As they do, they discover a mysterious plot is rising, and only blood magic could be to blame. An incredible story from a queer-normative world that really speaks to the southwest Asian immigrant experience. The twist is one I did not see coming in the slightest, and the ending gave me hope for the characters' broken world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria, Genocide, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Self harm, Torture, Body horror, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Racism, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Medical content, War, Bullying, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Police brutality, Classism, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Vomit and Transphobia
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
booksthatburn's review against another edition
It feels like it’s taking forever to get anywhere. It’s so short that I made it over halfway through but I’m not enjoying it and I keep reading other things instead of making any progress.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria
Moderate: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, and Death
Minor: Child abuse, Genocide, Excrement, Self harm, and Death of parent
anxiousnachos's review
4.0
I thought this was a really fab little novella! I read it it one sitting. I thought the world was so interesting, I loved the way it explored oppression, how do you come to terms with being oppressed when your people once were the oppressors. I think it has a lot of parallels to the idea queer white people should really sit with more, that yes they are oppressed because of their queerness but also the oppressor due to their whiteness. I thought the novella explored this well. I also really liked the way Firuz’s character played out, their responsibility torn between family and community, their student and self, the guilt they felt, they were so well-characterised in such a short novel. And of course, the medical blood magic!! Dark, gory, excellent.
I also very much appreciated the way queerness, especially transness, was woven into the magic of the story. The way transitioning was handled in the magic system, the style of introducing yourself, I loved this.
I definitely think it could have worked really well as a longer novel, it is such a richly built world with very detailed political, historical and magical systems but I think Jamina did well to fit in a lot of content about the world and history and politics in such a short book. Would love to read more work in this world!
Content warnings: Blood and gore, medical content, mass death/plague, body horror, colonisation, assault, poverty, self harm (for magic), refugee crisis, genocide, racism (particularly medical racism), body dysphoria, physical child abuse (past), death, graphic descriptions of corpses
I also very much appreciated the way queerness, especially transness, was woven into the magic of the story. The way transitioning was handled in the magic system, the style of introducing yourself, I loved this.
I definitely think it could have worked really well as a longer novel, it is such a richly built world with very detailed political, historical and magical systems but I think Jamina did well to fit in a lot of content about the world and history and politics in such a short book. Would love to read more work in this world!
Content warnings: Blood and gore, medical content, mass death/plague, body horror, colonisation, assault, poverty, self harm (for magic), refugee crisis, genocide, racism (particularly medical racism), body dysphoria, physical child abuse (past), death, graphic descriptions of corpses
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Genocide, Racism, Dysphoria, Medical content, Death, Body horror, Colonisation, Child abuse, Child death, and Blood
thereadingskeleton's review
mysterious
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? Yes
Rep: all-QBIPOC cast, nonbinary aroace MC, trans m SC, tons of other queer SCs (including sapphic, achillean, and nonbinary characters)
The Bruising of Qilwa introduces a queernormative Persian-inspired fantasy world with the story of Firuz-e Jafari, a nonbinary (and aroace!) refugee and practitioner of misunderstood blood magic. Having fled their homeland to escape the attempted genocide of blood magic users, Firuz and their family settle in the Free Democratic City-State of Qilwa. Firuz obtains a job at a free healing clinic and begins mentoring an orphaned refugee with powerful but untrained blood magic. With the city barely recovered from its last plague, Firuz is horrified to discover a deadly new disease sweeping through Qilwa—a disease with clear ties to blood magic. To protect themself, their family, and their new home, Firuz must both discover the source of the disease AND navigate the city’s complicated sociopolitical landscape.
Look, I know my own taste by now. I know that novellas rarely do it for me. But I keep picking them up in the hopes that the next one will be an exception. And you know what? I did actually enjoy this one!
Although it does fall victim to my usual complaints about novellas (primarily that I would rather have a fully fleshed-out novel so that the plot, pacing, and characters get the time and attention they deserve), I enjoyed spending time with the characters, learning about the world, and trailing along after Firuz while they gathered clues and figured out the mystery of the new disease.
The mystery part of the story seemed fairly obvious to me (for context, though, I don’t think I’ve been surprised by a twist in fifteen years), but I like what the author was going for in terms of spurring discussions about morality and cycles of prejudice. The author has mentioned plans for more stories set in this world, and I’m excited for that. I’d love to learn more about the magic system and spend some time in the areas surrounding Qilwa.
As a final note, I saw this compared to The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg, and I agree that they have similar vibes. If you enjoyed that one, this one is worth giving a shot.
The Bruising of Qilwa introduces a queernormative Persian-inspired fantasy world with the story of Firuz-e Jafari, a nonbinary (and aroace!) refugee and practitioner of misunderstood blood magic. Having fled their homeland to escape the attempted genocide of blood magic users, Firuz and their family settle in the Free Democratic City-State of Qilwa. Firuz obtains a job at a free healing clinic and begins mentoring an orphaned refugee with powerful but untrained blood magic. With the city barely recovered from its last plague, Firuz is horrified to discover a deadly new disease sweeping through Qilwa—a disease with clear ties to blood magic. To protect themself, their family, and their new home, Firuz must both discover the source of the disease AND navigate the city’s complicated sociopolitical landscape.
Look, I know my own taste by now. I know that novellas rarely do it for me. But I keep picking them up in the hopes that the next one will be an exception. And you know what? I did actually enjoy this one!
Although it does fall victim to my usual complaints about novellas (primarily that I would rather have a fully fleshed-out novel so that the plot, pacing, and characters get the time and attention they deserve), I enjoyed spending time with the characters, learning about the world, and trailing along after Firuz while they gathered clues and figured out the mystery of the new disease.
The mystery part of the story seemed fairly obvious to me (for context, though, I don’t think I’ve been surprised by a twist in fifteen years), but I like what the author was going for in terms of spurring discussions about morality and cycles of prejudice. The author has mentioned plans for more stories set in this world, and I’m excited for that. I’d love to learn more about the magic system and spend some time in the areas surrounding Qilwa.
As a final note, I saw this compared to The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg, and I agree that they have similar vibes. If you enjoyed that one, this one is worth giving a shot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Body horror, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death
Moderate: Self harm, Colonisation, and Dysphoria
Minor: Genocide
onthesamepage's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-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
4.0
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
It's amazing how much world building can fit in such a short book. I loved learning about the society, the history of colonization, the different types of magic, and the different religions that went along with that. The author did a great job telling me about the world without being very obviously infodumping, just by inserting small details and explanations that never disturbed the flow of the story.
The plot is probably where this novella is at its weakest, simply because it tried to do too much. There's a new, mysterious disease, and our main character is trying to find out where it comes from and how it's spreading, but they are also busy with training someone to use a secret type of magic. Both of these storylines could've been their own novella, and combining them means that neither really reached its full potential. The reveal about the disease and its cause came out of nowhere for me, and I would've liked this to be more of a mystery book than it ended up being.
It's amazing how much world building can fit in such a short book. I loved learning about the society, the history of colonization, the different types of magic, and the different religions that went along with that. The author did a great job telling me about the world without being very obviously infodumping, just by inserting small details and explanations that never disturbed the flow of the story.
The plot is probably where this novella is at its weakest, simply because it tried to do too much. There's a new, mysterious disease, and our main character is trying to find out where it comes from and how it's spreading, but they are also busy with training someone to use a secret type of magic. Both of these storylines could've been their own novella, and combining them means that neither really reached its full potential. The reveal about the disease and its cause came out of nowhere for me, and I would've liked this to be more of a mystery book than it ended up being.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Colonisation
tinybluepixel's review
adventurous
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I was provided with an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much!
3.5 ....... 3.75 stars? This was good, but gosh, do I wish this was a full-blown novel instead of a novella.
Firuz arrives as a refugee/immigrant in Qilwa, a city that in the past has been ravaged by plague, and starts working at a free clinic run by a healer named Kofi. As they work there, a new disease emerges, which Firuz calls the blood-bruising.
Ultimately, the story felt too big for it's low page count. There is the underlying mystery of the blood-bruising, the immigration politics and analogies to the real-world occupation of Iran, the oppression of different peoples who then also become oppressed by something else, the feeling of being a stranger to one's own body, gender identities in general, body dysmorphia, transitioning, chosen family and its makings, a whole magic system, and the interconnection of all those issues with the magic system. It actually all feels organic and well-developed, but the page count is far too low for the potential of this exploration. Add to that the obscene amount of medical scenes (maybe I'm just way too stupid for the whole balancing-of-the-humors and blood-clotting aspects of medicine), but it ends up being fragmented, even a bit shallow, because nothing can be handled in the depth it deserves.
Not to say that this little book doesn't raise important questions - because it does. It definitely makes you think. However, I think it just needed a little bit more room to breathe.
3.5 ....... 3.75 stars? This was good, but gosh, do I wish this was a full-blown novel instead of a novella.
Firuz arrives as a refugee/immigrant in Qilwa, a city that in the past has been ravaged by plague, and starts working at a free clinic run by a healer named Kofi. As they work there, a new disease emerges, which Firuz calls the blood-bruising.
Ultimately, the story felt too big for it's low page count. There is the underlying mystery of the blood-bruising, the immigration politics and analogies to the real-world occupation of Iran, the oppression of different peoples who then also become oppressed by something else, the feeling of being a stranger to one's own body, gender identities in general, body dysmorphia, transitioning, chosen family and its makings, a whole magic system, and the interconnection of all those issues with the magic system. It actually all feels organic and well-developed, but the page count is far too low for the potential of this exploration. Add to that the obscene amount of medical scenes (maybe I'm just way too stupid for the whole balancing-of-the-humors and blood-clotting aspects of medicine), but it ends up being fragmented, even a bit shallow, because nothing can be handled in the depth it deserves.
Not to say that this little book doesn't raise important questions - because it does. It definitely makes you think. However, I think it just needed a little bit more room to breathe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Medical trauma, Medical content, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Self harm, Chronic illness, Violence, and Xenophobia