Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

32 reviews

kaistephan's review

mysterious reflective

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Genocide, Violence, Racism, and Dysphoria

lovealwaysadi's review

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Dysphoria, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, Xenophobia, Genocide, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Physical abuse and Violence

avisreadsandreads's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Child death, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Confinement, Colonisation, Self harm, Vomit, Dysphoria, and Torture

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

lunacurlypaws's review

challenging emotional tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Medical content

Moderate: Xenophobia

sophiesmallhands's review

challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Xenophobia, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Colonisation, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Hate crime, Body horror, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit

idun_aurora's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

A short but impactful read! I do enjoy a fantasy mystery. Great setting, great characters, just beautiful and emotional. The depiction of sibling relationships is touching and genuine, so much so I could almost hear my own baby sisters whining about eggplant in the food at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical trauma, Dysphoria, Bullying, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Abandonment, Grief, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, and Xenophobia

ra22ouille's review

adventurous emotional 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? No

3.0

I loved the queerness of this works and think it was fine really well in a world building way and in how it was tied to the plot. 
Overall mostly enjoyable but I didn't like the pacing. I thought the timing of all the plot points was a bit sloppy and it left me bored at points, especially the beginning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Blood

Moderate: Violence

jenna_smuszkiewicz's review

emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

I really liked this book though there were a few things that did take down my rating. 

Things I loved:

1. The casual queerness in the book. The main character is a non-binary aroace person and I am also one so I loved seeing that representation! There are several other queer characters from the main character's trans brother and other side characters that had different pronouns and orientations. 
2. The characters. The characterization of the characters was easily my favorite part of the book. Especially for Firuz, they are explored really well. I want so much more of these characters. 

What I wanted more of:

1. I want a map of this world so bad. I know it can be expensive to hire an artist and everything but I would have loved a map for the city we are set in and the world at large. 
2. More exploration of the magic system. I mostly got the gist of the magic system but I'm still confused about the details. I wish it was explained more. 

What I didn't like:

1. The ending really confused me. Spoilers for the antagonist:
   I was confused by what happened with Kofi. How does his spell infect other people? Why was he not concerned with causing this new disease? How exactly does his spell work? Why did he suddenly turn so violent against Firuz?
   What happened with the antagonist really soiled the end for me and brought down my rating. 

Still, I am so glad I read this book. I want more from this world and I'm excited to see more from this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Vomit, and Violence

decaying's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Hate crime, Blood, Colonisation, Medical content, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Bullying and Dysphoria

Minor: War and Genocide

amandadevoursbooks's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

Firuz-e Jafari, his mother, and his brother left everything to immigrate to Qilwa. They fled terrifying attacks of a bird and a mysterious land-based assailant intent on wiping out Sassanian blood magic practitioners. 

In Qilwa, Firuz finds a job at a free clinic, a mentor, a friend, and a young ward. They discover a horrible illness that seems like the result of untrained blood magic. Firuz has to find what's causing it, keep their brother and young ward safe, and hide their own magic. All while,  they face xenophobic othering.

This book examines what it's like when colonial powers shift and the colonizer becomes the refugee of its former colony. It describes an unending stream of uneasy, morally grey decisions. 

The magic system, the history, and the clashing cultures could have drug the story down. By centering the story in Firuz's relationships, Jamnia gave the story a beating heart that drives the reader forward. 

I loved the teenagers really acting as teenagers. I adored the friendly mortician. I immersed myself in the QueerINormalized world. I will definitely look forward to reading more by this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Medical content, War, Blood, and Xenophobia