Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

12 reviews

bea__reads's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical trauma, Body horror, and Medical content

Moderate: Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Xenophobia

Minor: Dysphoria, Child death, and Torture

chughes5's review

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Bullying, Dysphoria, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Body horror, Racism, and War

trickphoenix's review

mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

2.5

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. All of the plot threads were conceptually very interesting to me, but I found the execution was lacking. 

There were way too many plots going on for a novella, and I felt they didn't get enough time individually to develop. The medical mystery itself I found compelling and it kept me going through the rest, but the interpersonal drama was tense and frustrating without feeling particularly cathartic, and there was never quite enough context given to drive home any of the points about imperialism and changing cultural identity as oppressor vs oppressed, which is a shame since the author seemed to be so thoughtful and knowledgeable on those topics! There just wasn't enough pages to really explore them. 

The writing itself was also sometimes confusing; I found myself going back to re-read a few lines to see if I missed some context connecting the thoughts, but didn't find any connection between the two lines at all.

I really liked the extremely diverse inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters, and the seamless inclusion of introductory pronouns and neo-pronouns. I also found the magic system very interesting, and I was excited for the setting. But ultimately I think the delivery wasn't quite there yet. I'd definitely be interested in reading more work from this author to see how they grow and improve though.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Hate crime, Murder, Child death, Violence, Gore, and Classism

Minor: Self harm, Physical abuse, and Torture

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

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

hendrixpants's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Medical content

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. 

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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

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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

katieo156's review

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

2.75

Interesting premise that would have been great if fleshed out more. With such a short page count it was impossible to effectively build the world, history, and magic system without leaving gaps. I'll definitely keep an eye out for what the author writes next and hope it's a bit longer! I really liked the blend of magic and science and the diversity of the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Murder, and Blood

clarabooksit's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Death, Blood, and Racism

Minor: Dysphoria, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and War