Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Bruising of Qilwa

Really well executed book that engages both magic and empire in a way I haven't often seen done! I'm always excited for magic-as-science and this definitely fit the bill. Also really liked how gender and transition was handled with this, where it was relevant to the characters and the story but not necessarily the point.

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storyorc's review against another edition

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hopeful informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

A thoughtful and detailed political landscape playing host to lovely characters with tragic yet believable flaws.

I especially enjoyed that the queernorm elements of the setting were different depending on the culture - not only nice but worldbuilding too! Kofi knowingly nicknaming Firuz they-Firuz after the Dilmuni style of introduction that was foreign to him was such a dad joke that it instantly established his character and the relationship he would take with Firuz. The differences in gender healthcare between their home and Qilwa provoke a whole subplot with their transitioning brother. Jamnia leverages their worldbuilding very elegantly to add depth.

Blood magic is described with a cool level of detail too. I was not surprised to learn Jamnia is a neuroscientist. The chair they use in training reminded me of the Guardian's techniques in NK Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy and brought all the same agonising over whether it can be justified again. I would have liked the magical mechanics we were taught throughout the book to have played a bigger role in the final confrontation, however. The technical aspects of that confrontation seemed to go so far beyond what we had learned that they felt a bit deus-ex-machina'ed to me. I also couldn't help wishing Firuz could have

tried Kofi's ideas, via a less murderous methodology. He was groping at a beautiful combination of their practices, only for the story to relax into the playing God/man-gone-too-far trope that felt oddly anti-intellectual for such an intelligent protagonist. But perhaps I'm being naïve

.

Despite the cruelties in the setting, this book felt very safe and kind thanks to its main character. They spend most of the narrative working themselves to the bone for their community. It is nice, but I was most interested in them in the moments they were questioning their assumptions about blood magic, their training, and their culture's complicated history. Afsoneh, on the other hand, kept me guessing whether she would be able to control herself or become a real problem. I might have found the story more engaging from her perspective but I don't at all regret listening to this version.

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andy2_27's review

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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nessynoname's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This book has a lot of things going for it, but I found myself wanting it to give a little more. I really do think it could have used an extra hundred pages at least.

The concepts are all fantastic: a medical-fantasy story set in a queernormative Persian inspired world, with themes of immigration, xenophobia, conquest and class struggle. It is clear that the author writes from such a informed place as a person with a medical background and both Persian and queer identity. I just wish they would take more time with their exposition and character building.

I feel like I still don't have a very firm grasp on the history/geopolitics of this region because it is all delivered in very quick little spurts throughout the narrative. The characters too, feel... alright, but I don't know that I would really say that I really came to know any of them deeply.

I picked this book up for its asexual representation, and this is definitely an instance of the "it's not a big deal" kind of representation, where main character Firuz has a moment of internal narration noticing their brother acting flirty and sheepish to another character and Firuz ponders the contrast to their own disinterest to romance and sex, and that's all that's made of it. This is perfectly fine and an important form of representation, though I am personally currently hungry for some books of characters exploring their ace identities more at length. For those who are maybe not ace/aro but who prefer books with no romantic themes this will do nicely.

This is a good book, and worth the time, it just needed a bit more to be a great book.

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trips's review

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A beautifully written novella about extremely current topics set in a very interesting magic world. I appreciate the inclusion of non-binary and trans character in a setting where others are fine with whatever you see yourself as but who/what you want to be perceived still very important to the identity of the characters themselves.
The other themes of the book, facing oppression as someone who's people were previously oppressor's, is not quite expanded as much as I wish it had been. Honestly I think this novella needed to be fully fleshed out into a full novel. The author has good ideas, just would have liked more of it to really understand the world and feel more invested in the character motivations.

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chughes5's review

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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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trickphoenix's review

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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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kaistephan's review

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mysterious reflective

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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