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A review by fulltimefiction
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
2.0
Yesterday, I started writing this book's review:
I enjoyed this book more than I expected. I have read Uprooted and loved it (back when it was still cool to like this book), I found Spinning Silver okay and dnf the first Temeraire book, in fact, it was my only dnf this year (I was so bored but I loved the dragon). So I thought maybe my taste changed across the years and Naomi’s books aren’t for me anymore. Glad I was wrong.
*throws it in the bin*
I originally gave this book 4 stars. I did not write a review right away because I knew Naomi received lots of criticism claiming she was being racist in this book. I wanted to review people’s notes to be able to judge for myself because sometimes -let’s face it, the black witch- reviews are partially unfair.
But then I read this now (somehow while reading the book I skipped this sentence was probably distracted or so)
To give some context, El, the heroine, was studying the Arabic language for the first time. She has a dark affinity to magic so the school is always showing her dark and violent spells. The fact that the other Arab character, Ibrahim, is annoying af and follows the American Orion like a puppy didn't help either. If the Middle Eastern Arabs were portrayed in a positive way (anything and no, having a powerful enclave doesn't count), it would've been fine with. We were not.
Her apology on twitter -while better than nothing- is not enough.
God, I’m so done. I’m so so so fed up with people claiming Arabic speakers are terrorists. We lived in fucking fear from Al Qaeda and ISIS. WHO BTW HAD RECRUITS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD INCLUDING UK AUSTRALIA CANADA. AND HEY? LET'S NOT START TALKING ABOUT WHO FINANCED THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. You don't actually think they bought all these arms from their money, right? right.
So yeah I’m feeling quite mad right now.
Someone said bismillah during one of the videos of the Beirut blast and western people started thinking it was a terrorist attack while the guy simply meant in God’s name (this expression basically means omg). Please educate yourselves. We are disgusted by those terrorists who killed more of us, people living in the Middle East, than abroad.
I wanted to praise this book. I was ready to and was even thinking of defending Naomi (the irony), it was fun although it had one of the worst info dump I’ve read in a very long time. But I had enjoyed reading it, I liked the characters. I wanted to read the next book ASAP. It also ended on a high note, not a cliffhanger but enough to want me to read the sequel.
I don’t know what to think now. I’m very heartbroken.
One would think by now I should be used to western views of us, those living in the Middle East. We speak Arabic so we must be terrorists. They know shit about us. But no, they want to be smart about it. Unacceptable really.
If you don't agree with me please read the comments, if you still don't agree but going to repeat something that was already brought up, I won't reply.
*throws it in the bin*
I originally gave this book 4 stars. I did not write a review right away because I knew Naomi received lots of criticism claiming she was being racist in this book. I wanted to review people’s notes to be able to judge for myself because sometimes -let’s face it, the black witch- reviews are partially unfair.
But then I read this now (somehow while reading the book I skipped this sentence was probably distracted or so)
“Predictably, an Arabic worksheet appeared on my desk the instant I sat down that morning. There wasn’t a single word of English on it; the school didn’t even give me a dictionary. And judging by the cheery cartoonish illustrations next to the lines—most notably a man in a car about to mow down a couple of hapless pedestrians—I had the strong suspicion that it was modern Arabic, too. I should’ve got a book on Classical Arabic out of the library before going to class.”
To give some context, El, the heroine, was studying the Arabic language for the first time. She has a dark affinity to magic so the school is always showing her dark and violent spells. The fact that the other Arab character, Ibrahim, is annoying af and follows the American Orion like a puppy didn't help either. If the Middle Eastern Arabs were portrayed in a positive way (anything and no, having a powerful enclave doesn't count), it would've been fine with. We were not.
Her apology on twitter -while better than nothing- is not enough.
God, I’m so done. I’m so so so fed up with people claiming Arabic speakers are terrorists. We lived in fucking fear from Al Qaeda and ISIS. WHO BTW HAD RECRUITS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD INCLUDING UK AUSTRALIA CANADA. AND HEY? LET'S NOT START TALKING ABOUT WHO FINANCED THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. You don't actually think they bought all these arms from their money, right? right.
So yeah I’m feeling quite mad right now.
Someone said bismillah during one of the videos of the Beirut blast and western people started thinking it was a terrorist attack while the guy simply meant in God’s name (this expression basically means omg). Please educate yourselves. We are disgusted by those terrorists who killed more of us, people living in the Middle East, than abroad.
I wanted to praise this book. I was ready to and was even thinking of defending Naomi (the irony), it was fun although it had one of the worst info dump I’ve read in a very long time. But I had enjoyed reading it, I liked the characters. I wanted to read the next book ASAP. It also ended on a high note, not a cliffhanger but enough to want me to read the sequel.
I don’t know what to think now. I’m very heartbroken.
One would think by now I should be used to western views of us, those living in the Middle East. We speak Arabic so we must be terrorists. They know shit about us. But no, they want to be smart about it. Unacceptable really.
If you don't agree with me please read the comments, if you still don't agree but going to repeat something that was already brought up, I won't reply.