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A review by tsamarah
Squire by Sara Alfageeh, Nadia Shammas
adventurous
challenging
lighthearted
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
Squire is one of my most-prized findings after scouring Twitter for new graphic novel readings. It tells the story of a young girl named Aiza, who wants to join the empire's knighthood in exchange for full citizenship as she and her family are part of a subjugated ethnic group. As she dives into the training to become a knight, she soon learns that not everything is as fine and honorable as she thinks they are.
The graphic novel is only one volume with nine to ten chapters overall, however, it delivers such a poignant example of how occupation is done by a dominating empire in the old times. The duality of Aiza's role in the narrative is the pivotal element in understanding the devotion to give your loyalty to the nation that dictates your life versus the struggle to survive as part of the minority; Aiza aims to raise her family's socio-economic status by willingly joining the Bayt-Sajji Empire's knighthood despite their ethnicity being Ornu, a small section of the racial group with a horrendous negative perception of being poor and barbaric on the land, yet, her aim cannot be fulfilled unless she hides true herself—an ironic feat that countless minorities have done to preserve their existence in the unfair world.
Shammas and Alfageeh also point out the breaking of perception nurtured by the government versus the reality of the people—an example of this perfectly showcased through the friends Aiza discovers in her training days: Husni, Sahar, and Bassem. Husni and Sahar remain the more conscious and accepting people. Meanwhile, Bassem displays the agony of diaspora between acknowledging the ugly truth and denying it under the pressure of holy duty and class-encouraged perception due to this more privileged and isolated upbringing.
Visual presentation-wise, this reeks of a classic showcase of Western graphic novels. However, I find it rich in cultural representation of the complexities of the settings drawn as well as the clothes worn by the characters. Shammas and Alfageeh pay a beautiful, nuanced tribute to their respective Palestinian and Jordanian customs in this narrative.
If there's anything I want to comment on, it is the fact that I wish there would be more chapters, or the graphic novel itself being serialized into several volumes until Aiza and her friends can reach a revolution. I would love to see Shammas and Alfageeh dig deeper into the role, and hopefully, they will come back to this graphic novel someday and do such a thing.
The graphic novel is only one volume with nine to ten chapters overall, however, it delivers such a poignant example of how occupation is done by a dominating empire in the old times. The duality of Aiza's role in the narrative is the pivotal element in understanding the devotion to give your loyalty to the nation that dictates your life versus the struggle to survive as part of the minority; Aiza aims to raise her family's socio-economic status by willingly joining the Bayt-Sajji Empire's knighthood despite their ethnicity being Ornu, a small section of the racial group with a horrendous negative perception of being poor and barbaric on the land, yet, her aim cannot be fulfilled unless she hides true herself—an ironic feat that countless minorities have done to preserve their existence in the unfair world.
Shammas and Alfageeh also point out the breaking of perception nurtured by the government versus the reality of the people—an example of this perfectly showcased through the friends Aiza discovers in her training days: Husni, Sahar, and Bassem. Husni and Sahar remain the more conscious and accepting people. Meanwhile, Bassem displays the agony of diaspora between acknowledging the ugly truth and denying it under the pressure of holy duty and class-encouraged perception due to this more privileged and isolated upbringing.
Visual presentation-wise, this reeks of a classic showcase of Western graphic novels. However, I find it rich in cultural representation of the complexities of the settings drawn as well as the clothes worn by the characters. Shammas and Alfageeh pay a beautiful, nuanced tribute to their respective Palestinian and Jordanian customs in this narrative.
If there's anything I want to comment on, it is the fact that I wish there would be more chapters, or the graphic novel itself being serialized into several volumes until Aiza and her friends can reach a revolution. I would love to see Shammas and Alfageeh dig deeper into the role, and hopefully, they will come back to this graphic novel someday and do such a thing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Colonisation