This book is soooo good. I love the idea of blood magic. It is at once unique but also very familiar. The story is engaging and heart stirring. Wonderful piece of art!

The powerful message on survival and fear in this dark fantasy tale is worth praising but the story's potential could be explores better in a longer format. Regardless, the narrative focusing on a nonbinary refugee and blood-magic user while navigating in a city-state during a deadly disease outbreak effectively explores themes of marginalization and family.

I wanted to really like this book, and the first half of it got me interested, but the second one was way too different. When I expected things to get interesting, it was just more of Firuz's interaction with the other characters as if nothing was happening, and when something really called my attention, it was all too rushed for me to enjoy it. It would have been better as a full-length novella that focused more on the blood-disease impacting the characters' lives.

You know, I’ve started this novella so many times over the past year, and I struggled to get into it every time. Not sure what was going on in my life then, because when I picked it up again less than a week ago, it was suddenly exactly what I needed. The high fantasy, the world building, the magic: suddenly, it all clicked, and I LOVED this story.

The Bruising of Qilwa is (get this) a medical high fantasy addressing very uncomfortable topics around war, refugees, and caregiving. Naseem Jamnia brought a new perspective to my views of contemporary issues, and also challenged me to delve into a new, unknown world that I had never seen on a video game or a movie.

I don’t completely understand all the workings of this world, but I do know that I want more of it.

This was a fascinating medical fantasy, which dealt with a lot of interesting post-colonial topics in a short space of time. I loved the relationship between Feruz and their siblings and thought that the author got the tone of exasperated love for one's family absolutely spot on. The mystery of the blood bruising was compelling and the world building was well done. I thought the different magic systems on display were good although I would have enjoyed a little bit more expansion on the environmental magic system. Overall, this was a really enjoyable read and I will definitely read from this author in the future.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book is an absolute gem.
It's an engrossing quick read, that I wish I had more of cause I love the world so much.
It is a wonderfully Persian inspired and queer normative fantasy, which is enough in itself, but it also has some intriguing blood magic and science that actually coincides, and I can't get over that. It just mixes so well!
I was completely enthralled from the beginning, although towards the ending the pace picks up and it becomes even more enthralling. I couldn't put it down! I had to know what happened!
I would definitely love to see more queer normative fantasy books like this one!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Read this book!

I absolutely loved The Bruising of Qilwa. From the excellent world-building to the blood magic this book manages to enchant and capture the readers attention. Part refugee story, part medical mystery this story manages to have several subplots while seamlessly weaving everything together. Firuz-e is a complex main character who works so hard to not only provide a better life for their family, but also those around them in the city. I loved the family dynamics, the magic, and the world in which the story was set. The only thing I wanted was more! Hoping for a full length novel set in this world so we can see more of the magic, world, and politics.

Wasn't able to finish the book in time because I was busy. Liked the first bit though, so I'll probably buy it one day to be able to read the rest of the book!

Firuz-e Jafari (they/them) is the aroace enby protagonist I needed, an 11 on a scale of 1-10. Firuz is a blood mage and a refugee in a world that vilifies both. They find work in a clinic using their blood magic to diagnose illnesses during a plague. Meanwhile, the government of Qilwa amplifies popular opinion against migrants as the assumed source of said plague. Firuz is a carer and an older sibling. They're providing for their family, hiding their identity, teaching a younger blood mage how to use their abilities, and trying to learn the necessary spells to help their trans brother more closely align with his gender physically. It's a set of procedures, some of which they underwent when they were younger, but not ones they've ever performed. All these pressures build up, but Firuz doesn't lose sight of their convictions or their dedication to their family despite every hardship.

The Bruising of Qilwa gifts us a queernorm, Persian-inspired world where people introduce themselves with their pronouns along with their names. Gender alignment spells are available if not easy to procure, and all kinds of partnerships seem accepted and welcome. Despite these bright spots, it's still a world bedeviled by othering, politics turning refugees fleeing untenable conditions into greedy usurpers. Firuz must navigate their concept of home and procure tenuous safety for their family and community with Qilwan political maneuverings as an unwelcome backdrop.

As an aroace human, Firuz's relief about not going through puberty as an allosexual person is a breath of fresh air, and I need more of that positive energy in my life. It's hard to welcome that kind of enthusiasm, and casually aroacephobic attitudes in fiction don't help much. I ~am~ grateful when given the opportunity to consider it, so this book's support is meaningful to me. Trans visibility is always important, and while I'm not an ownvoices reviewer in that respect, I appreciate both Firuz and their brother's experiences for showing the emotions and individuality around gender expression and transition. The more we normalize a spectrum, the more people will feel comfortable and seen. The commentary on migrants is sadly always timely. I live in a country where they're routinely treated like garbage, and Jamnia shines a light on the intersection with public health that we should all consider more deeply (i.e. that it's a political game that doesn't benefit everyone equally).

This is a shorter book that has a big heart and impact. It manages to pack in a complex narrative and deep emotions, so definitely check it out. Thanks to Tachyon for my copy to read and review!

I had really high expectations for this, since I've seen it recommended a lot, and maybe my expectations were simply too high, but this book fell kind of flat for me.

I loved seeing such a queernormative world, and I thought the writing was good, but I found the world building very confusing and underexplained, and I thought the characters were really flat. I'm a character-driven reader, and I could barely tell you any personality trait of the main character, which is the main reason why this book didn't work for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book early! I adored this book and I can confidently say that I have not read a fantasy book quite like this before. I am always pleased when fantasy authors choose to make their worlds queernorm and I will admit it was a strong draw to this book at first. And then I dove into the story and was hooked.
Each of the characters felt fully developed from the start but it was exciting to witness their further metamorphoses as the story progressed. The intersections of power and vulnerability are at play in this complex novel about a mysterious epidemic and I would recommend this to any fantasy lover. One of my favorite things about fantasy is that, when done correctly, it can be used as an effective tool to address and examine real-world issues. And this book does an excellent job of doing so.

Of course it is hard to convey the religions, politics, and cultures of a fantasy world based on real history in a piece of short fiction, but at no point did I have a full understanding of what was going on behind the scenes of the flimsy medical mystery in The Bruising of Qilwa, and I suspect it's not only due to my own limited intellectual capabilities. Alas: the (self-)reflection on colonialism in afterword is worth 5 stars.

I will start this by stating that I look forward to Naseem Jamnia's future books, this one however, is lacking a bit.

This book is simply too short, or perhaps Jamnia attempted to write this book too early in her career. There is so much world building that was necessary and yet it was absent. There are so many conversations that are touched upon, like colonization, but Jamnia falls short of executing these criticisms in her writing. It's clear that the historical aspects of the story are important to the author but she fails to write that for us. The story does have it strengths and is still worth a read, but I wish we could've gotten this at a later time when the author had developed it more so that we could truly feel its impact.

Read this book with an open mind, enjoy it for what it is, but be prepared to be left wanting.

I've been meaning to read this novella ever since I got the arc because I know the author (they edited a short story of mine) and it did not dissapoint! A refugee finds work as a healer in their new home but must hide their affinity for blood magic as a plague sweeps the city and fingers begin pointing at the dangerous and often misunderstood work of blood mages. Great sibling relationships and I really appreciated the complicated interplay of marginalizations at play.

I liked the story world and the cultural background of the characters, this Novella packs a lot in few words and it could have been easily a novel.

However, the one negative thing that didn't make this book a five stars for me was that the pacing of the plot development which was at times way too slow and at times way too rushed.

Overall an interesting book and I will keep an eye on the future books by this author for sure.

I was excited to read The Bruising of Qilwa, set in a Persian-esque world. Naseem Jamnia plays with themes of identity, both cultural and gender. These themes are utilized very well and place a lot on the line for our main characters. Continue reading to see my thoughts on this debut novella.

World-Building
I enjoyed much of the cultural, political, and economic world-building. Our main character’s background provides the ethnic minority POV. This is even more complicated by their ability to perform blood magic. I do wish there would have been more of a discussion of the new disease and the blood magic. This is essentially the main problem that jeopardized the stability of the city. Jamnia created mechanisms that were able to avoid this discussion. Although it was able to explain these away it also left me disappointed.

Identity
Identity is a huge theme throughout this book, which I did appreciate. One aspect of identity being our main characters’ status as immigrants and ethnic minorities. Another aspect being Firuz and their brother’s gender identity. If this was a full-length book, I think Jamnia could have delved more into these aspects of identity. That would have also tied more into the world-building.

Overall
I loved the inclusion of a nonbinary main character and the allusions to sex changes. I love the setting in a Persian pre-Mulsim world. I loved the concept of now-feared blood magic tied in with a strange and unexplainable bruising disease. What I didn’t love: the length. Jamnia could have built upon all of these aspects further. That would have created an incredibly rich story that touches upon increasingly important themes of identity and culture.

I both liked and disliked this book. Liked because of the idea for the plot, the wonderful nonbinary/trans representation, and that it was a short fantasy. Didn't like because it felt too short for what the plot turned out to be. I felt confused at times and it felt like the story needed just a bit more fleshing out for me to feel fully invested. I did like all the characters and felt sad at the twist at the end, but there were just enough parts that felt slightly confusing that it ruined my full enjoyment.

Overall, give it a try as you may love it, and it's short enough that you won't be wasting your time on a long fantasy novel!

I would like more book. Is that possible? Can I order more book please?

There is so much in the short 170-something page book but also not enough. I would love to have more of this world, know more about Firuz before they fled, their training, the whole messy politics of the world. More of their family, Afsoneh and just all of it really. I'm actually genuinely disappointed in how short it was because of how much I want more of this story.

I loved the ending where Naseem puts this magical world into a historical context. I really added to the richness (that I've already said was too short!). Firuz was a great, if not slightly tragic, character. They were trying to be the breadwinner, mentor, older sibling guiding their younger brother who is also trans and investigating a new deadly phenomen. It's really apparent how many directions they're pulled in and struggling to do right by everyone around them.

Afsoneh was really interesting and with Faruz often questioning where her skills came from left me with a lot of unanswered question. Mostly the same one: where did this girl come from? Again, would love to have more book to explore that, please and thank you.

If you're looking for a short, little but packed book set in a Persian-inspired magic world with trans and non-binary MCs, don't read anything but The Bruising of Qilwa. And also brace yourself for wanting more that you may not get.

This was a lovely story, I really enjoyed the found family dynamics in this Persian world of Qilwa and the way magic systems and gender binaries are addressed was beautiful.

4⭐