The Bruising of Qilwa is a story about a refugee blood adept, hiding their power as they work as a Healer in their new homeland. The story follows them as they seek to find the source of a new plague that’s appearing, and solve it’s appearance as quietly as possible, as it seems to be linked to blood magic - something that could put them and their whole family in danger.

This book is packed to the seams with fascinating and intriguing systems and ideas. The world itself is queernormative, respect is paid to everyone and transitioning or not is just a part of life. It reminded me a great deal in that aspect of The Four Profound Weaves which is one of my favorite reads of this year. Our main character Firuz is non-binary, something I loved as a non-binary individual. They are a harried, overworked Healer that I just wanted to wrap in a blanket and give a cup of tea. I really enjoyed them, but at times wanted to shake them, something I think makes a well drawn character.

The magic systems as well are fascinating and intricate. Blood and structural magic are commonly referenced and seen but also innate control over the elements like the abilities Kofi have are common place. The world that these magic systems exist in seem to be just as nuanced and deep. But my biggest complaint, which could or could not be a bad thing depending on your view, lies here. There is too much here! When I say busting at the seams, I mean actually overflowing with information and plot and worldbuilding. 180 pages is not nearly enough time here!

The story wants to tackle so many great topics and it does a good job with what it can do, but it moved so quickly that at times I felt like we were leaving things behind - especially in the climax of the novel with the accusations that spring up against Firuz. The world too was so interesting, I wanted to know so much more about where Firuz came from and how this world was built but it felt as if tidbits were dropped just to give us a taste and tease but we lacked real depth. It seems as if our author has the world built but they simply did not have the space for it all in the short amount we got. I sincerely hope we get another book in this world, preferably one that’s at least 250, 300 pages because I would gobble it up.

3.5 eggplants out of 5 (Sorry Parviz)

Please note Blog Post will be live September 1st

This is a fantasy novella that’s set in a world inspired by Persian mythology with the addition of taboo blood magic. We follow our protagonist who is a healer and is new to this city the story takes place in. Unfortunately there is a strange disease sweeping through the community that indicates blood magic damaging the citizens. That concept sounded interesting and it really was. it’s also a very queer read including the main characters brother who is trans. So if you’re looking to add a new diverse novella into your collection, definitly check this one out.
Full review to come on YouTube

3,5/5 La primera novela de Naseem Jamnia nos lleva a un mundo fantástico donde se vive un complicado momento social. Guerras salvajes cuyas consecuencias han expulsado habitantes de sus territorios y políticos corruptos que han alimentado un terror contra la inmigración nos recuerdan que nuestra realidad es comúnmente base de muchas de las historias fantásticas que se han escrito a lo largo de la historia del género.

Hablando de género, esta es una novela corta con importante representación de personajes no binaries. Sin ir más lejos, le pretagoniste es Firuz-e Jafari quien ha huido tras una guerra que le ha obligado a emigrar junto a su madre y hermano terminando con los huesos de todes elles en la ciudad de Qilwa. Tras encontrar trabajo en una clínica donde un médico atiende gratuitamente a los enfermos de la ciudad ambos descubren que hay una plaga acabando con la vida de muchas de las personas que la habitan.

Esta historia con ambientación persa es apenas una pequeña historia dentro del gran mundo que Jamnia describe. Los pasados y prejuicios de cada une de los personajes se ponen a prueba durante una trama en la que todes elles deberán unir fuerzas y conocimientos de cara a mejorar la vida de quienes habitan Qilwa. La parte mágica de la novela la descubrimos en las capacidades sobrenaturales de Firuz a la hora de analizar la sangre de los demás y con ello llevar a cabo ciertas acciones. Es aquí donde también entra en juego la relación con su hermano quien quiere transicionar a un nuevo sexo.

Me gustan los elementos que Jamnia introduce en la novela. Al mismo tiempo, le autore pretende introducir tanta información y referencias a sucesos previos y presentes que hace que The Bruising of Qilwa se quede por momentos corta en cumplir esas ambiciones quedando una sensación de batiburrillo de intenciones poco claro. Una buena estrategia, por otra parte, si hay planes de volver a este mundo en un futuro. En cualquier caso, esta obra coloca a Jamnia en mi lista de autores a seguir.

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

I didn’t know what to expect from this fantasy novella. The description was intriguing- a Persian inspired secondary world fantasy with blood magic? I decided to give it a whirl, thanks to an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! The writing style was both lyrical and down to earth, if that makes any sense. The descriptions of the different kinds of magic made just enough sense without feeling like you were being weighed down with a Player’s Handbook. I got a little bit squeamish about some of the medical descriptions during an autopsy, but it wasn’t anything over the top. The mystery fooled me - I didn’t see who the perpetrator was until only a page before the reveal, and I liked how the author and the narrator both acknowledge that the antagonist doesn’t necessarily have to be evil. I think the author mostly handled the cast of characters well, although the mother character was such a nonentity that she could’ve been excised easily. I also really appreciated both the realistic sibling relationship and the well-realized trans, ace, and non-binary characters. I definitely recommend this book and will look for more from the author in the future.

this was just an okay read. i appreciated the queer-norm world, i appreciated the colonization and the immigrant experience discussions. but that's about it. the characters were okay; i had no strong emotion about them.

the writing, however, was lovely and perhaps was the only unforgettable thing about this novella. i am looking forward to seeing how the author progress from this debut.

Through my membership in the B2Weird Book Club I was able to take part in an online tour for the release of The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia. This book was a story of existing as the marginalized other within a country while trying to survive, keep your family safe, and try to do the right thing.

This novella tells the story of Firuz-e Jafair, a blood magic practitioner who has escaped slaughter from her homeland and emigrated to the Democratic Free State of Qilwa with their brother and mother. The story follows them over three years soon after their immigration. During this time Firuz finds employment at a free clinic with one of the few healers, Kofi, who is willing to care for people from Firuz’s homeland. However when a plague comes through Qilwa and the government blames refugees, it becomes even more difficult for Firuz to survive. Throughout the novella, Firuz tries to determine if she can connect with others in Qilwa beyond her family and does her best to work as a healer.

Jamnia is ultimately able to explore a variety of connected ideas within this small novella. They do state in their dedication that this book was brought about through some of their friends trying to teach them to write a short story and them writing this novella instead. This made since to me, as I found there were many themes and ideas that I do not think the story could have been made shorter. In addition to the main theme of marginalization and what happens when former conquerors become the conquered, Jamnia also explores family relationships, both biological and found family, and connection. At times Firuz struggles with whether they feel safe enough to connect with those she has met in Qilwa, including Kofi. Jamnia does not offer easy answers to the questions they open because they do not have easy answers. Instead, they thoroughly explore them and allow the reader to explore them as well.

In addition too the themes and ideas, the characters were also interesting and felt real to me. I believe Firuz and their family as characters as well as Kofi. Jamnia seems to understand the motives of their characters. Some of the younger teen characters did feel a bit impulsive and very emotional at time, but while frustrating at times for me when reading from Firuz’s perspective, it did feel appropriate for tangent behavior.

While Jamnia did explore their themes and character deeply and well, I did find myself wishing they had explored their world a bit more in the story. The world of Qilwa felt well developed overall and as though Jamnia had thought it through. I wish that they had explained more of the world’s background and what was happening in the world around the characters. To be fair, as I stated earlier, Jamnia did a lot in this fairly short novella and so it may be a bit much to expect more of the world within it. However, I found myself really interested in it and wanted to learn a whole lot more about it. Ultimately, though I suppose this is more of me just wanting more of the world within this book and if Jamnia were to write more different stories within the world of this story I would be one of the readers to pick it!

The Bruising of Qilwa is an intriguing novella which explores a variety of themes and has interesting well developed characters. While I wish there had been a bit more explanation of the world of the book, that is largely because I enjoyed what of the world of the book I saw. If the ideas and characters I mentioned sound interesting to you, I would recommend picking up this book.

Stakes that are neither too high nor too low. Facing discrimination and prejudice as a refugee who belongs to an ethnic minority in their new city. Dealing with the complicated history of one’s culture, one’s past. Pushing back against for-profit healthcare. These are all powerful elements in The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia. Thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the eARC!

Although novella-length, this book brims with plot. Firuz, a Sassanian refugee, joins a free healing clinic run by Kofi. There, they study under Kofi while also secretly practising the blood magic they learned from their homeland. Once, the Sassanians ruled a vast empire. Now, their homeland conquered, they are the targets of genocide. As more Sassanians arrive in Qilwa, anti-refugee sentiments rise, and plagues and disease do not help matters. The title of the book refers to the most obvious symptom of a mystery disease that Firuz spends much of their time diagnosing—when they aren’t helping Kofi with the political battle to keep the clinic open, or teaching their adopted charge how to control her blood magic, or feeling like a bad sibling for not helping their brother with a gender realignment spell … yeah, Firuz’s life is complicated, hectic even.

It’s through such an embattled narrative that Jamnia explores questions of identity and motive. Firuz hides their blood magic use, because in Qilwa, blood magic is the stuff of nightmare legend. They know they would be ostracized. Yet, despite the considerable abuse they endured at the hands of their Elders while being trained, Firuz is also proud of their abilities and their ability to heal with blood magic. As the novella progresses, we see Firuz wrestle with larger questions of identity, such as what it means to be a member of an ethnic group that is now marginalized but once was the conquering power across this continent.

Throughout this story, Jamnia finesses the scale of the narrative with impressive skill. It’s always tempting to see the novella as merely a “short novel,” but that would be like saying a 22-minute television show is simply half a 43-minute television show. The novella demands more character development than seen in a short story, yet the shorter length means different pacing from its longer cousin. Jamnia has Firuz encountering the Governor of Qilwa and pleading for assistance on a municipal level, yet they also have Firuz essentially down in the trenches, fighting against the bruising disease on the level of individuals. This is a story where the smallest action matters, yet large actions also have correspondingly large consequences. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it cozy fantasy, but there are certainly some moments of more intimate joy and sorrow here, especially as Firuz navigates their relationships with their chosen and found family members.

Jamnia has created a queernormative world here, one in which diverse sexualities and genders are respected as a matter of course. As I have said in other reviews, this should essentially become the norm within fantasy (and any genre, I would hope), for the idea that a fantasy world must somehow be “historically accurate” is … contradictory at best. Yet a queernormative world doesn’t mean that queer people are free from struggle, as Firuz’s relationship with their brother, Parviz, illustrates. For all Firuz’s magical talents, they don’t quite have the skill or knowledge to realign Parviz’s body (i.e., magical gender-affirming transformation, omg) to match his gender. As a result, Firuz blames themself for Parviz’s ongoing struggle with dysphoria. Qilwa might have allowed refugees to settle on the outskirts of its city, and it might be accepting of gender diversity, but this society still had broken and jagged edges and prejudice against certain types of medical treatments or the magic used to provide them. That’s why Firuz must teach Afsoneh blood magic in secret, even as she chafes under such restrictions and Firuz wrestles with whether or not they do Afsoneh more harm than good by trying to be a teacher without any formal training as such. In this way, Firuz’s relationships intersect with and inform the political dimensions of the novella, which in turn lead to Firuz’s involvement with the main conflict.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the construction of The Bruising of Qilwa is the way that the antagonist is revealed only at the climax of the novella. Honestly, this is the part I found least interesting. This character’s motives, while clearly explained by Jamnia, are not all that compelling—perhaps because I spent so much time with Firuz that this antagonist feels less developed as a result. While the physical and magical conflict that ensues is a fun and tense moment of action, I would have liked to see more pages spent drawing out the antagonist’s plot in a way that builds more suspense. That being said, I really enjoyed how Jamnia depicts Firuz’s sense of betrayal and the way that this overall influences their outlook going forward.

So The Bruising of Qilwa is a good time. It’s a novella of deep, layered relationships between characters who all have well-defined personalities despite the deceptive brevity of this book. The main character in particular is so flawed and fallible yet still someone I want to cheer for. While I can acknowledge the Persian influences Jamnia weaves in here, I can’t comment too much on those given my ignorance, except to say I’m here for it. I’ve kind of slid sideways into Persian-inspired fantasy stories with the likes of Girl, Serpent, Thorn. But I love seeing the genre move away from thinly veiled analogues of Eurocentric feudalism or appropriation-driven attempts at mirroring other cultures at the hands of white writers. Mostly, though, I loves me some urban fantasy set in a secondary world, where characters are free to be themselves even as the world around them feels like it’s coming apart at the seams.

This is a fantasy story set in a fictional middle eastern inspired world with elements of medical science. The story deals with immigration, refugees, and pandemic. It is a rich world with different kinds of magic and a variety of characters including trans, nonbinary, and asexual representation.

My one criticism is that sometimes I wanted just a little more context and explanation. I found the action scene at the end to be difficult to follow.

Sexual violence? No. Other content warnings? Xenophobia, illness, death, loss of a child, beating, some gore, blood, torture.

Firuz has migrated to the Democratic city of Qilwa having fled from their home with their family due to their powers. Firuz is able to find work as a assistant to a doctor, helping the unfortunate of the city. However, they must hide their powers in fear of being even more discriminated against than their people already are. When a suspicious disease begins to spread, Firuz fears that it may be tied to their people and tries to find a cure before its too late.

This is a wonderful story. It's not a pleasant story but highlights the challenges of a under privileged group of people especially with a forbidden magic in the mix. Its a nice mystery around disease and there are a lot of subplot points that create red herrings but add more dimension to the characters. I appreciated the queer representation and the setting inspired by Persia.

Firuz has a complex collection of guilt, relief, obligation, and love all mixed together with their sense of country, current and home, and othership in Qilwa. I think the dichotomy between survival and giving bad had a very real interaction with guilt, similar to survival guilt.

There were perhaps too many side plots or characters in a novella where we don't get to see them that often, but overall I enjoyed the mystery and interactions of all the characters. Definitely recommend!

I think I might be speechless right now? This story took a turn in a way I wasn't expecting, and it definitely worked well.

This story was gory and intense in all the best ways. It made my skin crawl but I couldn't stop reading. Out of all the magical stories I've read, I've never seen blood magic function the way it does here.

The sibling relationships is this book were beautiful, I loved all three of them so much. The plot was wonderful, the characters were amazing, and as a whole, this story was phenomenal.

Thank you to netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review

I've never read anything like this and I think it's a valuable contribution to speculative fiction. It does feel a bit like a debut novella, someone stretching their wings-- but I love the Persian-inspired queernormative world, the acceptance of neopronouns, and especially the asexual aromantic representation! BIPOC and acearo rep, I can count it on one hand, it's so rare. Also add in that this work is aimed at adults and, well.... it's all my heart wants and I'd love to see more of it please!!! It's past time!!

The Bruising of Qilwa, a novella by Naseem Jamnia, is a short story about being trans, immigration, belonging, and how plague/tragedy can change reality for many people. The story is entertaining, heartfelt, and it brings some nice representation to a genre that could always use more. However, while it is both cute and fun it feels like it might have fit in better as a novel where there would be more space to explore the characters and less as a novella where an author should focus on a few core points in their limited page space.

For such a short story, you certainly get a lot of worldbuilding. Set in a queernormative Persian-inspired world, Firuz-e Jafari, a nonbinary refugee named practitioner of blood magic, discovers a strange disease that is causing political rifts in their new homeland. Firuz-e is fleeing the slaughter of other traditional Sassanian blood magic practitioners in their homeland. Despite boiling racial tensions between refugees and natives, Firuz has the good luck to stumble into a job at a free healing clinic in Qilwa where their blood magic can do good unseen. Working with Kofi, a kindly new employer, they begin mentoring Afsoneh, a troubled orphan refugee with powerful magic.

But Firuz and Kofi have discovered a terrible new disease that leaves mysterious bruises on its victims. The illness is spreading quickly through Qilwa, and there are dangerous accusations of ineptly performed blood magic. In order to survive, Firuz must break a deadly cycle of prejudice, untangle sociopolitical constraints, and find a fresh start for both their blood and found family.

As you can probably already see, there is a surprising amount of political intrigue and worldbuilding built into this story. Naseem uses it to great effect in exploring how trans individuals interact with the world and how the added layer of being a refugee can make an already difficult situation only more complicated. Firuz is a fun protagonist that tells an easy and empathetic story that would be hard not to rally behind. Yet it feels like their struggles could have been used more surgically to explore more complex and nuanced ideas.

Instead, I find myself with an interesting tale where the core takeaway is that trans representation is important, a blunt but important theme that could have definitely been encapsulated in a larger idea. At the same time, it is simply nice to have more representation of diverse protagonists from a larger and more varied background and that alone made The Bruising of Qilwa an easy and entertaining read that is hard to find fault with.

In the end, I am very happy that The Bruising of Qilwa exists and that I got to read it, even though I think that Naseem Jamina could have used their considerable talents to write a longer and more comprehensive story. Qilwa tells a simple, yet effective, story that you will enjoy and continues to broaden the roster of diversity in fantasy protagonists.

Rating: The Bruising of Qilwa - 7.5/10
-Andrew

This is a fantastic, queernormative, fantasy novella, though I did wish there was a bit more space to delve deeper into some of the ideas Jamnia raises.

The Brusing of Qilwa is a fantasy novella set in a Persian-inspired world where Firuz-e Jafari, a non-binary refugee becomes a healer assistant and has to balance an intense work with an uneasy family life.

This was good. The story was interesting, I found the world so very captivating and I loved the characters. The magic system was also excellent, I really enjoyed it. I had a bit of trouble with the pacing, it had no chapters, but "years" and that was hard for me. I kind of need the structures of chapters, this felt a bit weird. I also felt like it took a while for things ti take off and even after that we had a lot of slow parts but the ending felt a bit rushed. I don't know...
Overall, that was still amazing. I loved the Persian representation and the LGBTQIAP+ rep. I love me an Ace main character and trans rep everywhere.
This was a great debut and I will be looking out for more from Naseem Jamnia for sure.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Bruising of Qilwa follows our main character, They-Firuz, a blood magic user. Firuz is a Sassanian refugee that was forced to leave their land or risk being slaughtered. Now an immigrant in the Free Democratic City-State of Qilwa, they are able to find work at a local clinic that caters to the less fortunate. While they spend most of their hours working at the clinic for minimal pay and food, they occasionally are able to go home where they share a two bed room apartment with their mother, younger brother, and a girl they found dying in the streets. All seems well and good once the plague starts to settle until they notice what appears to be a new disease.....

I really enjoyed this novella! Normally I find myself struggling to get through novellas even with their short length, but this one rocketed me through. Every time I put Qilwa down was against my will, causing me to grab glances here and there. I very much enjoyed how close we were able to get to each of the characters without having much time to meet them. The mystery of the blood bruising definitely had me tripped up for quite a while, but wow that reveal - that hurt. I love that being gender queer here is more of a norm with people including their pronouns when they introduce theirselves to others, i.e. "They-Firuz". Honestly, most of this story had me feeling unsettled because of the underlying issue - the government was sitting high and comfy while the city folk were dying in the streets. And then the medical testing on marginalized peoples whom were completely unaware....*shivers*.

I will definitely be running to add this to my shelves~

I loved this book so much. Even though it’s a novella and relatively short, you really get to know and love the character, particularly Firuz, Afsoneh and Parviz. The world building was amazing, from the magic to the way the culture, politics and other important issues were written, you can see the care that went into writing this story. The medical aspect and the medical mystery was great, it keeps you intrigued and wanting to know more and make your own guesses. The conversations around family, colonization, immigration and trauma are so important and they really shine through the whole the book. It has an aroace MC, as well as trans binary and non-binary main characters and other LGBTQ+ side characters.

It is such a fantastic debut and I’m exited to read future works by this author.

CW: medical racism, mentions of genocide, plague and child death, body horror, ethnically motivated violence, etc. A more detailed list of content warning can be found on the author’s website.

I jumped head first into this fantasy novella and was not at all disappointing. Following a “nonbinary refugee practitioner of blood magic,” we join Firuz as they attempt to parse through the deadly disease ravaging their new home. With excellent pacing, an intriguing magic system, and carefully layered world-building, THE BRUISING OF QILWA is, quite simply, impossible to put down once you start reading it. I wanted to know what would happen to these characters, how it all connected, and what the end result of the slight mystery would be. Plus, it’s a daring exploration of the complexities of immigration and the pinpricks of xenophobia. I’m looking forward to more work from this author!

I am all the way here for a Persian storyverse-inspired QUILTBAG-inclusive secondary world with a not-silly science-cum-majgickq system based on blood. This idea has me all excited, with the nigh-on irresistible urge to send the author CARE packages of food and crowdsourcing their laundry so they will not have to leave their writing desk unless answering the call of nature.

What keeps me from offering the story all five stars is the first-publication longueurs that are so very common as to feel universal. The storyverse is astonishingly successful in compelling my attention, given how brief the story here told is. There is a depth to Firuz's native Sassanians, a minority group not beloved in their world, and named by the author after the last pre-Muslim Persian empire in our world...echoes of the religious monopoly being enforced in many parts of the world, the intolerance that entails and encourages. The blood-magic system, with its science-tinged presentation, was presented as a source of fear and persecution; yet, during the plague that strikes Qilwa, it is urgently needed to help fix the problems this plague presents. The tables are turned and those so recently deemed outcast are needed to fix what the many are suffering. Always a great direction to aim a story!

So you can see that the story possesses many layers just from the little I've said; there are other normative things (eg, introducing one's self with pronoun and name, like I'd be "him–Richard" then just Richard after that...a lot like royalty gets to explain how they're addressed to us mere commoners on those rare occasions we're presented to them) that can unpack over the course of a long series of stories set in this place while instantly adding a lush richness to the present reading experience. What doesn't work so well is Firuz's social anxiety/awkwardness being borne down on narratively at every turn. I get it...they're very awkward, it's not necessary to repeat this every other page. There are points where their trans brother could've taken the stage more completely and thus enriched the read's texture; seeing him only from the outside is fine, like all inclusion, but his transition is so very much a driver of the story that allowing him to take center stage could've given me so much more. Satisfying my curiosity about how he sees this world would've given the plague, the clinic where Firuz practices healing, and what it is that Firuz and Kofi share that makes the clinic so real-feeling, needed dimensionality.

The surprisingly secondary character Afsoneh is a wild child, we're told; we're never really shown this facet of her character. Firoz mentors her and so should've had more of a struggle with her acting out if she's such a chaotic person. Instead it's brushed past. I know it's a function of the novella format. I'm even willing to go along with the clipping of storylines that this format requires uncomplainingly...IF I can trust that the characters are going to get more stage time later. Not too much later.

I bestow on this deeply involving read my most difficult-to-earn accolade: More, please.

That’s … it?
Naseem Jamnia can write. The way they use words is powerful and their Persian-Americanness shines through their syntax. After reading Jamnia’s author’s note at the end of The Bruising of Qilwa, the entire novel — novella, really — made sense in retrospect. They intended to write a fantasy book that utilized their background in science, but it morphed into an examination of being an oppressed person whose people were once oppressors. Sounds gripping, right?

Unfortunately, these ideas are woefully underdeveloped and just don’t shine through the way they should. Concepts that deep deserve room to breathe. At only about 40,000 words, I’m not sure The Bruising of Qilwa ever had room to let them.

As it is, the plot and the pacing fall flat. Jamnia spends the first three-quarters of the book on world-building, only to rush through the actual plot in the last quarter. That said, it is a cool world — a queernormative, magical society with Persian inspiration. I mean, it’s also got genocide, refugees and poverty, so there’s that. But it’s an important reminder that lack of queerphobia is not equal to utopia.

I’m happy to learn that this is only the first book set in this world. Hopefully, next go around Jamnia can spend more time developing the story. I do plan on reading the next book, whenever it comes out.

Should you read it?
This is a book I so badly wanted to love — Jamnia seems like a wonderful human — and we have a lot in common. Unfortunately, this book just didn’t do enough for me. What I can recommend, however, is hopping over to Jamnia’s website and checking out their other writing. Their articles truly are fantastic. I mean, even though The Bruising of Qilwa didn’t leave me with a grand impression, I can’t stop thinking about Jamnia’s author’s note.

The Bruising of Qilwa is out August 9. Pick this up after Jamnia releases other books set in the world.

Content warnings provided by the author: “Medical racism, ethnically motivated violence, former colonization/empire, descriptions of a refugee/migration crisis, mentions of genocide, discussions/handling of a plague, child death, disordered eating behavior, mostly mild self-harm (for magic reasons), body dysmorphia from gender dysphoria (and related medical transitions), discussions of trauma, including past (childhood) physical abuse (for magic reasons), implied child neglect and body horror, including graphic descriptions of corpses.”

It's amazing how much world building can fit in such a short book. I loved learning about the society, the history of colonization, the different types of magic, and the different religions that went along with that. The author did a great job telling me about the world without being very obviously infodumping, just by inserting small details and explanations that never disturbed the flow of the story.

The plot is probably where this novella is at its weakest, simply because it tried to do too much. There's a new, mysterious disease, and our main character is trying to find out where it comes from and how it's spreading, but they are also busy with training someone to use a secret type of magic. Both of these storylines could've been their own novella, and combining them means that neither really reached its full potential. The reveal about the disease and its cause came out of nowhere for me, and I would've liked this to be more of a mystery book than it ended up being.