Okay, so Nahia isn’t the kind of book you binge in a single night while stress-eating popcorn and screaming “KISS ALREADY”, and that’s exactly what makes it hit differently. It’s quiet, grounded, and lowkey one of the most introspective reads I’ve picked up in a while. Like, it basically sat me down and looked into my soul.

Nahia (the character, not just the title) is fierce in that calm, steady kind of way. She’s not swinging swords or casting magic, but she’s navigating something just as intense: the pressure of expectations, tradition, and trying to figure out who the hell she wants to be when everyone already thinks they know. Been there. Felt that.

The setting? Absolutely soaked in culture and spiritual depth. It reads like a love letter to heritage and connection, with some heavier reflections on community, duty, and what it means to find your own voice without disrespecting the ones that came before you. Honestly, it had me pausing more than once just to sit with the weight of a scene.

It is a slow burn. Not in the romantic sense (this is definitely not a swoony kind of book), but in how it builds layer after layer (character, tradition, tension) until you’re fully immersed. If you’re expecting dramatic plot twists or fast pacing, this might feel too gentle. But if you’re in the mood for something thoughtful and emotionally grounded, this might be your next favorite!

Nahia reminded me of The Clan of the Cave Bear, a comparison that speaks to its immersive prehistoric setting and strong, complex heroine. Set in a Sea Clan community, the story explores rising tensions between traditional hunter-gatherers and the pressures of survival, change, and contact with outsiders.

Nahia, the daughter of the clan’s chief, begins to challenge her mother’s authority when she warns of starvation and looming threats. Her journey is not only one of exile but of spiritual awakening—she connects with the natural world and the spirit realm, gradually coming into her own power.

The novel thoughtfully explores themes like the inevitability of change, the cost of leadership, and the impact of early civilization on the environment. It’s grounded in a deep reverence for nature and spirituality, with a coming-of-age arc that feels both personal and mythic.

I found the pacing solid and the premise compelling. This is a promising and original debut—perfect for readers who enjoy historical fiction with strong female leads and a touch of the mystical.

Little known fact about me: I actually have an archaeology degree so books that are written by actual archaeologists are like catnip to me. This book is no different and while I do wish that it was third person, not first - it didn't fully detract from the story but would've made it just slightly better. I am excited to read more by this author though!

This was a fascinating take on Mesolithic Northern Spain and how the meeting of hunter-gatherers to those who practiced agriculture might have gone. I really loved that the author is a practicing anthropologist and archeologist herself and you could see how her expertise was used to write this coming of age novel. 🦴

This review will contain some minor spoilers so be warned if you don't like this kind of stuff but want to read the book in the future. ‼️

The story follows Nahia, a young woman who finds herself suddenly ostracized by her mother and forced to take up shamanism as punishment. I liked the portrayal of those who find themselves more in tune with nature than people who were seen as beings of great potential in shamanism rather than outcasts. Nahia is reserved, but will speak her mind if she finds that she needs to. I liked the slow building of first a friendship and then a romance with Eneko and Nahia; I thought it felt rather natural instead of rushed like some romantic relationships are made out to be nowadays in the YA genre. 🙄

While the historian in me was so happy to gobble this up, I did find myself struggling with the pacing of the novel here and there and the lack of character development that Abene and Izara have as secondary characters. I also wish that we, as the reader, could have had at least one little epilogue of Nahia and Eneko reuniting instead of getting a rather open ending, but again, this is more of a personal preference than anything. 😅

But really though, I had such a great time with this and am very excited to see if there will be any future works from the author. I also loved that elements of the Basque language were used, and if you don't know anything about this group of people or the language itself, I would really recommend going and taking a look at it because it really is such an interesting part of the world. 🌊

Thank you goes out to Peachtree Teen and NetGalley for accepting my request to read this in exchange for an honest (and very late) review, and to the author, Jones, for writing such a fascinating YA historical fantasy/fiction in a never used era of history. ❤️

Publication date: April 15, so go take a look at it!

Overall: 4.25/5 ⭐️

I’d like thank NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me a audio and ECopy of this book. Forever thankful.
So, as you can see I gave this book a 2 star review based on what I read before dnfing. If this book interests you, please go read it. You could have a different opinion than me.
I just think this book wasn’t for me. It was pretty flat in terms of character development and story. I try not to waste time on books that don’t have me interested by the 10% mark but I gave this book a little grace.
Not a book for me but could be a book for you.

I am always fascinated by the concept of prehistoric people. Like- obviously I know they existed, but... how did they exist? It must have been so wildly different, too hard to even fully wrap our twenty-first century heads around, right? That is all to say, I love when an author makes that attempt! First and foremost, it is clear that the author did her homework (she is, in fact, an archeologist and she knows her stuff!) so it certainly feels as accurate as one can expect. Obviously, this is a fictionalization, and we can't fully ever know-know, but I think the authenticity of the era makes it certainly feel more likely.

Nahia is a great main character, and she definitely exhibits growth throughout the story, which I loved. I didn't fully get into the shaman storyline, but that is probably a "me" thing. I enjoyed learning about the world, and the very clear " major moment in history" Nahia was living through. I think I wish we'd gotten a little more insight into Nahia's mother's thought process too, because her motivations seemed really shaky to me, but again, minor gripe. The story was about Nahia after all, and it definitely did her justice.

Bottom Line: Very cool historical fiction about a time period we rarely get a glimpse into with a strong main character!

Nahia is 18, exiled from her tribe and suddenly finds out she can talk to spirits. As the daughter of the headwoman, Nahia was born to lead, but when she voices concerns about looming invasions, she's cast out and apprenticed to a mysterious shaman. ​

The world building is next level. You can almost feel the pine forests and hear the waves crashing on ancient shores. There is a real authenticity to the setting, making it feel both real and magical. ​

Nahia's journey is all about self-discovery, challenging traditions, and embracing her unique powers. The story touches on themes of sisterhood, first love, and the struggle between old ways and new threats. ​

While the pacing starts off a bit slow, it builds up to a compelling narrative that keeps you hooked. The blend of historical fiction with a sprinkle of fantasy makes it a unique read. ​

If you're into stories about strong female leads, ancient cultures, and a touch of magic, Nahia is worth diving into.

Nahia takes place over 8,000 years ago. This book was written by Emily Jones, who is an archaeologist, so I would assume it is probably accurate for that time period. Personally, I found it to be a bit too factual and descriptive, as it didn't get to the heart of the story as quickly as I would have liked. However, I think anyone who enjoys historical fiction might appreciate it.

Nahia by Emily Jones takes on a unique premise (at least to me) on a tribe's many aspects of change. Colonization, hunter/gatherer vs agriculture/animals, etc.

It's an interesting idea to get all of these changes from our female main character, Nahia. She fulfills the archetype of a main character who challenges or at least has some opinions on the beginning's status quo, strained conflicts w/leadership, and consequences of those outspokenness (whether good or bad). I think the character growth is compelling enough to read through to the end.

Magic gets involved via shamanism. It's not heavily shown though despite Nahia being involved with it. Perhaps to try to focus more on the historical fiction rather than the magic/"fantasy-esque" aspect that the shamanism includes.

Beware it does cover a briefly attempted SA, but never goes explicit nor thankfully succeeds. A bit of an uncomfortable part for me, but also nice to see the character in question doesn't brush it off immediately. There are lasting psychological effects to it.

Thanks again to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this advanced copy. Always looking forward to new graphic novels and venturing out into my less read genres like historical fiction.

This was an excellent peak into a period of history (or prehistory) that I know little about. I enjoyed learning about the tribal systems and the roles of shamans, headwomen, hunters, and gatherers, and they ways that the tribal way of life becomes threatened by a new force of invaders.

There was a romance subplot that felt a little bit shoehorned in, but that was the only thing about the book that I wasn’t crazy about. I cared about the characters, and I sacrificed a few nights of sleep for the sake of learning what would happen next!

Nahia by Emily Jones is definitely worth a read. I always enjoy reading historical books and I feel as though EJ created a captivating world and in depth characters, set 8000 years ago in prehistoric Spain.

This was a really fun book to read, the characters grabbed hold of my interest from the first chapter and the storyline kept me engaged til the end!!

Nahia by Emily Jones is an exceptionally well written historical fantasy novel. The world building is phenomenal and intricate I felt completely immersed. The characters are relatable and the issues and struggles Nahia has are something very prominent even in today's world, which I loved. The only thing I had issue with was the pace, it seemed slow throughout the whole book BUT it also seemed to help with the story (if that makes sense).

Nahia’s struggle with finding her place in a changing world without losing who she was is the prominent plot point and we see her grow and change as she becomes more aware of what she wants. Other characters like Eneko, Hodei and her sister all play a critical role in her self discovery. I thought of them as Nahia's past present and future which I don't know if it was intended but adds a certain depth to the story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read and would recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction with a splash of first love and self discovery

Thank you to NetGalley and Holiday House for providing the eARC!

4.5 Stars! I was very pleasantly surprised by this book! I went in a bit nervous, afraid it would be a cheesy, over-the-top, cartoonish, YA version of historical fiction. But I was wrong! This book hits all the right notes: it is informative, historically accurate, it avoids anachronism, and makes the VERY distant past feel real and tangible, all while including relatable characters who move through a story that is poignant, factual, and meaningful (not only to our characters, but the the history of civilization).

It is quite an accomplishment to make characters, actions, events, and "society" from prehistory accessible to young readers in a meaningful way. Too often we think that people who lived so long ago were not like us, but this book manages to create characters with whom the reader can identify, even if the reader doesn't always agree with their actions.

Anther great thing the book does is describe the huge transition from hunter/gatherer society to agricultural society. In the present-day, we just assume this was a great innovation, and that everyone should have been amazed and excited about this change. But the author shows how deeply and profoundly a world-shifting change like this could have been to the people living at the time. The conflict, fear, and struggle are all portrayed in a way that shows how what they might have gone through then is very similar to things we are going through now in modern times. The author's ability to make such an ancient clash of belief systems feel completely relatable is extremely admirable. I never felt like I was reading a book about prehistoric "cave men" with feeble intellects and silly superstitions. These were all characters who were just like us.

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys history. I enjoyed reading it and truly felt like I was sent back into the past.

I think this book personally just wasn't for me. I think it could have benefited more from being 3rd person pov, as the 1st person just kind of made it feel too modern? And some of the conversations as well. A book described as prehistoric and someone saying "See you later" just felt so weird to me. It really just kept taking me out of the story.

I really didn't care for any of the characters and I really didn't like the sister, who seemed to be 90% of Nahia's focus. Which, I understand, but it was too much. She felt far too inconsistent.

I also would have liked more of the shamanism. I would have loved to have gotten more of her actually learning because it felt like we didn't get enough of that. It was a lot of her saying her visions were just dreams and not visions, so it never felt as though she really embraced it like I wanted.

Overall, the synopsis really sounded like something I'd be interested in, but it really wasn't for me.

3.5. This was a fascinating story that explored the change of humans from hunter/gatherers to agriculturist through the lens of a fantasy novel. It was good. The story telling is well done but it is incredibly character driven with very little plot. Nothing really happens until the second half of the story. The novel needs some trigger warnings as there is attempted r@pe and the ptsd that follows such trauma. There was (and still is, I suppose) a ton of potential to explore more of the Shaman’s lore, especially Hodei.

Thank you Holiday House and NetGalley for the eARC.

Nahia by Emily Jones is definitely worth a read. I always enjoy reading historical books and I feel as though EJ created a captivating world and in depth characters, set 8000 years ago in prehistoric Spain.

Our main character, Nahia, has to navigate through her journey of being a young girl, to a leader. I enjoyed this book because the themes of female power were written well. I found the book had a good level of world building, action, and that element of a love interest which did not overpower the book.

The writing is rich and easy to follow and I enjoyed all of the descriptions in the book.

The story follows Nahia, the daughter of the leader of a hunter-gatherer tribe, but she's never seeing eye to eye with her mother the headwoman, so instead she's assigned as an apprentice to a shaman. She has mixed feelings about it - is it an exile or a sign of appreciation of her unique perspective? The plot is more about her journey, physical and emotional, showcasing the social life, flora and fauna, food, clothing and equipment and even art and religious beliefs. It also introduces a conflict between hunters-gatherers and a new group of people who are leading a stationary life of agriculture and animal husbandry.
I would of gave it a 5 stars however at times i felt a little bit confused with regards to her spiritual journey throughout the book. However i guess that it make sense that it is confusing at some points. i feel like i would of appreciate this book a lot more when i was in high schools and going through certain aspects of my life.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this ARC!

I was most of the way through this book, but then skipped to the last two chapters because I didn't want to spend much more time on this.

Starting off, this book was very slow. I kind of had to force myself to read it at times. So, from the beginning, I wasn't loving this. It started boring, but I kept pushing through because it had 4 stars on NetGalley, so I decided to give it more of a shot.

Then it got worse.

Plot? Who is she? We don't know her here. There was absolutely no plot in this book. It was just people traveling for the most part. There was conflict, but it was executed terribly.

I also felt like the romantic chemistry between Nahia and Eneko was very forced. It didn't feel natural at all.

Then, to top it all off, we had the unexpected pregnancy trope. I thought that I could be generous and give this book two stars, but Nahia's unexpected pregnancy immediately brought that down to one star.

I had high hopes for this book, but ended up extremely disappointed.

I really enjoyed it: this was unlike anything i’ve read.

It was a quest of self-discovery and finding a place to belong, in a period I knew nothing about and I feel incredibly grateful for the notes at the end of the book.
The language was modern and Nahia could be slightly annoying at times but she was endearing and I got pulled into the book rather fast.

While there was a dash of romance, the story was really about Nahia and the other women of her band and the choice they made. Some were likable, some less, but all were nuanced.