I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Manzakar is the first book in the epic fantasy series The Slave Soldier, written by R. Laham, and published by Oliver Heber Books. A touching story about exploitation, imperialism and subjugation, with two main characters full of soul and personality, who we will be following since they are sold as children slaves to the kingdom of Anzor after being captured in their Gohar land.

Tikran and Coxani were sold to Anzor as children, trained from young age to become loyal servants to the kingdom; they both aspire to become manzakars, elite slave soldiers being those that fight for Anzor, as their own citizens do not fight. Even if it's a high honour, they are still slaves, used to conduct Anzor's violence and keeping the own Gohari people subjugated; when Tikran sees the brutality of Anzor's occupation during his first campaign, he will have to confront the harsh truth and how they are tools for occupation, having to choose between his position or defending the Gohari people.

Tikran's journey is one of discovery and growth; he's a brave character, but also a bit naïve about how manzakars are used by Anzor until he's on the own Gohar. We could say he's a good man, even when he was a child, trying to help Coxani; but seeing him rebelling against years of indoctrination was the moment that totally sold him into me. Coxani gives also us a POV onto how heavily biased against women is the Anzor's society; she might be a manzakar because of her own work, but she's still expected to be the concubine of another man and have siblings. She's intelligent, but also really stubborn, and honestly, that's what saves her many times.
We have an excellent duo of main characters, with a third in discord, Naran, that is also memorable, playing into the danger when needed, but in a secondary spot in comparison with the other two.

Laham gifts us a marvelous setting, inspired by the Middle East, well detailed and that also serves as a parallel to nowadays conflicts; the author is not afraid of portraying the crude details of war and violence, so let me tell you this is a dark book. We see how the events of the world push our characters towards a more radical stance, as the only way to answer those systemic injustices.
The pacing is a bit irregular for my taste, feeling rushed towards the end, but giving enough time to develop the characters; there's a healthy exploration of different types of romance which adds to the plot.

Manzakar is a great debut, an epic fantasy that is not afraid to portray the crudest aspects of the world, kickstarting a series that also has place for hope. I'm curious to see how the author will continue the series, but definitely, it has my total attention!

You ever read an unnecessary and boring love triangle and it makes you go "why can't they all just be bisxeual" great news!!!!

The romance is not the main aspect of the story though I found it very enjoyable. Really, this is a story on oppression, colonization, and the ways power can coerce you to turn on your own community. It's also about having your eyes opened to the horrors perpetrated by powerful men and finding the strength to stand against it.

I loved Tikran, I loved his inner struggles, and I loved his bisexual energy. That last one isn't related, I know, I just love bisexual men <3 I also loved the different relationships he had with each other main character. His love (romantic or not) for Coxani, Naran, and Damir shaped his every decision and we love to see that in a revolutionary. This world was so well fleshed out as well, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next!

Trigger warnings for: enslavement, beatings, abortion, murder of children, whipping, rape, torture

It’s an interesting beginning, asking the reader to sympathize with a slaver who buys children and then sells them on to become warriors, slaves, eunuchs and breeding stock. A slaver who visits his favorite merchandise to bring them cookies and catch up with them. A slaver who we’re supposed to feel sorry for when he dies because he was almost a parent to the children he bought and sold. I understand adding nuance to a character, but I’m not certain this was one I liked.

Tikran and Coxie are two of these children, bought by the Manzakar, the king’s elite soldiers, and trained up. Tikran as a warrior, Coxie as a concubine who — in this world — will become the sex toy of a white skinned Anzor man, and then eventually married to dark skinned man of her own race so that she can breed children for him, while still attending the white skinned man’s appetites as he desires, because the Anzor, as figures of power, have every authority over the Gohari.

Instead, Coxie becomes a warrior along with Tikran, and the two of them, through various events and discoveries, realize they’re not really down with this whole enslavement of their people thing. And, of course, things progress from there.

What I really enjoyed with this book is that, while Tikran and Coxie are angry and upset and want to make a change … they’re not the only ones. They’re not the first, the second, or even the third. These two teenagers have been carefully watched and groomed by the real leader of the rebellion in the hopes that they could become the spark to the tinder and firewood he and others have been laying for countless years. I like that. It feels more organic than Tikran and/or Coxie being the first ones, ever, to think that being property is a bad thing.

This world is brutal. Tikran is beaten, burned, whipped, imprisoned; Coxie becomes the wife of a man she hates who rapes her nightly. Her husband is a villain, yes, but he’s also another enslaved Gohari who has been trained all his life to be brutal and cruel, to be selfish and petty and vengeful. He has nuance, while still being a monster. The world building is really the strongest part of this book, showing how easy it is to steal a nation’s children and raise them up as your own fighting force, then forced to turn on their own people in the name of righteousness.

There are queer relationships, mage craft, mysterious sicknesses, spoiled kings and love. Tikran has not only Coxie, but Naran, one of his fellow Manzakar, closer than a brother; Ten there’s Damir, the mysterious doctor who falls in love with Tikran. Coxie loves both Tikran and Naran and while this isn’t a book about polyamorous relationships, none of these characters would feel jealousy if it was. They love one another, trust one another, and live for one another even in the darkest moments.

This is a fun book, and I have hopes that — because it’s called the Slave-Soldier series, there will be more books to look forward to. Thank you so much to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC!

I noticed that this book is tagged as romantasy but I don't agree with description. Sure there are several romance subplots but they are not the focus. This story is first and foremost about living in a society that is built on the exploitation of another people. We follow Tikran, Coxani and Naran as they are trained from a young age to become loyal servants to the kingdom of Anzor after being taken from their native lands of Gohar. They all aspire to becoming manzakars, an elite class of slave soldiers which is the highest honor a Gohari can have and gives them more rights. However, a slave is still a slave and they will never be equal to the Anzori nobles. The Anzori themselves do not fight and have become entirely dependent on their Gohari slaves so in order to control them they indoctrinate slave children with their religion to justify this cruelty. Additionally, the Gohari are the only people who have the Essence or magical abilities within them but only a few have it which makes controlling Gohar even more important to Anzor.

As time passes it becomes increasingly more difficult for Tikran and his friends to accept this. Through Coxani he understands how much worse it is for Gohari women who very rarely become manzakars and are instead trained to become courtesans. Even if they become manzakars they eventually are forced to marry and bear children. During his first campaign into Gohar he witnesses the brutality of the Anzori occupation which stirs him to action despite Naran urging him to be cautious.

I really enjoyed this story for its well crafted world and I think it handled the themes of oppression well. I also liked Tikran's character and seeing how the events around him pushes him towards radicalization. Coxani was also great and her POVs offered us a different perspective and explored the different horrors that Gohari women go through. I'd highly recommend this book and look forward to the sequel.

While the book's incredibly promising setting, entertaining characters, and dramatic battles all work well, I felt like there were too many issues in how everything was executed that held back my enjoyment of the story. The book's fast moving pace is an asset when it comes to action, intense moments, and certain character beats, but far too often I felt that the narrative would have benefited from taking a pause to let the relationships between characters feel more natural, or to sink into a time period or place. The whirlwind rush from Tikran's youth to his elevation to elite warrior goes by in a flash, and I was surprised that this speed was pretty much the default for much of the story. Characters trust or hate each other instantly, and there isn't as much character growth as I'd hoped.

Lots to like here, but expect some readers to be thrown off by characters and pacing before the end.

I feel extremely conflicted about how I feel about this book. One on hand, I appreciate the political messaging in the book, but on the other hand, the execution left much to be desired.

While the two main characters, Tikran and Coxani, were well developed, all the others felt largely ignored in terms of characterisation, and backstory. While I liked Naran and the doctor, especially the doctor, I would’ve loved to see much more of them. Not only to learn more about them, but also because I didn’t particularly understand how or why they fell in love with their given love interests. Even the relationship between Tikran and Coxani felt a bit weird, considering the foundation that was laid out was more familial, and turned into a sexual one very quickly after being reintroduced.

The pacing was another thing I had an issue with. The large time skips in the beginning were lost opportunities to learn more about the Goharis as they were brainwashed and see how they functioned as they were being indoctrinated. This time could also have been used to flesh out Naran and Tikran’s relationship more too as the only platonic relationships I believed were the parental/child ones. There were large portions of the book that I also feel felt a bit pointless and could’ve been replaced with more world building or expanding on the society we were introduced to.

The story was something I liked or disliked particularly. It felt quite predictable which is not necessarily a flaw, but did leave me unexcited to continue reading. However, the writing was very accessible so I feel that depending on personal preference, many will enjoy the plot.

What I liked most about the book was the exploration of slavery the psychological implications of it, as well as resistance to your oppressors, especially in a setting that explicitly centres brown folk. I don't know if I necessarily agree with how it was written as a lot of the plot points flew by quickly and it seemed like everything was attained quickly, but with sequels, these issues could be improved upon. I hope this book gets more traction as while I may have problems with it, it is part of a series that has great potential.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Setting is definitely my favourite bit of this!! I really enjoyed the 'third space', the idea of fantasy settings with more complex cultural settings than x group is uere y group is there. We have three different cultures, cultural mixing ect. The worldbuilding was well done and I enjoyed how it felt familiar in some ways and not in others.

I also really enjoyed lots of the plot, one twist took me a lil bit by suprise which is rare for me esp in fantasy so yay! The relationships felt real even if as an ace person wayyy too much horny for me XD. Not knocking it down for that ofc, but do be aware its there. The relationships were interesting and I particularly liked the casual queerness contrasting against the society versus 'reasonable sin'. Like the church is too busy being racist to persecute homophobia even if they are homophobic lol.

I liked the way religion was shown as a form of control.

The characters are whete Im a bit mixed? For the first 75% of the book I adored all of them but when it came to the end and character arcs were wrapping up I couldn't help but feel they hadnt changed as much as the narrative thought they had.

For Naran I felt like he remained stable and rebellious throughout, I think a variation in response from our main three wouldve been interesting.

Tirzen was a fantastic character I enjoyed a lot, but I never bought that he ever believed in the propoganda. So him saying 'my life is a lie' and 'everythings changed in the last few weeks' didnt make any sense to me lol. Even when he was a kid he still asked questions, still never truly believed the way I would expect if they did.

It felt more like he thought he could just get by and then realised he couldnt, which is a great arc in of itself. But it wasnt the arc the narrative was trying to tell us it was.

The other characters were great, not much to say. I wasnt sure how I felt about the ending, it felt a little too neat for the situation but I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle the fallout in the second book :). Keeping this spoiler free.

I recieved an ARC of Manzakar from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

Wow, I really enjoyed Manzakar and cannot wait for the next book in this series. My only critique is that I think it could benefit from being a bit longer. It felt like things happened very fast, with time skips briefly taking me out of the story.

I prefer stories where the main character becomes important through their own works, not just being born "The Chosen One" and I think Tikran was a very good example of this. He was guided to become the man he is, but ultimately every important decision is his own. Coxani and Naran are very lovable characters and I loved how their stories tied in well with Tikran's without awkward jealousy subplots when in came to their shared feelings for each other.

Overall, this story is 4.5 stars and will be rounded up to five for Goodreads an Netgalley. I can't wait for the next book (though I recognize that this book hasn't technically come out yet, lol)

The cover and the back cover hooked me for an adventure in a world inspired by the steppes and central/south west Asia. It's what I got, with grand landscape, nicely thought civilisations and power dynamics. The characters carried their story well enough, though the first half of the book tends to drag a little, as it moves through time, jumping months or years forward. The result is a part of the book working more on telling information and a distance from the characters. Fortunately, the second part of the book is stronger on that aspect, drawing the reader in more easily.

That being said, I wasn't as enthralled as I hoped. The worldbuilding is nice, the message behing the book is very clear (exploitation, villainisation...). But I couldn't connect, and I sometimes felt like the characters' dialogues and reactions were too high and changing for my tastes. I would have liked something that felt more grounded, in a way, less far flung at time. The story itself in good, but I am left wanting another clothing, more intricate, hiding the bones and tropes better.

Still a nice read though.

This book isn't just another war story; it delves into a rich narrative of love, sacrifice, and resilience. Through immersive world-building and emotionally charged characters, Tikran's evolution from a prisoner of war to a beacon of hope strikes a deep chord. "Manzakar" prompts contemplation on equity, morality, and the costs they impose. While it may have some idiosyncratic writing and hurried pacing, the core concepts are truly captivating.

"Manzakar" is a story about exploitation, villainization, and subjugation. The book follows two children of a nomadic peoples who are sold into slavery as children: Tikran, who is promised greatness and honor if he uses his talents to serve in the oppressing country’s honor guard called the Manzakar, and Coxani, raised to serve as consort and wife who chooses to train as a Manzakar instead. I really enjoyed the themes explored in the book: the oppression and indoctrination of the Gohari people by Anzor is depicted in all of its all too realistic horror: the weaponization of religion, the dehumanization, and the othering of Gohari that allows Anzor to manipulate the Gohari slaves to their side. While I found the themes explored in this book to be quite strong, I did feel that the book often felt bare-bones in its characterization and writing style, especially in the first half.

The book follows three main perspectives: Tikran, an extraordinarily talented youth training to become a Manzakar; Coxani, a young woman who seeks to defy the Anzor and escape the fate of being married and expected to raise children, and Naran, a Manzakar friend of Tikran. The book follows these three through their lives, from the day they are sold to Anzor, through their Manzakar training, and to all that follows. The plot largely centers around Tikran as he grows up and, despite the indoctrination he was raised with, realizes the systematic subjugation of Gohar and how it is harming his people. The book also has strong side characters; my favorite was Damir, a doctor from a third country who accompanies Tikran on much of his journey. I felt that the exploration of systems and methods of oppression was the strongest part of the book. Gohari people are the only ones with access to magic; though few have it, the country as a whole is exploited mercilessly in order to ensure that all with magical Essence serve Anzor. The way the Manzakar are granted status in Anzor and told that they were civilized from their Gohari roots yet also threatened at every moment that they could lose all they have gained if they even consider stepping out of line is compelling. The book shows how the Manzakar can be indoctrinated into Anzor culture, how even Manzakar soldiers can adopt the cruelty of their oppressors. The book also explores complicated identities and backstories in a way that I felt was very well handled. The subject matter of the book is quite serious and many of its depictions are gruesome; yet the book never feels like it resorts to shock value or becomes overwhelming.

The main weakness of this book is that the writing sometimes feels bare-bones or skips over interesting ideas, leaving the book feeling a bit rushed. This is particularly the case in the first ~40-50% of the book. This part largely follows Tikran and Coxani growing up in Anzor and is full of large time skips. The problem is that this section of the book relies largely on telling rather than showing and often tells you about character development rather than showing them. I found it difficult to connect with the characters when we saw them only for snapshots of their lives, and even within those snapshots were told how the characters are instead of shown it. While I did feel that this got better once the book reached the characters were at for the back 50-60% of the book, I do feel that the book suffered on account of this rushed beginning. For example, indoctrination of the Manzakar is a large theme of the book, but we don’t see much of Tikran’s experiences with it. Later in the book, when he begins to understand how the Gohari people are being treated by the Anzor, he wrestles a lot with his stance on the situation in a way that is clearly meant to be central to the book, but it loses impact because we don’t know much about how Tikran feels before the main plot points of the book. This kind of bare-bones storytelling, though focused on the first half of the book, is still a constant throughout it. There are impactful scenes which are told about rather than shown pretty often. The book covers a huge amount of plot, so it makes sense that not everything can be shown in great depth, but I personally would have liked the book to be 100+ pages longer to give the ideas more time to develop. Also, the book has fairly repetitive descriptions—archery is central to the plot but is only really described one way.

Despite that, I did enjoy this book. Though I did not always enjoy the writing style and rushed feeling of the book, I sincerely enjoyed the ideas of the book. To all readers, I would fully encourage you to stick with it after the first half. The writing style settles once the plot gets rolling, and once it does, the plot is strong. Character relationships are complicated and often messy, but I felt they were executed well. I was surprised how much I enjoyed how romantic relationships are explored in this book; though they, too, take a while to feel like they settle in place, its worth it. I am absolutely going to read the next book in this series: I feel like there are a lot of interesting ideas that have been set up and am excited to see how the consequences of this book’s climax play out.

I am giving this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. I am rounding up because, despite the book lacking some build-up and description, it absolutely left me invested in seeing what happens next.

The level of heartbroken I get when I come across a book I have so much hope and anticipation to be a 5 star but it isn't is unreal.

This book... it has the bones of so so so many things I love. And god, the MESSAGES this story was made for. I wanted to eat that up so bad. I wanted to adore this book. But, unfortunately, all three of those stars pretty much go to the important messages this story is presenting and the skeleton of tropes and themes I love.

The execution of it all, the meat of it, just didn't work for me. I felt bored for a good half or more of the book due to pacing, and both the characters amd relationships between them just did nothing to me. I'm not sure why. Even ignoring the fact that I hate anything that's even remotely a love triangle scenario, I found that I either felt very little chemistry between characters, or one of the characters in the dynamic would do things to make the relationship incredibly frustrating. That, paired with the pacing I struggled with, really took away or distracted from such an important story.

Hopefully these were just very me issues, and others enjoy it a lot more.