The Bruising Of Qilwa

Book Riot 8 Notable Nonbinary SFF Books You Need to Check Out Buzzfeed Best Books Coming Out in Summer 2022 Lambda Literary August's Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Literature Literary Hub 10 New SF and Fantasy Books to Augment Your August A Foreword Book of the Day Tor.com Reviewer's Choice: The Best Books of 2022 [STARRED REVIEW] This debut fantasy novella featuring a nonbinary protagonist sets its intriguing medical mystery within a Persian-inspired world. The city-state of Qilwa has provided a reluctant welcome for Firuz-e Jafari and their refugee family. As a healer practicing forbidden magic, Firuz fears discovery but still offers a helping hand at one of the city's few remaining free clinics, where they find a friend and mentor in the healer Kofi. But the plague that is ravaging Qilwa increases tensions about migrants flooding the city and creates reams of new rules and regulations for the clinic. When a strange, new disease starts killing people and results in bodies that are preserved while decomposing, Firuz has a medical mystery on their hands that will lead to the greatest dilemma that a healer can face--how much harm is acceptable in the race for a cure? VERDICT The delicately interwoven complexity of the story, along with the loving portrait of Firuz and their found family, makes Jamnia's fantasy puzzler a delight to read. Highly recommended, especially for fans of Katherine Addison's The Witness for the Dead. --Library Journal [STARRED REVIEW] Naseem Jamnia's brilliant and insightful novella, The Bruising of Qilwa explores questions of identity and belonging in a nuanced medical mystery. . . . Jamnia has built an intricate, multi-layered world full of magic and queerness. --Shelf Awareness I loved this gorgeous book about blood magic, chosen family and refugees in a hostile city. Naseem Jamnia has created a rich, complex world in a very short space, and I am so into it. I've read a lot of books lately about empires and rulers and warfare, and it's so refreshing to read a book that's about healers. People in this book are trans, nonbinary, asexual and aromantic, and it's never a big deal but does matter to their characters, which I just adore. --Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky With prose that reads like lush poetry, The Bruising of Qilwa builds an intricate world full of history, magic, and life. --Z. R. Ellor, author of Silk Fire Exquisite and original. . . . Naseem Jamnia has threaded themself--their identities, their experiences, their histories, their culture--into every layer of the narrative. --Locus A stunning fantasy novel that confronts questions of belonging: to a culture, to a family, and to yourself . . . Jamnia's queer-normative world is a welcome break from fantasy trends and tropes: people introduce themselves with pronouns without fanfare, and homophobia and transphobia as forms of oppression do not factor in. Cracking the door to a fresh fantasy world, The Bruising of Qilwa makes an unforgettable first impression. --Foreword I adored this city, with its vibrant history and super-fresh magic system, but I loved these astonishing complex vivid characters even more. A fun and fast-paced ride that keeps you guessing all the way (and, yeah, it's tough to grapple with the ugly legacies of empire and oppression and still have fun, but Jamnia pulls it off). --Sam J. Miller, author of Boys, Beasts and Men Beautiful and bittersweet, The Bruising of Qilwa is a story of immigration and borders, of identity and culture, of blood and oppression and family--written with an expert flourish of prose and eye for detail. The Bruising of Qilwa is a masterful debut, one that marks the continued ascendancy of Jamnia's literary star. --Martin Cahill, Tor.com Naseem Jamnia is a bold, visionary writer, and The Bruising of Qilwa makes for a superb introduction to their nuanced and evocative Persian-inspired fantasy. The good news is that there are many more brilliant novels already in this writer's literary quiver. Get ready for them; they're coming! Naseem is fierce and dangerous--in all the best ways. --David Anthony Durham, author of the Acacia Trilogy A fascinating medical mystery in a rich, complex world I didn't want to leave. --S. A. Chakraborty, author of The City of Brass Readers of queer fantasy will fall hard for the rich characters, particularly our aromantic, asexual, nonbinary protagonist. The frank narrative tone and short page count paired with an intricately built world is a winning combination. [YA: Despite the blood and themes of death, the fast-paced story and young, queer protagonists will appeal strongly to young readers. ] --Booklist Reading The Bruising of Qilwa was an incredible experience. I didn't know world-building in a fantasy story could feel so seamless. That scenes around medical magic could make sense to me and increase my enjoyment of the story is still blowing my mind. The queerness in this book is so natural--no explanations, no phobias, just queer people living their lives. --Women Write About Comics A quick, engaging read with real heart and a thoughtful subtext to its immersive setting. --Christopher East A tense exploration of weighty themes that can be easily mapped onto present-day issues, but grounded in lovable, sympathetic characters -- many of them queer -- and fun fantasy elements that are easy to understand but deep in their implications. --Autostraddle Read if you like: blood magic, an overall science-based magic system, multicultural setting, healing, plants, sibling dynamics, a celebration of queerness, mentor figures, personal stakes, community, mystery, medicine/medical science, competent characters . . . What truly shines here, as far as I am concerned, is the theme, the world, and the characters. --A. R. Frederiksen, author of The Deathsea Dyer A short, propulsive tale that admirably centers a strong queer protagonist and offers thought-provoking commentary on the struggles of refugees. --Publishers Weekly The Bruising of Qilwa transports you to a lushly-described, beautifully imagined world where magic and medicine meet. Heartfelt relationships temper the grim reality of a flawed world with a creeping, strange new disease. A delightful read. --Neon Yang, author of the Tensorate Series 5/5 stars / Escape Rating A+ One of those stories that makes the reader think, and feel, and think again, long after the last page is turned. --Reading Reality The Persian-inspired, queernorm setting is a wonderful change from the white cishet quasi-Medieval Europe aesthetic we see so often in Western fantasy. --Every Book a Doorway An incredibly timely story, told by a deft hand that manages to weave a fascinating magic system together with all-too-real issues into something truly, wonderfully, not seen before. --Alice Scott, Barnes and Noble The characters were complex. The story and the emotions were complex. The way the book ended was perfection. It was messy. It was heartbreaking. It was exactly what I wanted and needed. --MI Book Reviews 5/5 stars. This novella has a bit of everything: medical fantasy, slice-of-life, and a mystery, all presented in some of the tightest, most layered writing I've had the joy and privilege of reading. --Jo Writes Fantasy