A short and painful look at life for Yazidi women under ISIS. Because this is a subject not often explored (this the first time I've seen it in fiction), it's also educational. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Difficult but important.

This novel is an exquisite look at the lives of the Yizidis and the Kurds. I felt transported by complicated, longing characters yearning to live their lives and find safety in their homeland. The situations they face are both harrowing highly relevant, relaying a glimpse of real turmoil. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for an imploring, beautiful read about real occurrences happening in Syria and Iraq.

What do you do when when life as you know it is destroyed? What Comes With The Dust by Gharbi M. Mustafa tells the story of the massacre of the Yazidis people by ISIS in Iraq.

I really knew nothing about this event and I found the book to be pretty informative in showing me what happened. This is a plot driven story. Which is probably a good thing. I do not think I could have handled this book had it been more character driven and had I felt more connected to the characters. The events depicted are horrific. The author, Mustafa, does not shy away from detailing what happens in the massacre. It was a very difficult story to read about.

What I loved about the story were the many examples of kindness. Even among such horrific events which show humans doing unspeakable things to one another, there are those who despite their own hardships, show kindness and love to someone in need.

What Comes With The Dust was an interesting book. It was a difficult read and I can’t begin to imagine that unfortunately it is the life of far to many people. This book does carry with it all the violence triggers – self harm, physical abuse, shootings, rape, suicide. This is also a good book to read for an insight into refugees and what they go through and what they are seeking. It also has examples of strong women. Woman who are smart and filled with courage and who don’t give up.

Absolutely heart stopping story. Just heart-breakingly agonizing to read. Such suffering and torment of innocent people during war time. It just boggles the mind of those of us fortunate enough to have never experienced war of refugees on par with the rest of the world. This well-written book should be on everyone's TBR list. Excellent story.

This is a hard book to read as the content has to do with war and the genocide of the Yazidi people in Iraq, by ISIS, the Islamic State.
This book follows a couple of people, but one of the main ones is Nazo, who lives on a farm with her parents, outside a small village, and whose parents have set up a marriage for her with a cousin of hers.
Nazo has other plans because she has fallen in love with Azad a young man who had come to her village to teach, and they were going to elope and make their way to Europe.
The morning they were to leave, she hasn't heard anything from him, and shortly after she finds out why, ISIS fighters are in her town rounding up people, separating the women and children from the men, killing the men that they could and taking the women, for their pleasure and for sex trade. The woman were told if they did not convert to Sunni Islam they would be killed.
This story is a hash reality of what happens during war, and the sad look at the cruelty, that one group can bestow on another just because they do not have the same beliefs.
It is a story, that gives us a look a the horrors of war but also of the resilience people have to continue on in search of the good, but also a story of love, friendships, and hope.
It is a story that keeps you reading and cheering for the main characters. It is a book one should read to understand the conflicts in that area.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for the ARC of this book.

My heart is no longer in my chest after this gut wrenching, soul crushing read. I felt like I didn't take a breath for 2 hours. This is a short book, but it is impactful. Going in I knew it was about a young girl who doused her body with kerosene the day of her wedding and that Isis was involved. I'm not going to add anything else to that. I think the reader should go into this story with as little knowledge as possible. Just know you should be in a good head space and set aside an hour (if you're a speed reader) or two to three (if you read a bit slower) because you won't be able to put this book down.

Let me be clear... This isn't a read for the faint of heart. It's a tuff one. I absolutely recommend.

While reading this novel by Gharbi M. Mustafa, I feel very miserable, but I can’t help reading it. I tried to find a happy part from the beginning but found little. I warn you, that in this story you will find the atrocity of ISIS. Women are always raped, made into sex slaves and men will be killed. I feel why this is all unfair. But in the next story, I came to know this is the true difference between Islam and ISIS.

Although there are many stories in this novel, I think the most interesting part is when Nazo had to defend his love story with Azad. From the beginning, the story of the family struggle was described by Nazo. Then when He was separated with his sister, Soleen then his story became more tragic. Parents killed, teenage girls made as sex slaves and other tragic acts.

Another interesting point from this story is the journey of love between Nazo and Azad. Also the love story of Omed and Soz. The meeting of the characters in this novel happened by accident when they had to fight against ISIS. Omed was a watermelon’s boy who came to Nazo, but Nazo never considered it. The highlight of this most horrible love story is when Omed tells how Azad was killed by ISIS.

Behind it, all the stories of female characters like Nazo and Soz, have a very strong heart. Losing family figures, separate, cruelty from men and other poignant stories make them a very stoic woman. I do not know how many times I have to hold back tears when reading this novel. I feel these women are experiencing an unfair life story, but I soon find out when the author tells a true story.

I wanted to tell you clearly from start to finish but it was not easy. So I’ll just give you a short story. If there is the most influential figure in the story, I think it is Nazo and Soz. They are really strong and never give up. The story of each character is different and the novel has many characters that appear, then suddenly they disappear or die. So I think it’s better just to concentrate on the Nazo character only. But the story of one character will not appeal to more characters it fits very well with this kind of novel.

The order of each event in this novel is very interesting and very easy to follow. But rather than curious about the time span, I enjoy the essence of this story more. I am glad Nazo and Soz are portrayed as strong female characters. Also, Omed who makes these stories more interesting. The point is I get a lesson not to look at the crisis in the usual way. Thank you Gharbi M. Mustafa, this novel is very good for us who do not know about ISIS. And this novel is even very honest. #WhatComesWithTheDust #NetGalley

This novel felt rushed. However, it was a good look at life under the rule of ISIS. It is extremely relevant for today.

If there is one thing that book succeeds in, is it captures the essence of war, brutality of it and most of all when ISIS decides that the Yazidi's need to either convert to Islam or be massacred and their women raped and sold off as slaves.
I'll point out on one structural aspect that broke my heart. The author uses short sentences- especially when characters are killed, raped, insulted and worse off...when they grieve the little bit of life that's left in them. The finality of such brutal actions is achieved in less than seven sentences mostly across the book.
Something said by one of the major characters, Omed, struck a chord, "If a goat eats the shepherd's dinner, that does not mean the shepherd has to slaughter the goat."
Though, I received an ARC from NetGalley, if there's one thing I am certain of in this review it's that this story is not for the fainthearted and when a Yazidi, like Omed, can still look into the eyes of the one who is killing his people and see more than the brutality of their actions...that alone is something to really think about.

A tragic, harsh look at what it means to live in area where ISIS is in control. The actions of people to survive, the colorful well drawn characters make this a readable book for someone looking for modern fiction.

I don't like to submit negative reviews, but I did not enjoy What Comes with the Dust and I did not finish it. It felt crammed into a space it did not fit. I struggled keeping up with what was going on. I think that the content and story of the people is extremely valuable and necessary in our world. But it was not for me.

I really struggled with this story and the content. It was interesting but laid out in a way that I could not keep up with what was going on. I didn’t finish.

This book wasn’t bad. I learned about the Yazidi. At times it felt a little rushed. I would have liked more space given to exploring the characters motivations and reasoning. I found the actions of the some of the characters questionable.