Nonbinary refugee Firuz is a practitioner of blood magic living in Qilwa, working as a healer and supporting younger family members (both blood and found). When a new disease runs rampant across Qilwa, Firuz faces prejudiced accusations of being responsible, and must work to discover the truth before it's too late.

First, I have to say I loved how everyone in this book is queer, and I really liked the depiction of Firuz as a nonbinary aroace protagonist. My heart hurt for their brother and his struggles with dysphoria, and I thought the magic system had so much potential. The author's note at the end is one of the most moving and poweful I've ever read. I found myself wishing it had been written as lower YA or KidLit, because for me that fitted better with the content of the novel. There was so much incredible potential in this book, and if I was rating The Bruising of Qilwa on potential alone, I would give it infinite stars.

However, I struggled to know how to rate and assess the story. Based on the blurb, I was anticipating a potential favourite read of the year - certainly something dark, emotional, and firmly 'Adult' in terms of audience. For my personal tastes, I wish this had been a full-length novel, rather than a novella, and I wish the author had plunged right into the vicious potential of the storyline and themes. I did my best to check beforehand, and to my best knowledge, The Bruising of Qilwa isn't targeted at younger YA readers, or even marketed as Children's Fiction, but it did read that way to me throughout, because of the emotional distance and reluctance to include/engage with more mature content or themes. Overall, I felt I was missing huge swathes of worldbuilding, character development, and potentially thrilling plot. I would love it if The Bruising of Qilwa marked the 'prologue' of this world, and we saw more of it and Firuz in the future, without limitation.

I am grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free eARC of The Bruising of Qilwa. These opinions are my own.