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.