The Bruising of Qilwa

(3,5) Is it ok to admit I was swayed by the afterword?
Still getting used to the audio format.

I have so many mixed feelings about this book. Nothing about it is a simple, easy read and there is nothing about it that I only have one one feeling on. Nothing herein is clear-cut.

The world building is interesting - and unique compared to that which I usually find in fantasy books - but it is also somewhat...painful? I don't know how to describe it, but there's a lot going on here of marginalization and judgement of people that are different from you. So, yeah.

The use of blood magic is...look, I hate the whole ‘evil magic is evil' thing that crops up so often in fantasy and this book does use a dash of that, but it also shows how blood magic can be a good thing. Which I did appreciate.

The medical stuff is interesting but also, ultimately, at the end of the day, something I found rather gross. Just me personally.

The characters are all deeply, deeply flawed people, difficult to actually like but also kind of difficult to hate. Which left me mostly indifferent to them. Which, more than anything else is why this didn't get a higher rating. (Or, conversely, a lower rating.)

Finally, I do like how queernormative the whole setting is. Everything is just chill and casually queer and I totally need more of this sort of books in my life.

I would be interested in reading more from this author, but I'd likely pass if it was medical based.