The Daughters of Izdihar (The Alamaxa Duology, #1) in /r/Fantasy Discussion Group

Jan 19, 2023 Bridgit rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2023

eally liked it. 4.25 stars. Hands off to the author for this as a debut. The issues she tackled were so important and so rarely seen in fantasy today. It definitely was an enraging read, which IMO always gives major points to an author. If you can make me feel any strong emotion, you are doing something right. Some of the characters are a bit too surface level, and I wish they were explored more deeply.

I do wish some more background was given on the magic system and why it is so controversial. ...more

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Jun 28, 2023 ♥Xeni♥ rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebook, fantasy, magic, lgbtq, 2023-books-read

Well you can tell that this is the authors first book. It's a bit rough around the edges but at it's heart is a powerful story of women coming together to fight for their rights.

This book is the story of Nehal and Georginia as they struggle in their lives and join up with The Daughters of Izdihar, a suffragette group determined to fight. I loved both women as protagonists. Nehal is firey and selfish and determined to have her way - at first that's just about attending the Weaving (magic) academ Well you can tell that this is the authors first book. It's a bit rough around the edges but at it's heart is a powerful story of women coming together to fight for their rights.

This book is the story of Nehal and Georginia as they struggle in their lives and join up with The Daughters of Izdihar, a suffragette group determined to fight. I loved both women as protagonists. Nehal is firey and selfish and determined to have her way - at first that's just about attending the Weaving (magic) academy, but later it includes fighting for rights for all women. Georginia is more circumspect, afraid, of a lower class and knows it. She just wants to live her life, but within her is also a revolutionary that slowly comes out more and more as the story progresses. I loved both their character arcs a lot.

The beginning of the story was the hardest part to read: it starts out very show-not-tell, very YA-trope heavy with a "not like other girls" scene, forced marriage, tons of misogyny in general, etc. It's only once Nehal gets to the Academy that I really started to enjoy the story. And then the second half was so fast to read! It picks up a lot, there's so much happening... all for the entire book to end on a cliff-hanger with no real resolution for any of the plot points. Sigh. That's pretty disappointing. I don't want to have to read another book (or two) just to have some resolution.

I liked the magic a lot too - elemental magic that gets more focused as someone gets trained (e.g. water magic at first, but then it becomes ice-focused or blood-focused). Someone mentioned that this is similar to some Avatar tv series, but I never wanted to see that one so I wouldn't know. Either way it felt creative, set in an Egyptian-like setting with women bound by a strong patriarchal system similar to many Arabic countries. I really enjoyed seeing the Daughters fight using non-violent means. It made me think a lot about how women in our own world had to fight for every right we have. How many places in our world still don't have those rights. It was often difficult to read the endless patriarchy BS, so I do hope the author has a *very* strong comeuppance in store for some of these characters. This book pissed me off - but in the right ways. I felt for these women and their terrible lots in life. It made me reflect a lot while also enjoying the story and their character arcs. ...more

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Jun 28, 2023 Ron rated it liked it

I didn't really get along with this story about suffragettes set in a fantasy Middle Eastern-inspired world where some people have elemental magic. It was mostly the writing style which was more tell than show, but without the kind of narrative voice that makes telling interesting to me. But if you want a book where women with magical powers rage against the misogynistic machine, you might like this. ...more

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Nov 29, 2022 Sarah marked it as to-read

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Dec 14, 2022 Rachael marked it as to-read

Shelves: anticipated-2023

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Dec 24, 2022 Lindsay marked it as to-read

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Jan 22, 2023 Kylara Jensen marked it as to-read-owned

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Mar 20, 2023 Julie (Let's Read Good Books) rated it liked it · review of another edition

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Mar 22, 2023 Kevin Xu rated it liked it

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Apr 08, 2023 O marked it as to-read

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May 05, 2023 Sasa rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, new-adult, lgbt-queer, swana-islam-rep, black-african-voices, sapphic-bi-pan, romance, fantasy-epic-high, owned-physical, audiobooks

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