This was a beautifully told and illustrated graphic novel. It tells the story of two families through the 2014 Yazidi genocide. This story reminded me of Maus - another great of the graphic novel genre. By focusing on the two families - one who fled the incoming ISIL attacks and one who didn't - the story gives a very human face to this very recent history.
I found the characters very moving, with depictions of courage and heroism shining on the page. I was gripped by the story, and found the reveals of the plot to be very well done.
This book would be accessible for all ages, and should be read by a wide audience due to its important subject matter.

"Yazidi" takes the horrors (and also small victories) of the recent 2014 genocide at the hands of ISIL that many of us read in the news at the time, and brings it down to a smaller, more intimate level by focusing on the story of just one girl, Zéré. And by doing so, I found that it quite effectively both amplified said aforementioned horrors that ravaged a community, but also the little bits of light and humanity where they could be found.

This is most definitely a work I'd like to get in the graphic novel collection at my library.

Yazidi is a deeply moving story about families who were split because of civil war and ISIL.

The story sheds light on the conflits around Yazidi people, a religious and cultural minority group living in Iraq who are persecuted by ISIL. I didn't know about them prior to reading this graphic novel, and I'll be looking forward to get informed on this situation.

I also wanted to say that I love the art style and the colors.

Thank you to Netgalley and Europe Comics for the ARC!

- I remember seeing the news about the Yazidi people having to flee ISIL, and this book did an incredible job adding more context. I loved how information about Yazidi culture, customs, and religion were tied throughout the story.
- this book has some intense parts, as any book centering genocide would, however I think it did a great job making these really challenging topics accessible to younger readers.
- the timelines were a little hard to keep track of, which was the only issue I had with this read.
- there was a twist that I really didn’t see coming, which really drove some of the more intense parts home.
- the drawing early on of what ISIL invading looked like in a nightmare really stood out to me. The imagery is so powerful knowing that that really ended up happening.

I liked the art style, but the story was a bit meh. But I did enjoy the overall experience, even when the story wasn't that great. I feel like it relied too much on things falling into place conveniently than developing the story. I also found that the shifting point of focus and timelines detracted from the story.

A beautifully drawn and highly educational view of the Yazidi Genocide at the hands of ISIL, through the eyes of two young girls - cousins who have ended up in very different situations - one who stayed behind with their family in their home village to face the ISIL invasion and the other who fled to a safer place away from the trouble.
The graphic novel switches from one girl to the other, showing the challenges of their lives and how even in a place of supposed safety, the troubles of the past can catch up with you.
A lot of the most horrifying aspects of the Yazidi Genocide are merely alluded to here - a lot happens out of frame, but an adult reader will know the implications. A younger reader, which is the target audience here, will instead get a valuable introduction to a tragic piece of recent history. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I choose this graphic novel to review because I was intrigued by the plot blurb. I have never even heard of Yazidism or the Yazidi Genocide, so I was extremely curious. The story follows a young Yazidi girl as she lives through the 2014 Yazidi Genocide. The plot overall follows a very serious topic, but it is written in a way to makes it understandable without going too deeply into it. It still handles the topic in a way that doesn't gloss over how devasting of a time it was, but still states it fairly plainly. It's sobering to finish the novel and come to the realization that many Yazidi women and girls likely didn't get a happy ending as Zéré does. The novel doesn't have anything explicitly horrible that happen to Zéré, but it implies how very easily it could have. I did appreciate that woven into the first few pages of illustrations is a quick explanation of the Yazidi Genocide and what Yazidism is. That is incredibly helpful for someone who knows nothing about either subject, like me. The plot does jump slightly between some characters' perspectives in a slightly odd way, but it smooths out just fine. The art style was impeccable. Easy to read and beautifully drawn. This novel has also sparked a desire to learn more about Yazidism and what type of religion it is. I will be off to learn about it after this, and I thank the novel for introducing me to something new.

I normally comment on the art and narrative of a comic when I review, they are both thought out and well presented here. But I think the story behind the narrative is what is most important. A very sad story indeed, but with an escape for one young girl. This story being presented in comic form means it is accessible to everyone from young to old. As an adult I can read between the lines and am appalled at what the Yazidi people had to endure, and the pain brought to them. As a teacher, and parent, I can see this comic being a way for children and teenagers to read about the Iraq conflict and what it has meant for the peaceful people in this country who have been caught up in the violent extremist agenda. Thank you to Europe Comics and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

This was an entirely new subject matter for me and was eye-opening and interesting. The graphics were really appealing and drew me into the story. It was an engaging and accessible way to learn about the Yazidi people and the genocide the endured.

I received this Graphic Novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to The Creative team and publisher behind this work, and thanks for NetGalley.
I am eternally grateful for the writer and the penciler, not for receiving a free copy of this, But for them to tell This True story, A story of The oppressed Yazidis, That most of us here living in Arab countries don't even hear about, if you find a big trend over an accident or atrocity like this over here, Muslims are the victims at all times, But when It's Muslims victimizing the minorities in their countries, you won't hear anything, I have so so many tales, even about The Christian Minorities living in Egypt and what they have to put up with from extremists each year.
Before This Graphic Novel, I always thought that the Kurds were oppressed just because they had a different language or ethnicity than the Arabs they live with or something!
Because yeah it's impossible to not hear tales of the oppression they have to put up with, But the Graphic novels actually educated me that they have an entirely different very old religion, Older than Judaism too!, and might very well be the origin of the story of Adam, But since it's an orally transferred religion, We can't make comparisons because there is no original religious texts it seems.
The Yazidis are really peaceful or at least that's how they are portrayed in this Graphic novel, which really made me sympathize with them and love and respect them, for surviving over 72 pogroms.
The Fighting force of the Yazidis are merely there for protection, probably enforced by the government of Iraq at one point, since the government kept failing on protecting them against massacres, granting them allowance to form their own military force for the purpose of defending their region.
The Graphic novel is based on a true story, with a happy ending, but there are still missing Yazidi little girls, and missing Yazidi people.
The Pedophile part of Islam, as well as the convert or pay the toll or die by the blade, as well as the enslaving of people, are all activities that were done by the so called prophet of Islam, during his entire life, He is a known Pedophile, Sexist, Violent person, But more than that, The Quran that he has written carries all of his personality and beliefs, Creating a god beyond ugly and violent beyond any other depiction before him.
"If you have any doubt concerning those women of yours who have finished with menstruation, then their count is three months; as it is with the ones who are still not menstruating [my emphasis]. With those who are pregnant, their term will be whenever they give birth. God makes His matter easy for anyone who heeds Him.
at-Talaq 65:4"

This Text For Example is from The Quran, yeah meaning this is god speaking, You might say that the translator got the wrong meaning or something, but not really, there is over 10 Huge series of books that explain Quran, all of which interpret this Text the exact same way, To mean Girl who did not get their periods yet, and if you say anything bad about these books as a Muslim, you will be called a blasphemer, and if you contradict Sahih Al-Bukhari, Which is one of the books that Islam gets it's ruling from, since it includes Sayings by Muhammad, that is supposed to complete the religion and explain what needs to be explaining, The book include many passages where one of his wives say he married her as a girl of 6 years old and had intercourse with her as a girl of 9 years old.
If you contradict that book or doubt it to be a source of the religion, again you will be called a blasphemer.
YouTube has many Modern Sheikhs who made videos to defend the pedophilia that the islam allows, and to defend the prophet for being a pedophile, these guys are living like kings, with YouTube earned money, and these videos have millions of views with people mostly agreeing with the Sheikh who pretty much say if the girl is thick and can handle intercourse and pregnancy then it's allowed to marry her.
So The Problem is way more than terrorism, or intolerant religion that oppresses it's minorities, The problem is huge, Brainwashed masses, he will forever refuse to see reason, except the intellectual few who break the brainwash some way or another, and start searching and looking into it themselves.
Can we also stop to notice, That this is the religion with the most homophobes in the world, So they are against sex between Adults of the same gender, But it's okay if their religion allows pedophilia, and their Sheikhs to this day are defending it.
Now i would also like to speak about where do you think ISIS and ISIL are getting soldiers from?
As far as i know, of the soldiers that join from Egypt, some young men at 21 or 22 years old, after finishing their army period, they go change their names officially to not get tracked back to their own families, and they cross the border and join ISIS and ISIL because they give big salary, Does these guys do this out of religious extremism or out of greed for money? It honestly doesn't matter.
Even though i don't really follow their news because i abhor them, i did see a video of them before, selling their women slaves to each other and laughing about it, These again are all Islamic practices that were practiced by Muhammad and his follower during his life.
A lot of gullible people get lured to join Islam, by things like Islam ended slavery, which is complete and utter bullshit, Islam didn't end slavery, Islam reveled in slavery from the point of it's conception till the death of it's last caliphate, Slave women specially had it worse, since they were expected to have sex with their masters without marriage, Muhammad himself had 4 by the time he died, that's not counting the 14 women he married which included some freed slaves he freed specially to marry them, since it's not allowed for a master to marry a slave! Islam didn't really change a lot of bad practices in it's time, because it's not from god, If there is a God he would want to change people and guide them for the better, Islam was not it.
I feel it's my duty to educate people on this and get the word out, that no one in the future gets fooled by false claims and false hope, for a peaceful religion, Islam while it means Peace, Isn't peace, they are just too weak to carry out what they believe in, and the majority dream of the day when the world ends, and they rule the world entire!

This is a beautifully drawn, engaging story about two families during the 2014 Yazidi genocide. I had never heard of the Yazidi, or of the genocide, but the narration does a very good job of outlining the group and what happened. The story is focused on two branches of the same family, one that fled to the city prior to ISIL appearing and one that stayed in town too late. The narration switches back and forth between the two, often abruptly which I found confusing, as the girls are all cousins and I thought that it was the same girl in both plots at first. The family in the city is relatively safe, but they fear what happened to their family they left behind. The star of the book is Zéré, who was one of the ones who stayed behind. Her experiences were harrowing and frightening, but her determination sees her through the conflict. The genocide and its effects are taken very seriously, and the author does not shy away from the terrible realities of this sort of situation, particularly for the women. I thought this book was well-done and fantastically illustrated, but the plot jumping around was confusing and things wrapped up a bit too quickly for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the review copy!
In all honesty I have never heard anything about Yazidism or the Yazidi genocide before this book which made it a really emotional and educational read! Highly recommend it.

I received this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

A stunning book about two families, well one given they are family of each other, one lives in the city and the other in the rural part. We follow both of them and see how the war/ISIL affects them both. The girls and their mom in the city are terrified because they know that things are going worse and worse. The family in the rural part... well, that is the part that was shocking. ISIL is there. The men are taken. The women are taken and we see that girls are selected. I don't think I need to explain what for. *shudders* We follow for most Zéré as she tries to get through things that happen and try to find a way out. I just wanted to give her such a big hug for all she went through. Plus, not knowing what happened to her family later on. There is a shocking bit later on that was just a big WTF and came out of nowhere.
The reason why I rated it a 3 star and not higher was that at times the characters melted into each other and how we went from the city family to the rural family also wasn't clicking.

Sometimes there are graphic novels that shed light on terrible events in the world. "Yazidi!" is one of those. This heart-wrenching graphic novel tells the story of the Yazidi genocide of 2014 and its enduring effects.

We follow the story of how the genocide unfolded in 2014, how families were torn apart and endured unimaginable horrors. This is the story that didn't receive enough media coverage.

The story is written in an accessible manner with beautiful illustrations, making it suitable for readers of all ages. While the story is written in a light-hearted manner, it also addresses the heavier aspects effectively and pulls the reader into this heart-wrenching journey.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find whether this is a true story of someone or if it is based on the accounts known from Yazidi women who escaped. Whichever it may be, there are so many similar stories that are not heard enough.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Europe Comics for providing the review copy.