Wow. Most unlikeable MC I’ve ever read.

I enjoyed this book so much! I love an epic, I love a mythic retelling! (Although I could challenge that this isn’t quite a mythology as it’s very much a religious story) This had everything I needed and more. It makes me hungry to learn more about the Ramayan! If Vaishnavi continued to expand on this story I wouldn’t be mad. I will miss some of these characters.

l will say the ending felt a little rushed but the book’s pacing overall was perfect! Every chapter felt like a new episode or new adventure. The 500 pages didn’t feel like a chore at all.

I wish we went somewhere with the mother’s story and how they reconnected. Felt a little bit pointless especially since so much of how Kaikeyi came to be was because her mom left her when she was young and also was the reason she has her magic powers.

I loved the Ace representation. This was my first time reading about an Ace character and learning more about how desire works differently was enlightening and also I found I could really relate to. I love a romance plot in a book but surprisingly didn’t miss it here because her other relationships and the love shown there was wholeheartedly enough. Which made the end of the book so much more heartbreaking 😭. Why did Kaikeyi not fight more? I feel like she sort of just gave in to her “fate”, while the whole book was about her refusing to conform and lie down. She stood up for everyone in the book but just didn’t do anything when it came to defending herself at the end!

Themes:

• Free Will vs fate
• Religion & Tradition vs science/ progress/technology
• persistence of patriarchy and challenging patriarchal power structures: become the ultimate hero and champion for women’s rights and feminism and still raise red pill sons, have a misogynistic twin brother, etc. misogyny can be so ingrained in a culture that even loved ones are blind to their own prejudice.
• good vs evil : wickedness
• divine will and blind faith

Better than the first… still a little too YA for me. I’m not a fan of the audiobook narrator. I’m getting a little lost with the magic system, really not understanding how she unbound herself from Arthur.

Read this in one day so I could watch the Netflix movie. Wasn’t amazing but definitely entertaining, the twist was good although a tiny bit predictable, there’s a few questions I still have like who bugarled her home! Or was that actually separate? And who is sharing mascaras with strangers? Nasty, that’s how we get cooties yall lol Main character really annoyed me and continually made the worst decisions ever. She’s supposed to be a journalist and did absolutely zero sleuthing. The only time she put on her investigative journalist hat was when she was trapped in the lower deck. Also I found the feminist talking points sprinkled throughout were a little preachy. Why did she not react to her ex forcibly thrusting his hand down her dress and ripped it? And all she did was joke about it and let i him off the hook?? Weird… would have been nice to have a big confrontation scene with all the bad guys revealing their entire murder plot like Scooby doo lol maybe that would help with the abruptness of the ending? I did like the articles and blog posts switching timelines. That was a cool way to tell the story. Despite all that I don’t really have any strong feeling for this book buttt I think I’ll reach for the sequel! Just out of pure curiosity.