Reviews

This was an incredibly good book. It was a book that kept me pushing through it all the way through, racing to see what happened to these characters. It had excellent world building, compelling characters, and an overarching plot that was well constructed. It was amazing to see a fantasy book with an Indian-inspired setting, one that is in the vein of a Western fantasy story but one that weaves simple Indian culture throughout the entire book for a cohesive whole.
That being said, I do have some slight issues with the book, mainly with the pacing. The pacing in the first third of the book was slow, then the middle third of the book picked up the pace of the story. However, the final third of the book felt very drawn out, with what felt like the climax of the story starting at the 2/3 point and then continuing around the remaining third of the book, with falling action only really occurring within the last couple of chapters. This led the final third of the book to feel rather exhausting, as events kept on occurring with little chance for a break. As such, the middle third is really the most compelling from a pacing perspective, since the book feels very tightly written in that segment.
However, despite the pacing issues, the facet of the book drawing me through the rest of the story was the character work. Suri's characters are rich and layered and have a lot of depth to them. From the main duo of the story, Priya and Malini, to the side characters Ashok and Rao and Bhumika, who all have their own incredibly rich characterization, Tasha Suri does an excellent job of making the reader invested in these characters and their growth. The relationships developed are all rich and feel organic and natural.

cecibaspe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jollygreenreader's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Pros

Interesting world
Cool magic system
Really well done shifting POVs
Realistic writing (Things aren’t going to end well. Hard choices need to be made.)
Interesting cast of characters and differing backgrounds that make it not simple to pick one side

Cons

The book felt a little too long. Parts were dragged out longer than needed, especially the ending.
They’re we some things left in mystery, possibly for book 2, that I wish she would have just explained. Doesn’t seem clear why she’s holding onto them.

I was really interested in the story, despite it being heavy to read at times, but by the end I don’t care enough about the characters to keep going. That may change someday, but for now I’ll end the series here.

evren_w's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Best book I’ve read all year. The prose was exquisite the plot was divine. I’m diving immediately into the sequel and I can’t wait for the 3rd book to release.