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mateyy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
roaming_enn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-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
"Nothing like the imminent loss of life to let you know you are truly alive." -Storm
Once I learned that this book is a retelling of the epic Indian poem the Mahabharata--which I didn't know anything about--I decided to try to go into the book as blind as possible. Needless to say, some of the characters I liked were actually supposed to be antagonists in the Mahabharata, and some the characters I disliked were the poem's heroes. (E.g., I liked Shishupal a lot, especially in part 1, and he was supposed to be an antagonist; and I disliked Krishna all the way through, and he was supposed to be a hero.) I thought that was funny.
I still don't know much about the poem, so now that I'm done with the book, I will look at the poem more carefully to see how Mohanty changed it or not changed it.
I read this as an ebook, which made it harder for me to refer back to the character lists and maps. So I found the book to be a bit difficult to follow, especially with remembering who did what. So just be aware that there are a LOT of characters that you'll need to remember. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it. There were a lot of twists and turns in the plot, characters backstabbing each other, etc. There is some child torture, especially in the beginning, which caught me a little off guard. And of course, war scenes, including graphic murder and graphic rape scenes.
Once I learned that this book is a retelling of the epic Indian poem the Mahabharata--which I didn't know anything about--I decided to try to go into the book as blind as possible. Needless to say, some of the characters I liked were actually supposed to be antagonists in the Mahabharata, and some the characters I disliked were the poem's heroes. (E.g., I liked Shishupal a lot, especially in part 1, and he was supposed to be an antagonist; and I disliked Krishna all the way through, and he was supposed to be a hero.) I thought that was funny.
I still don't know much about the poem, so now that I'm done with the book, I will look at the poem more carefully to see how Mohanty changed it or not changed it.
I read this as an ebook, which made it harder for me to refer back to the character lists and maps. So I found the book to be a bit difficult to follow, especially with remembering who did what. So just be aware that there are a LOT of characters that you'll need to remember. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it. There were a lot of twists and turns in the plot, characters backstabbing each other, etc. There is some child torture, especially in the beginning, which caught me a little off guard. And of course, war scenes, including graphic murder and graphic rape scenes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Rape, Torture, Murder, and War
shubh_reads_constantly's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
narratricenessa's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
For a Hero of Light, he reckoned he cast a rather grim shadow. Hero. The word slithered nastily in his mind. An honour bestowed upon you when you had killed all those who would have called you a mass murderer.
Sons of Darkness is a complex reimagining/reinterpretation of the great and equally complex ancient Indian epic the Mahābhārata but set in A Song of Ice and Fire-esque fantasy setting. A reimagining of a revered and complex classical text, especially one with a large cast of characters, in a grim epic fantasy setting, is an ambitious undertaking. Especially for a debut novel, however, Gourav Mohanty manages to make this work.
Sons of Darkness is a gripping tale that possesses all the elements that fans of epic fantasy like - a large cast of characters, lots of scheming and political machinations, revenge, epic fights and battles, morally grey characters... The reader does not need to be familiar with the synopsis of the Mahābhārata to read Sons of Darkness. However, familiarity with the original text might help you get your bearings quicker because the story has a large cast of characters and their interconnections can, at times, get quite complicated. But even if you don't know anything about the original text that inspired this quite grim epic fantasy reinterpretation of the story, once you start reading you will enjoy Mohanty's writing and will be too immersed in the story that's unfolding to worry about not being familiar with the Mahābhārata.
imperfectedness's review
So much misogyny in so little pages. Also the writing style is very awkward and clunky, it was barely readable. No thanks.
indistinctwhooshing's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sophiearaujo's review against another edition
the use of 'motherfucker' by a character in historical fantasy india didn't sit well with me
it (the novel, not just this word) felt vulgar simply for the sake of vulgarity
it (the novel, not just this word) felt vulgar simply for the sake of vulgarity
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
john_nygma's review against another edition
Dnf at almost 200 pages. I very rarely dnf books, but I just can't continue with this one.
The prose is way too dense and overstuffed with info dumps of names and titles that we have no idea about what they are. Also, after 170 pages, I've yet to meet all of our main characters. The many POV changes and inclusion of a gazillion characters also don't help with the general confusion I felt while reading this. I could not tell you what the main plot is; I honestly don't know because the prose is so dense that it's really hard to follow the endless conversations about politics that we have no understanding of.
This book tries way too hard to be Game of Thrones, and it was quite frankly a bit annoying *how* similar it felt to GRRM's series at times. At least GoT, while not perfect, has a clear and engaging prose that doesn't constantly irritate me. Also, I get that this is darker high fantasy, but is all the misogyny and sexism really necessary? Especially when it's not contextualised/addressed within the actual story? This feels more like "oh we're doing GoT dark fantasy, so it has to have violence, especially against women, plus lots of misogyny because that would be 'historically' accurate". You're not writing a history book, this is fantasy. If you include misogyny and, from what I've read in other reviews, r*pe, just because of that, then you might wanna reconsider writing about those issues...
I do enjoy the general idea of the book. Indian mythology sounds super interesting, and I think we need more fantasy stories inspired by/set in non-western cultures. Unfortunately, this just wasn't the book for me. Maybe I'll come back to it sometime in the future, but I really can't see myself getting into this right now...
The prose is way too dense and overstuffed with info dumps of names and titles that we have no idea about what they are. Also, after 170 pages, I've yet to meet all of our main characters. The many POV changes and inclusion of a gazillion characters also don't help with the general confusion I felt while reading this. I could not tell you what the main plot is; I honestly don't know because the prose is so dense that it's really hard to follow the endless conversations about politics that we have no understanding of.
This book tries way too hard to be Game of Thrones, and it was quite frankly a bit annoying *how* similar it felt to GRRM's series at times. At least GoT, while not perfect, has a clear and engaging prose that doesn't constantly irritate me. Also, I get that this is darker high fantasy, but is all the misogyny and sexism really necessary? Especially when it's not contextualised/addressed within the actual story? This feels more like "oh we're doing GoT dark fantasy, so it has to have violence, especially against women, plus lots of misogyny because that would be 'historically' accurate". You're not writing a history book, this is fantasy. If you include misogyny and, from what I've read in other reviews, r*pe, just because of that, then you might wanna reconsider writing about those issues...
I do enjoy the general idea of the book. Indian mythology sounds super interesting, and I think we need more fantasy stories inspired by/set in non-western cultures. Unfortunately, this just wasn't the book for me. Maybe I'll come back to it sometime in the future, but I really can't see myself getting into this right now...