Reviews

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

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lentilkong's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

3.75

My only complaint was that the feminism was a bit too on the nose, but it makes sense from the perspective of a woman in mythical / historical India. Beautiful female friendships and plot execution!

pinkelefant_78's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

aksmith92's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

TBD

Content Warnings

diyazaveri's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.25

alexena's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

hiitsmecassie's review against another edition

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4.0

it was really good actually i liked it

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I really enjoyed this one! I listened on audio and loved the narrator. This was such an excellent feminist take on ancient Indian mythology (an area I’ve never read a retelling or just a regular telling of). The end dragged for me a bit but it tugged all the right heartstrings and I’m looking forward to discussing with @mythofthemonth !!

cassroberts89's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I was so impressed when I found out this is Patel’s debut! It is stunning and expansive. I’m not super familiar with the Ramayana so I can’t say just how much was true to the epic or not. I’m willing to bet much of the feminist movement aspect was Patel’s invention, or was twisted to appear so. The pacing was a bit off sometimes too. Still, I am looking forward to seeing more from this author!

Side note as a parent:
This is clearly an adult novel, but I appreciated that there really isn’t anything in here that would prevent me from handing this to my kids if they were interested. There is mention of Kaikeyi visiting her husband’s rooms, but hardly any description at all of what transpires other than Kaikeyi herself seeming disinterested (my guess was either she isn’t straight or is asexual, for what it’s worth. This isn’t really relevant in the book though). I also loved that, otherwise, she and Dasharath developed a loving relationship with a healthy dose of respect.