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rnbhargava's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
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
4.25
I loved so much about this Ramayana expansion and partial retelling. The highs and lows are dramatic and I love this book for it. I also love that the title character’s mind is where we exclusively reside in for this retelling given she’s usually depicted as a wicked stepmother type in many Ramayana variations. Seeing her extended family, early days of her marriage, her bonds with her fellow wives and the community of her adopted home Ayodhya. Seeing her build bonds and falter in others. Seeing her reconnect with others across time. I liked the recontextualizinv of Ravana too. The depiction of Rama is done for a specific reason and I kind of loved that surprising shift. I’m sure it ruffled some but I think fine, it’s merely one retelling so if you dislike it, disregard it. The family bonds really define the narrative here and it’s so good to read through. The characterizations of Kaikeyi’s fellow wives could have been expanded but then I guess it would take away from being solely Kaikeyi’s point of view.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Bullying, Classism, Grief, Racism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexism, Violence, and War
The question of free will/manipulation is central to the abilities used by the title character and an few other individuals. The title character is asexual so depending on how you see it, the few sex scenes in the plot could be understood in a few ways. There is definite misogyny throughout the book, even from males that are mostly supportive of progressing rights for women. There’s a specific point in showing it that way. Going against the patriarchy and redefining society happens in time.samburkhouse's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, Death, and War
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Grief
Minor: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
some_random_person_hi's review
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
I love when people retell stories in ways that uproot it from the bigoted views from the time it was written. It was kind of slow but even without having previous contact with the Ramayana, the impending sense of doom compelled me to read on and by the last ~80 pages I couldn't put the book down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Death of parent, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, War, and Mental illness
Minor: Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Medical content, and Infidelity
alexisgarcia's review
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.5
i really loved this. the characters were so well rounded and i loved the development they had. the plot was so interesting and i really enjoyed reading it!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Grief, Blood, Child death, Sexual content, Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Infertility, and Death
readwithria's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Kaikeyi takes the Hindu epic Ramayana and gives us its prologue through the eyes of our titular character. This book is wonderful, and full of characters whose bonds can literally be seen waxing and waning.
I loved so much about this book! The pacing is excellent, especially given how many years this book spans. There are so many wonderful relationships in this book, and seeing how they change over the decades was so interesting. Kaikeyi is such an ambitious woman, and her strength was apparent throughout her journey. I loved the magic, and how it was and wasn’t used. It really was a fantastic book.
Why wasn’t it a five star read? I don’t know. It just didn’t give me the ~vibes~ I guess, but that’s nothing to do with the book and everything to do with me. I loved this book, and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys retellings, fantasy, or historical fiction.
This was a marvelous story of power and connection and fate. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 4.5 stars.
I loved so much about this book! The pacing is excellent, especially given how many years this book spans. There are so many wonderful relationships in this book, and seeing how they change over the decades was so interesting. Kaikeyi is such an ambitious woman, and her strength was apparent throughout her journey. I loved the magic, and how it was and wasn’t used. It really was a fantastic book.
Why wasn’t it a five star read? I don’t know. It just didn’t give me the ~vibes~ I guess, but that’s nothing to do with the book and everything to do with me. I loved this book, and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys retellings, fantasy, or historical fiction.
This was a marvelous story of power and connection and fate. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 4.5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Violence and Death
Minor: Sexual content and Death of parent
serena_hien's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Death, Blood, Abandonment, and Misogyny
Minor: Sexual content
charming_killerqueen's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Sexual content
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Kaikeyi is a strong-willed protagonist, pushing the boundaries of her life to ease the way for women around her and those she'll never know. In the process of trying to eke out a place for herself as the youngest of three wives to her husband, she changes the way women are seen in her new home. She has access to the binding plane, where she can see and often influence the bonds between people. Through a mix of mundane influence, occasional manipulation, and courage in an early battle, she becomes one of her husband's most trusted advisers. At every turn she's driven to make things better for women, aware of how much their fates depend on the whims of the men in their lives.
She was concerned about getting married and it takes someone pointing out how she's isolated herself before she begins trying to build a life and connections in her new home rather than just mourning the unsupervised freedom she had as a child. Once she gets to know them, Kaikeyi loves her husband and his other two wives. Her identity as a mother is central to the second half of her story, and she loves all her sons (though she only bore one of them). The worldbuilding includes detail about Kaikeyi's clothes and surroundings every so often, such as when she chooses a particular sari for significant moments. I prefer stories which don't rely heavily on detailed descriptions of the characters' surroundings, and this was a good level for me.
Kaikeyi's narration includes periodic comments about how she didn't know certain things would make everything turn out so badly. The turn, when it happens, is so close to the end that I was starting to think her warnings would be for nothing. Most of the story is spent showing how she conducted her life and gained influence with the help of the binding plane, and the way she did her best to recover from some early mistakes when she was first learning how this power worked.
I'm not already familiar with the Indian epic this is reimagining, and I didn't need any familiarity in order for this to be a moving story with memorable characters. I enjoyed reading it, and will probably try to read the Ramayana if I can, since it's piqued my interest.
She was concerned about getting married and it takes someone pointing out how she's isolated herself before she begins trying to build a life and connections in her new home rather than just mourning the unsupervised freedom she had as a child. Once she gets to know them, Kaikeyi loves her husband and his other two wives. Her identity as a mother is central to the second half of her story, and she loves all her sons (though she only bore one of them). The worldbuilding includes detail about Kaikeyi's clothes and surroundings every so often, such as when she chooses a particular sari for significant moments. I prefer stories which don't rely heavily on detailed descriptions of the characters' surroundings, and this was a good level for me.
Kaikeyi's narration includes periodic comments about how she didn't know certain things would make everything turn out so badly. The turn, when it happens, is so close to the end that I was starting to think her warnings would be for nothing. Most of the story is spent showing how she conducted her life and gained influence with the help of the binding plane, and the way she did her best to recover from some early mistakes when she was first learning how this power worked.
I'm not already familiar with the Indian epic this is reimagining, and I didn't need any familiarity in order for this to be a moving story with memorable characters. I enjoyed reading it, and will probably try to read the Ramayana if I can, since it's piqued my interest.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Grief, Death, War, Sexism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Sexual content and Physical abuse
leahrosiee's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Gaslighting, Sexism, Grief, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Death of parent, and Infertility
Minor: War, Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy
miak2's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-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
I could not change the minds of gods, but I could change the minds of men. p.180
This book was everything. I think I've struggled with some other feminist mythology retellings because they don't actually seem to give that much agency to their female leads. Kaikeyi, however. God, what a badass. I especially appreciated that her strength came from her fierce determination and ability to navigate social and political situations. She could also absolutely dominate with a spear too, but her strength came from so much more than that.
I applaud Patel's ability to write a feminist story set in a patriarchal time, but with complex and interesting male characters as well. It would have been easy to make them all loud examples of sexism, but instead she skillfully demonstrated how systems that are designed to oppress women continue to work even within the most well-intentioned individuals. Yudhajit, Dasharath, and even Rama were all good people. Flawed and complex, but good. And yet they all, in some way or another, believed and perpetuated narratives about what women should do and are capable of doing. It was heartbreaking to read this from Kaikeyi's perspective, to see how much she loved her family while also feeling so hurt by their beliefs and their actions.
Patel did such a good job ramping up the tension throughout the book. She dropped hints and warnings about what was to come, and by the time I got to the fourth (and final) section, I was practically cowering behind my hands, afraid to read any further. Even though I was unfamiliar with the Ramayana going in, I had this pit in my stomach about how the climax would go, and my god it was so much worse than I thought.
But! It was all done really beautifully. Everything tied up so well, and there were some touching callbacks to earlier moments in the book. And, above it all, I am just so proud of Kaikeyi. She was so unbelievably strong and tenacious and honest and raw throughout the book, and I feel honored that I got to experience her side of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Sexual content