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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
I wasn't aware of this before I started, but the author says it right in the beginning. Dance of Shadows is not a sequel to Sons of Darkness but a story in parallel. In my review of Sons of Darkness I mentioned, that several characters and storylines didn't get time enough to get resolved and I just assumed things for them would happen after the concluding battle of the first book. But the final events here, taking more time for the mentioned storylines, are taking place basically at the same time as they happened in Sons of Darkness.
This book delves more in the mythical, fantastical aspects than the first. And is surprisingly varied in tone. Going on a pirate adventure. Suddenly stressful events reminded me of The Descent. Battles against fantastical beasts happen. Then we are taken on a Mission Impossible style Heist, which is fun! Until it is really, really not. The first book wasn't shy, but some things here are really, really horrifying. WTF ...
Needless to say, I devoured this book in under 2 weeks, which is faster than usual for a chunky book like this, outside of vacations! And now I think we have everything in place to move into the future with the next book. Probably not a very nice future for most characters, would be my guess.
This book delves more in the mythical, fantastical aspects than the first. And is surprisingly varied in tone. Going on a pirate adventure. Suddenly stressful events reminded me of The Descent. Battles against fantastical beasts happen. Then we are taken on a Mission Impossible style Heist, which is fun! Until it is really, really not. The first book wasn't shy, but some things here are really, really horrifying. WTF ...
Needless to say, I devoured this book in under 2 weeks, which is faster than usual for a chunky book like this, outside of vacations! And now I think we have everything in place to move into the future with the next book. Probably not a very nice future for most characters, would be my guess.
we wouldn't even be in this mess if i were in this world bc as soon as i met karna it would be ON SIGHT. either that or i'd pull an unni ehtral and see how much torture he could possibly humanly withstand.
i could fill up this character limit talking about how much i hate karna but suffice to say i will hold myself back. now i had no idea picking up this book that it was not in fact a sequel. in fact, only like the last 30 pages really occurs after book 1. the events occur simultaneously alongside the events in book 1 as we build up to the battle of mathura. and although i was disappointed at first, actually getting these events with new characters was not just fun but also give us so much more background on how things unfolded in sons of darkness.
i will explain the reason i could not justifiably give this the 5 stars i wanted to give it at the end of this review. and yeah, it's pretty much the same reason as why i couldn't do the same for book 1.
worldbuilding
after just finishing The Ragpicker King i am over the moon. it's so detailed, so realistic, almost magical even how there are so many nations and cultures and little tidbits that aren't even that important but that mohanty adds in to lend some realism to this world. we leave wellknown hastina and mathura and magadh and head into new places like the tree cities which were so vividly described.
prose
mohanty is a man after joe abercrombie's own heart the way he can get me to laugh (in my head ofc). i have noted that he seems to take a lot of modern references into the dialogue which for sure unnerved me and dragged me out of my reading state to be like huh? but you could also say that is the literal vibe of the book, similar to the tumblr references in Gideon the Ninth and the selfies in The Atlas Paradox. he makes it work somehow?
plot
this is further than galaxy brain. there's so many strings we have to follow, so many characters doing their own things and making small decisions that decide the fate of the world. and it all flows together like a puzzle when you fit the last piece in and it is insanely satisfying. i know the series isn't over yet and i do wonder how many more books are in this series but lowkey i don't ever want it to end. i like being flabbergasted at plot twists and even overwhelmed as mohanty packs in every single fantasy trope and plot device under the sun.
characters
of course. i was so so so looking forward to getting back in the heads of my 3 favorite people from book 1, positively giddy that i could spend more time with them. imagine my shock and dismay that we do NOT get a single pov from them, but we DID get chapter after chapter after chapter of my LEAST fav character from sons of darkness. give me back shishupal, shakuni, and krishna but nah we get karna instead.
bhanumati
a menace in book 1, it really seemed like her entire goal was to make things 100000x worse and be mohanty's "evil female girlboss" checked box. she was so much better here and yeah it's probably bc we're in her head. she's now daughter of the empire and has many duties she is not remotely interested in fulfilling. all she really wants to do is wreck havoc on hastina and revenge herself on duryodhan's betrayal. but then she gets charged with a mission, she meets some people, and wow she's not a demonic evil after all. but ofc she's best when she's on the sea and i liked watching her order her crew around and be the captain she loves being. the damn baby giving her mood swings and cramps rip girl. also she did stab herself at the end but uh did she really die as well...
dantavakra
you are loved jezal dan luthar. i've waxed on and on about how mohanty has taken scenes almost exactly from abercrombie's series and now he's taken jezal's character arc. ofc this is not a bad thing per se. if it's inspiration i get it i was mindblown by the first law books as well and if he's gonna copy abercrombie at least he's doing it well. a spoiled self-interested soldier who only ever wants to chase his own pleasure is suddenly thrust into the spotlight and must now take a journey far far away out of his comfort zone and comes back a changed man. not to mention the absolute hilarious training sessions he had with dimvak. i liked that he provided comic relief and was stupid at times but maybe he became a bit too noble and aspirational too fast.i could've maybe forgiven karna for being a tortured angsty bitch but i ain't never gonna forvgive him for killing danta in that way. like how could you even ugh. and probably my fav scene with him is with his brother shishupal and their minor bickering.
vahura
a librarain princess who's on a mission to save her sister and thereby the world. i gotta admit she was hilarious. the way she floundered around out of her depth but then pulled up random moments of competency was wonderful to read. the scene at the conclave where she absolutely dunked on everyone was amazing, like not only are you giving me the reader more insight into the world and background info but you're also showing how incredibly big ur brain is.how tf do you survive yeeting yourself out of a "plane".
karna
honestly fuck this guy i hope he burns and dies and is never happy. i hate him more than leo dan brock can you imagine that? bc, with karna, you can tell exactly how mohanty wants you to feel, he wants you to feel bad for him and he loves him bc he literally compares him and his own best friend to karna and duryodhan. at least with leo, abercrombie never told you how to feel either way and let his fate play out according to the needs of the plot. here not only does he have the stupid armor stuck to him, he has his own plot armor that won't ever go away. oh he's so pretty, he's so sad, he's so noble, he's so tortured, he's such a good warrior no one can touch him. he kills everyone but don't worry! that's not his fault! that's just the monster living inside you! he's undefeatable! how the fuck is that likable at all? go kill yourself karna.
marzana
girl have some self respect. her own turmoil? yeah the politics of that were fascinating, especially the situation with her daughter. but it's really only like a couple chapters before we focus on karna's plot itself. and here's something i'll touch on later which is my major complaint about this book. she's not like any other woman bc she talks back to duryodhan even tho he's a prince. ha! bet you'd never considered a woman could be feisty and sassy and #notlikeothergirls. he's literally not even done anything and u immediately treat him with contempt and rudeness bc what? a woman who talks back to a man in a high position of power is original? and when she does embark on the mission with them, it doesn't get better. maybe what i can respect about her is that she really does want to place her own interests first.she died but why was there a stone in her brain. um what. was that. will she come back...
duryodhan
you would think wouldn't you that karna's best friend would be my enemy? the friend of my enemy is also my enemy or smtg along that line? and yet i love him. everything he tries to do is to be good and it just always blows up in his face. did i hate his love for mati and that he had this grand ideals of "saving her?" absolutely but we hardly got any chapters harping on that. and what kind of friendship is there between him and karna. where is the affection between them (save for that last chapter which i did enjoy their idk bickering?). it feels uniquely toxic and not rly in the good way. lmaybe they'll get their own section later bc despite karna, i rly do love the duryodhan side of this relationship.
nala
my favorite character in this entire book bc she's not only the most relatable but nothing she ever did was unreasonable to me. every action she took i was like, yeah, i'd do the same girl! i'm sorry for thinking she was boring in book 1 but here her quest really takes off. what i love about her is her fondness for pashuram my other fav character. idk it's rare in this world to get someone with true devotion here (not watever karna/duryodhan is). she looks up to him, sees he can do no wrong, would go along with any plan even if suspect, just for him to be proud of her. she's go me so convinced in fact that i find myself being also like hell yeah let's go pashuram! pls notice ur pupil she is very smart and she tries her hardest! hope she gets her revenge.
masha
this friendship between nala and masha had so much potential ugh. her enthusiasm and innocence was actually refreshing and not as grating as i thought it could've been. maybe we needed her light and cheerfulness amidst this grimmest of grimdarks.i was horrified she'd died in that way. and then i was even more horrified at her ending. like ik ur mad ur friends abandoned u but they were considering the fate of the world and thought you as good as dead!
pashuram
yeah he gets his own section bc i want to talk about one of my fav scenes in the book.firstly when he was draining that boy and nala found out he was doing those horrible things for the masters he doesn't even know if they're alive or not? that was epic. esp bc nala was just all "dang that's creepy but imma help him anyway so he's proud of me." he's so cool. but esp when nar ad tells him "world or soldier?" and he picks up nala and fights his way thru the stone soldiers. and he does try to go back for nar ad but once again "world or soldier?" prevails and he saves nala. perfection. there's just something about an immortal who knows the world is shit and the ppl are shit and still is tasked to save it anyway and do his best.
taksha
our own view into the naga people who are some reptilian variant. honestly was just another pov i could access nala thru so i didn't hate him. i was annoyed he was so obsessed with the son of darkness being his messiah bc i was like ugh ofc karna again. but then the ending happened and i was pleasantly surprised. i want to know his plans with what he took from iyran machil
ajath
sometimes we all need a massive woman with a sword and bulging muscles to save us. i'm all for the representation here, with her signing and not being able to speak. i'm not remembering if that's a choice after the horrible things that happened to her family or she was born mute/made so? either way it was kinda sweet how she took taksha under her protection. and how she always got up even after being swatted away by a freakin dragon.i think my jaw dropped when she say my father to the emperor. like HUH? that's the secret daughter we were talking about? i rly should've guessed that but it was a surprise i absolutely loved. ofc she's the emperor's daughter with how formidable she is.
bhagadatt
i rly felt neither good nor bad about it. he was meh. useful at times. too charismatic at other times. no i don't rly care how sexy u are. i liked the nickname thobaggy. i should've guessed that was him he made it so obvious but alas.
jarasandh
never in my life did i think i would ever talk about the emperor but here we are. thank you to those last pages in which he went from dodgy old man who would crumble if sunlight touched him to insane warrior who's now shot up in my estimation and fav character list. it sucks to love both krishna and him at the same time.like wdym he was absolutely dunking on karna, not underestimating him like pashuram did. that moment when pashuram called him jara was actually really cute and now i want the backstory. ig he's called jarasandh the conqueror for a reason lol.
now for my 2 thoughts/complaints
1, the less serious: karna and duryodhan
i think we all know my hatred of karna by now. but their relationship however mohanty wants to push this on us? it has its moments. ik i said above that i don't feel the affection and i rarely do. it's just there's little phrases and lines tossed here and there that make me go oh! so why did they do that! i think it's just the case of sometimes mohanty missing the mark and then absolutely hitting the nail on their relationship. it's literally just like conor and kel (again from The Ragpicker King) and i keep bringing that book up but i literally read it yesterday. but here's some examples, spoilers below
marza: how do you know he is in malengar?
duryodhan: spies. where is he?
that's nothing u might say but it's everything to me. bc duryodhan has a conclave to attend, hastina to run that's falling into civil war. and he's spending his time sending spies to look for karna and is traipsing around the land looking for him.
and then on the other hand i rly can’t tell the love or like they have for each other or is it just obligation to keep the friendship going bc the author needs more ways to torture karna and remind us duryodhan is high born and the friction there.
and the pendulum swings back bc at the end there,duryodhan literally breaks the law for karna his boy best friend <3. and karna unleashes the evil within him to save duryodhan his boy best friend <3. and if that wasn't enough, duryodhan pulls a "it's me! this isn't u karna!" where literally only his voice is enough to drag karna back to reality and stop him from going on a murderous rampage. . like ok. ik there's such things as deep platonic friendships but this is taking teeny tiny steps towards that line separating it from homoeroticism.
and my 2nd more serious complaint
the women. huh you question? there were so many badass cool women in this book? nearly every pov was a woman, an improvement from book 1. i agree. it's like abercrombie flipping a switch from the first law to the age of madness where we are finally free from the clutches of the 2000s and the 2010s steering way too far away from damsel in distress to frigid bitch or big mouthed not like other girls. and so yeah i even like mati and vahura and nala and masha and marzana. the number of women and their roles have improved and yet it still feels like something from the 2010s. it feels like a man writing women based on what he's read in ye olde fantasy classics. and i'm talking in 2 ways. first, the attitude. not every woman has to be outspoken and a smart aleck. being rude to a man is not really a personality it's giving tryhard energy. the 2nd is the goddamn boobs. which i was already on a sore note with cassandra clare. but here. every. single. woman's. boobs. are. mentioned. and not even the minor or irrelevant characters are spared (except old ella i think?). at any possible chance we get, mohanty is talking about her boobs even if it is completely unnecessary to the task at hand. like really? i get we can talk about it every so often but for EVERY FEMALE CHARACTER?
we got a pretty good scene with mati and sokarro and then they fight, further inflamed by a MAN. and when something terrible happens the women die awfully but not the MAN who survives impossibly. reminds me of The Fires of Vengeance where the women routinely got burned to a crisp by their own dragons but the men can survive getting impaled and stabbed and god knows what. like isn't that peachy.
and i know we're trying to be sex positive and i don't mind if women are sleeping with the guys. i just think that once again it was written in such a man's pov in such a masculine way of thinking. even masha having thoughts about wanting companionship and thinking of taksha when NALA is right there and has been by her side this entire time?? and i think that was my issue with baghadatt. he was too charming. i hate to keep bringing him up but abercrombie really hit his scenes perfectly. he made the men awkward and fumbling and the women as dominant and then dusting her hands and moving on once it was finished. it's a personal problem yeah but it took away my enjoyment from this book anytime it was brought up.
and another thing about that?the sideplot where danta gets his character development bc he kills saham dev for rape? i'm all for killing him, but it really did feel forced. like mohanty needed us to side with danta if we hadn't already and root for his change of heart. we had just gotten some backstory to the prince as well so strange an interesting character was tossed out (lol) and written away with rape bc murder u can excuse but rape u literally cannot. it was like mohanty was in an echo chamber getting us to nod our heads and mati to like danta a bit more and the audience to stand and clap danta for his actions. could we not develop his character without a woman suffering? is that impossible? could we have complicated villains in saham dev? nah. it's the easy route out.
and my final thing. i'm not saying this is mohanty's view but mati immediately loving her child? not every woman naturally has materal instincts the second they get pregnant. but ok. did we need that incredibly gruesome pregnancy scene? are we just totaling up how much a woman can suffer in these books? it's grimdark u say! yeah but there's dark and then there's gratuitous. this kinda leeched into the latter. also the priest literally ate her baby that was so unexpected.
anyawy, the ending was life changing bc omg now what??
wdym vahura survived and has plans to help the enemy. wdym masha is now sister marigold and wants to hurt her friends for a misunderstanding? wdym storm wants to kill krishna? wdym muchuk und didn't burn to a crisp? wdym nar ad is just along for the ride?
some last thoughts
- "i think if i gave you my secrets you would treat them tenderly" i have googled this and it's word for word (bar "heart" instead of secrets) from Kings Rising. yeah laurent and damen. i need to know if mohanty just saw this trending everywhere and was like cool! or he's read captive prince and in that case... WHAT
- "manners maketh murderers" it was at this point i attribute the references as a sorta campy make fun of itself thing
- the scene where duryodhan sings and gets tomatoes thrown at him is TAKEN from jeeves and wooster i’m not even lying
- west in The Heroes alsokills a prince bc of attempted assault just like danta did to saham dev .
i am desperately awaiting the next book. i NEED more krishna and shakuni. and for all hell to explode with that craziness of an ending. more nala and pashuram too. and mabybe karna will get to die terribly. :D
i could fill up this character limit talking about how much i hate karna but suffice to say i will hold myself back. now i had no idea picking up this book that it was not in fact a sequel. in fact, only like the last 30 pages really occurs after book 1. the events occur simultaneously alongside the events in book 1 as we build up to the battle of mathura. and although i was disappointed at first, actually getting these events with new characters was not just fun but also give us so much more background on how things unfolded in sons of darkness.
i will explain the reason i could not justifiably give this the 5 stars i wanted to give it at the end of this review. and yeah, it's pretty much the same reason as why i couldn't do the same for book 1.
worldbuilding
after just finishing The Ragpicker King i am over the moon. it's so detailed, so realistic, almost magical even how there are so many nations and cultures and little tidbits that aren't even that important but that mohanty adds in to lend some realism to this world. we leave wellknown hastina and mathura and magadh and head into new places like the tree cities which were so vividly described.
prose
mohanty is a man after joe abercrombie's own heart the way he can get me to laugh (in my head ofc). i have noted that he seems to take a lot of modern references into the dialogue which for sure unnerved me and dragged me out of my reading state to be like huh? but you could also say that is the literal vibe of the book, similar to the tumblr references in Gideon the Ninth and the selfies in The Atlas Paradox. he makes it work somehow?
plot
this is further than galaxy brain. there's so many strings we have to follow, so many characters doing their own things and making small decisions that decide the fate of the world. and it all flows together like a puzzle when you fit the last piece in and it is insanely satisfying. i know the series isn't over yet and i do wonder how many more books are in this series but lowkey i don't ever want it to end. i like being flabbergasted at plot twists and even overwhelmed as mohanty packs in every single fantasy trope and plot device under the sun.
characters
of course. i was so so so looking forward to getting back in the heads of my 3 favorite people from book 1, positively giddy that i could spend more time with them. imagine my shock and dismay that we do NOT get a single pov from them, but we DID get chapter after chapter after chapter of my LEAST fav character from sons of darkness. give me back shishupal, shakuni, and krishna but nah we get karna instead.
bhanumati
a menace in book 1, it really seemed like her entire goal was to make things 100000x worse and be mohanty's "evil female girlboss" checked box. she was so much better here and yeah it's probably bc we're in her head. she's now daughter of the empire and has many duties she is not remotely interested in fulfilling. all she really wants to do is wreck havoc on hastina and revenge herself on duryodhan's betrayal. but then she gets charged with a mission, she meets some people, and wow she's not a demonic evil after all. but ofc she's best when she's on the sea and i liked watching her order her crew around and be the captain she loves being.
dantavakra
you are loved jezal dan luthar. i've waxed on and on about how mohanty has taken scenes almost exactly from abercrombie's series and now he's taken jezal's character arc. ofc this is not a bad thing per se. if it's inspiration i get it i was mindblown by the first law books as well and if he's gonna copy abercrombie at least he's doing it well. a spoiled self-interested soldier who only ever wants to chase his own pleasure is suddenly thrust into the spotlight and must now take a journey far far away out of his comfort zone and comes back a changed man. not to mention the absolute hilarious training sessions he had with dimvak. i liked that he provided comic relief and was stupid at times but maybe he became a bit too noble and aspirational too fast.
vahura
a librarain princess who's on a mission to save her sister and thereby the world. i gotta admit she was hilarious. the way she floundered around out of her depth but then pulled up random moments of competency was wonderful to read. the scene at the conclave where she absolutely dunked on everyone was amazing, like not only are you giving me the reader more insight into the world and background info but you're also showing how incredibly big ur brain is.
karna
honestly fuck this guy i hope he burns and dies and is never happy. i hate him more than leo dan brock can you imagine that? bc, with karna, you can tell exactly how mohanty wants you to feel, he wants you to feel bad for him and he loves him bc he literally compares him and his own best friend to karna and duryodhan. at least with leo, abercrombie never told you how to feel either way and let his fate play out according to the needs of the plot. here not only does he have the stupid armor stuck to him, he has his own plot armor that won't ever go away. oh he's so pretty, he's so sad, he's so noble, he's so tortured, he's such a good warrior no one can touch him. he kills everyone but don't worry! that's not his fault! that's just the monster living inside you! he's undefeatable! how the fuck is that likable at all? go kill yourself karna.
marzana
girl have some self respect. her own turmoil? yeah the politics of that were fascinating, especially the situation with her daughter. but it's really only like a couple chapters before we focus on karna's plot itself. and here's something i'll touch on later which is my major complaint about this book. she's not like any other woman bc she talks back to duryodhan even tho he's a prince. ha! bet you'd never considered a woman could be feisty and sassy and #notlikeothergirls. he's literally not even done anything and u immediately treat him with contempt and rudeness bc what? a woman who talks back to a man in a high position of power is original? and when she does embark on the mission with them, it doesn't get better. maybe what i can respect about her is that she really does want to place her own interests first.
duryodhan
you would think wouldn't you that karna's best friend would be my enemy? the friend of my enemy is also my enemy or smtg along that line? and yet i love him. everything he tries to do is to be good and it just always blows up in his face. did i hate his love for mati and that he had this grand ideals of "saving her?" absolutely but we hardly got any chapters harping on that. and what kind of friendship is there between him and karna. where is the affection between them (save for that last chapter which i did enjoy their idk bickering?). it feels uniquely toxic and not rly in the good way. lmaybe they'll get their own section later bc despite karna, i rly do love the duryodhan side of this relationship.
nala
my favorite character in this entire book bc she's not only the most relatable but nothing she ever did was unreasonable to me. every action she took i was like, yeah, i'd do the same girl! i'm sorry for thinking she was boring in book 1 but here her quest really takes off. what i love about her is her fondness for pashuram my other fav character. idk it's rare in this world to get someone with true devotion here (not watever karna/duryodhan is). she looks up to him, sees he can do no wrong, would go along with any plan even if suspect, just for him to be proud of her. she's go me so convinced in fact that i find myself being also like hell yeah let's go pashuram! pls notice ur pupil she is very smart and she tries her hardest! hope she gets her revenge.
masha
this friendship between nala and masha had so much potential ugh. her enthusiasm and innocence was actually refreshing and not as grating as i thought it could've been. maybe we needed her light and cheerfulness amidst this grimmest of grimdarks.
pashuram
yeah he gets his own section bc i want to talk about one of my fav scenes in the book.
taksha
our own view into the naga people who are some reptilian variant. honestly was just another pov i could access nala thru so i didn't hate him. i was annoyed he was so obsessed with the son of darkness being his messiah bc i was like ugh ofc karna again. but then the ending happened and i was pleasantly surprised. i want to know his plans with what he took from iyran machil
ajath
sometimes we all need a massive woman with a sword and bulging muscles to save us. i'm all for the representation here, with her signing and not being able to speak. i'm not remembering if that's a choice after the horrible things that happened to her family or she was born mute/made so? either way it was kinda sweet how she took taksha under her protection. and how she always got up even after being swatted away by a freakin dragon.
bhagadatt
i rly felt neither good nor bad about it. he was meh. useful at times. too charismatic at other times. no i don't rly care how sexy u are. i liked the nickname tho
jarasandh
never in my life did i think i would ever talk about the emperor but here we are. thank you to those last pages in which he went from dodgy old man who would crumble if sunlight touched him to insane warrior who's now shot up in my estimation and fav character list. it sucks to love both krishna and him at the same time.
now for my 2 thoughts/complaints
1, the less serious: karna and duryodhan
i think we all know my hatred of karna by now. but their relationship however mohanty wants to push this on us? it has its moments. ik i said above that i don't feel the affection and i rarely do. it's just there's little phrases and lines tossed here and there that make me go oh! so why did they do that! i think it's just the case of sometimes mohanty missing the mark and then absolutely hitting the nail on their relationship. it's literally just like conor and kel (again from The Ragpicker King) and i keep bringing that book up but i literally read it yesterday. but here's some examples, spoilers below
marza: how do you know he is in malengar?
duryodhan: spies. where is he?
that's nothing u might say but it's everything to me. bc duryodhan has a conclave to attend, hastina to run that's falling into civil war. and he's spending his time sending spies to look for karna and is traipsing around the land looking for him.
and then on the other hand i rly can’t tell the love or like they have for each other or is it just obligation to keep the friendship going bc the author needs more ways to torture karna and remind us duryodhan is high born and the friction there.
and the pendulum swings back bc at the end there,
and my 2nd more serious complaint
the women. huh you question? there were so many badass cool women in this book? nearly every pov was a woman, an improvement from book 1. i agree. it's like abercrombie flipping a switch from the first law to the age of madness where we are finally free from the clutches of the 2000s and the 2010s steering way too far away from damsel in distress to frigid bitch or big mouthed not like other girls. and so yeah i even like mati and vahura and nala and masha and marzana. the number of women and their roles have improved and yet it still feels like something from the 2010s. it feels like a man writing women based on what he's read in ye olde fantasy classics. and i'm talking in 2 ways. first, the attitude. not every woman has to be outspoken and a smart aleck. being rude to a man is not really a personality it's giving tryhard energy. the 2nd is the goddamn boobs. which i was already on a sore note with cassandra clare. but here. every. single. woman's. boobs. are. mentioned. and not even the minor or irrelevant characters are spared (except old ella i think?). at any possible chance we get, mohanty is talking about her boobs even if it is completely unnecessary to the task at hand. like really? i get we can talk about it every so often but for EVERY FEMALE CHARACTER?
we got a pretty good scene with mati and sokarro and then they fight, further inflamed by a MAN. and when something terrible happens the women die awfully but not the MAN who survives impossibly. reminds me of The Fires of Vengeance where the women routinely got burned to a crisp by their own dragons but the men can survive getting impaled and stabbed and god knows what. like isn't that peachy.
and i know we're trying to be sex positive and i don't mind if women are sleeping with the guys. i just think that once again it was written in such a man's pov in such a masculine way of thinking. even masha having thoughts about wanting companionship and thinking of taksha when NALA is right there and has been by her side this entire time?? and i think that was my issue with baghadatt. he was too charming. i hate to keep bringing him up but abercrombie really hit his scenes perfectly. he made the men awkward and fumbling and the women as dominant and then dusting her hands and moving on once it was finished. it's a personal problem yeah but it took away my enjoyment from this book anytime it was brought up.
and another thing about that?
and my final thing.
anyawy, the ending was life changing bc omg now what??
some last thoughts
- "i think if i gave you my secrets you would treat them tenderly" i have googled this and it's word for word (bar "heart" instead of secrets) from Kings Rising. yeah laurent and damen. i need to know if mohanty just saw this trending everywhere and was like cool! or he's read captive prince and in that case... WHAT
- "manners maketh murderers" it was at this point i attribute the references as a sorta campy make fun of itself thing
- the scene where duryodhan sings and gets tomatoes thrown at him is TAKEN from jeeves and wooster i’m not even lying
- west in The Heroes also
i am desperately awaiting the next book. i NEED more krishna and shakuni. and for all hell to explode with that craziness of an ending. more nala and pashuram too. and mabybe karna will get to die terribly. :D
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
When I read the author's intro to the first book and he claimed to be attempting to write an Indian version of a Song of Ice and Fire, I thought he was a bit full of himself. After finishing the first and second books, I am confident that's what he's done! This book felt like the Red Wedding, only an entire book instead of the one scene. I was really drawn in by the characters' stories here and was shocked and shattered by what happened to them. Some criticize saying this is a bit too dark, and that would be my only criticism. Just when things seem they are going right with each set of characters, they instead go horribly, awfully wrong.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Pregnancy
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
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:
Complicated
Man, what the f—
"Kingship knows no kinship." Mhm yep, one of my favorite series of last year has officially been caught up on and I'm in Awe. I love this long epic tale set in ancient India and I cannot get enough! I'll try not to Gush. I wanted to write a thorough review and highlight each character but I gave up because So. Much. HAPPENS. Where would I even begin? Read the Sons of Darkness, then Dance of Shadows and tell me who your favorite character is because I cannot chose. All of them are a little bit dark and flawed and funny and really fleshed out people that I sometimes want to high five and then immediately shove off a bridge.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My jaw dropped and I was shocked by plot twists multiple times. Definitely another depressing read (don’t get too emotionally attached to any of these characters…) but dark in a good way! Definitely check the content warnings before reading though…
Holy crap on a cracker that was a damn good book. I loved this one where I liked the first book sons of darkness.
We’re focused on different characters and I became so attached to them. I feared for their lives in this book. I absolutely adored his use of dialogue, just like the last book. I love the witty humor thrown in such an intense story.
If you love the morally grey characters where you find yourself rooting for “unlikeable” characters this is for you. If you like pirates, heists, nerdy book worms, and surprising heroes this is for you. Be warned this series is “grim dark” so there are definitely aspects of it that are gruesome.
I don’t know what else needs to be said, I cannot wait for book 3 and will be a loyal reader of Gourav Mohanty from now on.
Thank you Bloomsbury and Netgalley for this ARC!
We’re focused on different characters and I became so attached to them. I feared for their lives in this book. I absolutely adored his use of dialogue, just like the last book. I love the witty humor thrown in such an intense story.
If you love the morally grey characters where you find yourself rooting for “unlikeable” characters this is for you. If you like pirates, heists, nerdy book worms, and surprising heroes this is for you. Be warned this series is “grim dark” so there are definitely aspects of it that are gruesome.
I don’t know what else needs to be said, I cannot wait for book 3 and will be a loyal reader of Gourav Mohanty from now on.
Thank you Bloomsbury and Netgalley for this ARC!
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Gourav Mohanty's saga continues in this follow-up to Sons of Darkness, a series inspired by the Mahabharatha. Mohanty weaves together a narrative with an immense cast of characters. A must-read for fans of gritty and complex high fantasy with a diverse setting. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC.