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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
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
Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. The plot of this book and most of the worldbuilding were fantastic (pun intended). The one complaint was in the religious aspect of it as I just found the god to be gross and that bothered me continually throughout. The kingdoms and cultures and peoples were beautiful. The plot kept me guessing until the very end and I had to know what would happen next. Overall a very good read.
Tell me a fantasy story is based on something other than medieval Europe and you’ll have my attention. Tell me it’s based on Indian culture and oh boy I’m going to obsess over it.
Ok, I’ll obsess over the story in a moment but first, let me gush about the writing for a second. Srivatsa’s prose in the Spice Gates is phenomenal! So much in fact that I’m honestly shocked that this is his debut novel because if he’s already on that level at his worst I can’t wait to see him with a decade of experience under his belt. He is one of these authors whom I like to call painters in the sense of him being able to paint incredibly vivid images with his words. I could feel, sense, and most importantly, smell and taste the world as I was reading. Truly I can’t describe how good the writing is.
As for the story itself, this is very much a fantasy story. What I mean by that is if you’re the type of reader who wants his fantasy worlds to have so many details to dig into then you’ll really enjoy the Spice Gate. This is not the type of book that you can read while a part of your mind is thinking about the errands you have to run. This, as any great fantasy novel should, demands your attention. The world is incredibly well detailed and the time and care Srivatsa put into planning and building this world will become very clear very fast.
Another reason why the Spice Gate demands attention while reading it is the themes. This story deals with heavy themes such as class and religion and I think Srivatsa did an incredible job exploring these topics while also driving the plot forward, focusing on his character work, and introducing us to the world. I think choosing spice as the narrative key was a very smart choice from the author. I won’t get much into this because 1) spoilers and 2) it’s more my personal interpretation, but as someone who loves to read about history I know how something as trivial as spice can change the entire world order. If you don’t believe me, I encourage you to look into the European colonial era and you’ll see the real-world equivalent of spice addiction.
As for our protagonist, Amir, what I can say here while keeping this review spoiler-free is that I LOVED the internal struggles he had to process throughout the story. But I think the part I appreciated the most was that Srivatsa was able to balance working on Amir’s character arc and making it a focal point while also keeping the sense of the grandeur of the world present. Throughout the story and despite Amir being the focus and my investment in his story, I couldn’t help but feel that he is just one person in a colossal world that could crush him at any moment and not even notice his destruction. That’s such a delicate balancing act and I really hope readers notice how incredibly difficult it is to pull it off and how talented the author has to be to keep that balance maintained throughout the story.
The Spice Gate is an incredible debut by Prashanth Srivatsa. It’s a colorful, epic, heartfelt, and intelligently written story that will open your eyes to the endless possibilities of fantasy once more authors can introduce their unique cultural backgrounds into the genre. At the end of my review, I can’t help but echo my initial thoughts: if that is how Srivatsa’s debut looks like I sure can’t wait to see what he does next.
Ok, I’ll obsess over the story in a moment but first, let me gush about the writing for a second. Srivatsa’s prose in the Spice Gates is phenomenal! So much in fact that I’m honestly shocked that this is his debut novel because if he’s already on that level at his worst I can’t wait to see him with a decade of experience under his belt. He is one of these authors whom I like to call painters in the sense of him being able to paint incredibly vivid images with his words. I could feel, sense, and most importantly, smell and taste the world as I was reading. Truly I can’t describe how good the writing is.
As for the story itself, this is very much a fantasy story. What I mean by that is if you’re the type of reader who wants his fantasy worlds to have so many details to dig into then you’ll really enjoy the Spice Gate. This is not the type of book that you can read while a part of your mind is thinking about the errands you have to run. This, as any great fantasy novel should, demands your attention. The world is incredibly well detailed and the time and care Srivatsa put into planning and building this world will become very clear very fast.
Another reason why the Spice Gate demands attention while reading it is the themes. This story deals with heavy themes such as class and religion and I think Srivatsa did an incredible job exploring these topics while also driving the plot forward, focusing on his character work, and introducing us to the world. I think choosing spice as the narrative key was a very smart choice from the author. I won’t get much into this because 1) spoilers and 2) it’s more my personal interpretation, but as someone who loves to read about history I know how something as trivial as spice can change the entire world order. If you don’t believe me, I encourage you to look into the European colonial era and you’ll see the real-world equivalent of spice addiction.
As for our protagonist, Amir, what I can say here while keeping this review spoiler-free is that I LOVED the internal struggles he had to process throughout the story. But I think the part I appreciated the most was that Srivatsa was able to balance working on Amir’s character arc and making it a focal point while also keeping the sense of the grandeur of the world present. Throughout the story and despite Amir being the focus and my investment in his story, I couldn’t help but feel that he is just one person in a colossal world that could crush him at any moment and not even notice his destruction. That’s such a delicate balancing act and I really hope readers notice how incredibly difficult it is to pull it off and how talented the author has to be to keep that balance maintained throughout the story.
The Spice Gate is an incredible debut by Prashanth Srivatsa. It’s a colorful, epic, heartfelt, and intelligently written story that will open your eyes to the endless possibilities of fantasy once more authors can introduce their unique cultural backgrounds into the genre. At the end of my review, I can’t help but echo my initial thoughts: if that is how Srivatsa’s debut looks like I sure can’t wait to see what he does next.
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
Thank you NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the arc!
I was super excited about this story. The premise sounded unbelievable and I was so excited for such a unique world. The world is one of the coolest things about this book. There are kingdoms all based on the spice they grow and import with magic gates connecting them. The world operates on a caste system with Amir, a carrier of spices, on the bottom.
I struggled with understanding the why and becoming fully immersed in the story. There was so much world building in this story which did help set up this world nicely. however I feel like there where areas that needed more detail such as the God of the gates and the ‘why’ of the story. Also the dialogue was a bit of a struggle. I wish there was a bit more continuity with the speech of characters as well as the general type of speech (modern vs. fantasy).
There was so much potential in this story and world. Generally I think there needed to a bit more reworking or edits to make this story really flow and shine! I would love to see more by this author as I think there is so much potential for a really amazing story.
I was super excited about this story. The premise sounded unbelievable and I was so excited for such a unique world. The world is one of the coolest things about this book. There are kingdoms all based on the spice they grow and import with magic gates connecting them. The world operates on a caste system with Amir, a carrier of spices, on the bottom.
I struggled with understanding the why and becoming fully immersed in the story. There was so much world building in this story which did help set up this world nicely. however I feel like there where areas that needed more detail such as the God of the gates and the ‘why’ of the story. Also the dialogue was a bit of a struggle. I wish there was a bit more continuity with the speech of characters as well as the general type of speech (modern vs. fantasy).
There was so much potential in this story and world. Generally I think there needed to a bit more reworking or edits to make this story really flow and shine! I would love to see more by this author as I think there is so much potential for a really amazing story.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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
I very much enjoyed this debut novel by Prashanth Srivatsa! The world-building is rich and well written. The author clearly spent a lot of time in this world and thinking of how everything connected. I also loved Amir as the main character - he was easy to root for and had a good narrative voice. He was an underdog the entire story and his spirit and drive were endearing.
Also Karim bhai - what a great side character! As the book went on, I loved every moment he was on page.
I did have a hard time in the first few chapters. The world building is not well paced at first - everything is introduced very quickly without any time to breathe. This improved a lot and by the middle, the pacing was perfect. Otherwise, the only other piece I would've liked more of was Amir and Harini's relationship.
Thank you to Harper Voyager and Goodreads for the Advanced Readers Copy of this book.
Also Karim bhai - what a great side character! As the book went on, I loved every moment he was on page.
I did have a hard time in the first few chapters. The world building is not well paced at first - everything is introduced very quickly without any time to breathe. This improved a lot and by the middle, the pacing was perfect. Otherwise, the only other piece I would've liked more of was Amir and Harini's relationship.
Thank you to Harper Voyager and Goodreads for the Advanced Readers Copy of this book.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Spice Gate was a colorful & creative standalone epic fantasy – while the world building wasn’t quite integrated smoothly and the dialogue was a bit awkward at times, I really appreciated the vision and journey.
In a land of eight distant kingdoms, spices are both power and balance. Each kingdom cultivates one critical spice, and each kingdom is connected to the others only through the magical Spice Gates, a gift from an ancient and powerful god.
Amir is a Carrier – the spicemark on his shoulder distinguishes him as a person who can travel through the Gates and transport spices from kingdom to kingdom. Though Carriers are critical to every aspect of society, they are a terribly oppressed group, essentially treated as slaves. Amir experiences extreme pain, both from moving through space in moments and from the sacks on his back, and he fears for the day his kid brother will enter the trade.
He dreams of escaping the kingdoms and their cruel royalty altogether, and all he needs is one vial of the Poison (which will help his spicemark-less pregnant mother travel through the gates alongside her sons to live among rebellious pirates). But as Amir searches for his freedom, he gets sucked into a deeper conspiracy – and perhaps a revolution against everything he thought was true about his world.
I think this book has a challenging start - there’s a lot of info & lore tossed at you all at once in a bit of a clumsy way - and I can see a lot of readers DNFing this one. However, if you’re comfortable diving into new fantasy worlds and open to being a bit confused throughout the first chunk, I think it’s worth it.
It’s a story about fighting back against oppression & the costs of revolution and reshaping, what it means to re-evaluate ancient traditions through a more just lens, and about what it means to be a good parent, child, and sibling.
The romance element here is between Amir and Harini, a young woman who is also a throne keeper. Harini very readily dismisses the way she has been raised to view the world (we see this briefly in a flashback) and is wholeheartedly there for Amir. In my opinion, the nature of Amir and Harini’s relationship is a little too fairytale-esque when paired with the more brutal elements of their hierarchical world. I just don’t buy that Harini is SUCH an inherently good soul that she is able to immediately see past everything she has been told.
As far as the writing goes, I generally found it quite compelling. The dialogue was the biggest issue (differentiating between character voices, leaning into cliches, mixing words so it felt partially fantastical and partially modern, and so on). But the descriptions of places and the inventiveness of the magic system really let the author’s creativity shine, and I thought the action scenes were well done.
My favorite elements were most definitely the mythological ones. The description of the ancient god was visceral and chilling. And the beasts who prowled the outer forests were just as good. The sensory elements (how the spices smelled - how they brought up emotions & memories - the tastes of food) were really beautiful, too.
CW: death (parent), classism, murder, gore, animal death, grief, addiction, mental health, abandonment, vomit, excrement
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(I received a free advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, Classism
Mostly I'm just bored. Maybe it's the wrong time and I'll circle back later. I will say the world they are building has the potential to be interesting, but it is poorly developed and poorly explained.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
A beautiful novel, compelling characters, and fascinating world. Works through and around the traditional fantasy quest narrative to enact a well-wrought consideration of how we view societal change and social upheaval. Strong contender for fantasy debut of the year!