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mflores94's review against another edition
3.0
An enjoyable read, not overwhelmed with tropes but a familiar story pattern and characters for those who are familiar with fantasy and particularly YA fantasy. I’ll be keeping an eye out for further installments!
katiemack's review against another edition
4.0
I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
3.5, rounded up. Of the recent surge of fantasy books inspired by folklore/medieval history, this one is pretty solid. It tells the tale of Gul, a girl with a star-shaped birthmark on her arm who has been trying to outmaneuver King Lohar. The king has made it his mission to eliminate anyone with such a birthmark because they could fulfill the prophecy of the star warrior, which would lead to his death.
Bhathena's world-building is compelling, as are the strong female characters (even if Gul was a little annoyingly naive/impulsive at times). I enjoyed seeing the connection develop between Gul and Cavas. While the pacing was slow at times, the fast-paced action scenes made up for it.
This was told in dual POV with a surprise third voice at the end; I look forward to seeing how this particular character develops in the sequel.
3.5, rounded up. Of the recent surge of fantasy books inspired by folklore/medieval history, this one is pretty solid. It tells the tale of Gul, a girl with a star-shaped birthmark on her arm who has been trying to outmaneuver King Lohar. The king has made it his mission to eliminate anyone with such a birthmark because they could fulfill the prophecy of the star warrior, which would lead to his death.
Bhathena's world-building is compelling, as are the strong female characters (even if Gul was a little annoyingly naive/impulsive at times). I enjoyed seeing the connection develop between Gul and Cavas. While the pacing was slow at times, the fast-paced action scenes made up for it.
This was told in dual POV with a surprise third voice at the end; I look forward to seeing how this particular character develops in the sequel.
kirsten_canuck's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed this book, set in a fantasy land based on ancient India with castes of magi and non-magi, corrupt royalty, interfering gods/goddesses and (of course) a love story. It was well told, and I enjoyed it - but book 2 took a considerable turn so careful about the series as a whole.
ronitamohan_louisskye's review against another edition
3.0
Loved the world building. A fantasy story set in India - wonderful! I got a real sense of this world and I could picture it very clearly.
The story itself is fine. More setup for the rest of the series than a standalone book. It gets very interesting near the end but not much is resolved. I would have liked for the story to be complete on it’s own and then the characters can have more adventures in future stories.
There are a lot of cliches and gendered tropes that annoyed me. Surely we’re past all that?
The central romance doesn’t work for me. There’s nothing connecting the two characters. It seems like we’re being told they should be together instead of it naturally happening.
I’d like to read more of this world but I hope the characters become more interesting.
The story itself is fine. More setup for the rest of the series than a standalone book. It gets very interesting near the end but not much is resolved. I would have liked for the story to be complete on it’s own and then the characters can have more adventures in future stories.
There are a lot of cliches and gendered tropes that annoyed me. Surely we’re past all that?
The central romance doesn’t work for me. There’s nothing connecting the two characters. It seems like we’re being told they should be together instead of it naturally happening.
I’d like to read more of this world but I hope the characters become more interesting.
starrynews's review
4.0
This is an exciting read featuring a lot of great elements: a prophecy, a chosen one, fierce warriors, magic, and an obscured history that holds many secrets. The world is dangerous, particularly for our main character and others like her, and the stakes only climb higher when she puts herself in the center of the political intrigue and suspicion centered on the court. It is challenging to determine friends and foe or who is telling the truth and who is lying. The dramatic conclusion makes me look forward to the sequel!
serrendipity's review against another edition
2.0
I finished this book. That's important to note. I *am* capable of DNF-ing a book -- as evidenced by the fact that there are 27 books in my Currently Reading List -- usually because I find the book boring (and sometimes because life just gets in the way, and it's not compelling enough to return to).
So the fact that I finished this book is a testament to the premise: I was intrigued enough to request an ARC from NetGalley, and I was hoping for a lush, rich fantasy that I could just lose myself in. And, to be fair, it was lush and rich, but I just couldn't get absorbed in it -- I would pause every few pages asking questions (to my dog who, sadly, couldn't provide any answers) and venting my confusion. I just get so frustrated when I want a book to be so. damn. good and it doesn't deliver. Because, ultimately, there were just a few major things that I couldn't get past:
- First and foremost, I *cannot* abide by this troubling "suffering-is-strength" premise. There's a passage about a 1/3 of the way through the book:
"Amira went through even more [rape, torture] than I did,” Kali continues. “She resents you for it—which is her problem entirely, not yours. But you need to also start toughening up.”
Then, a few pages later, Gul concedes that she hasn't suffered enough which...I can't. She's not a particularly round or likable character, but the girl did watch her parents get murdered. If that's not suffering...if suffering is deemed "physical violence" or "violation," I don't know what the message is supposed to be.
Add in the Flesh Market and this cage fighting...the violence just seems like a sensationalized plot device, rather than any sort of weightier commentary -- and one which doesn't do existing stereotypes of exotic-but-barbaric Middle Eastern lands any help.
- Another thing I just can't get over is the world. It's a richly detailed world, don't get me wrong, but as fantasy worlds go, it's...not tightly built.
For example: one of the basic premises of this world is that there are people WITH magic (magi) and people WITHOUT (non-magi). The basic rules of magic -- how it works, what types there are, what determines whether a person has it or not -- seem largely irrelevant to the story, and Bhathena doesn't seem interested in them. If it's convenient for a character to have (or not have) magic, so be it. Their type of magic also seems a matter of plot convenience. Apparently there is life magic, death magic, and earth magic? Maybe more? I don't know?
But if it's hereditary -- and it seems to be? I don't actually know, because it's not a matter of concern -- then why are any of the magi lower-class? If a person has a strong magic, why are they a servant, or a slave? Because if the prejudice against non-magi is so strong, then why aren't they in the positions of servitude? Isn't it dangerous to have a powerful magi as a servant? Couldn't they attack you? Obviously those sorts of power structures are wrong, but in the world that Bhathena has created, they seem like fair questions. I know that a well-built world is a pet-peeve of mine with fantasy works, but if the world isn't solidly and tightly built, I find myself getting distracted by those questions rather than following the plot. Because if they're not integral to the story, why even make it a fantasy? Why not just make it a medieval historical fiction, with the typical class divide of rich and poor?
Near the end, Gul thinks, "Magic doesn't work the same way for everyone." and that line just seems to sum up Bhathena's approach to magic in this story. Which is fine, but it just doesn't make for strong fantasy, IMHO.
- The plot seems to revolve around big moments of contrived action. Chapters can be spent in daily life events and then BAM! Plot point! Gul trains with Amira -- there's exposition! and minimal action! Then BAM! She decides to run away and sell herself at the Flesh Market. BAM! She crosses the rekha and is caught and is branded a trespasser! The action doesn't flow naturally or smoothly -- it seems to be linked by big contrived moments.
Hardest thing for me to deal with: the Raj impulsively (I get that it's supposed to be a calculated move, but...c'mon.) betroths his ELDEST SON AND HEIR TO A SERVING GIRL. No. I just can't. Why would he do this?! Politically, it makes no sense. Even though we don't see any of them, there have to be courtiers, rich families, politicans, landowners, merchants who sell something that keep this economy going. And royal marriages are political alliances. There is no way that any King would marry his heir to a serving girl just to make some half-baked point. Because she'd be the First Wife, which is always a big deal. I can see the King marrying her, maybe, as his Fourth wife. Sure. Giving her to his son as a concubine, sure. Maybe even marrying her off to one of his younger sons, because they're not going to rule, so what does it matter who they marry -- especially since one of them seems halfway decent. But it was all so convenient -- especially when said youngest son came in all, "Look! There's this obscure ancient law no one's heard of that says you can challenge the king to a death duel to protest you being engaged to some guy you don't want to marry!" WUT.
- I also don't...understand (?) these characters.
Everyone reacts out of strong, negative emotions: usually anger, defiance, etc. Tempers flare, there are misunderstandings...which makes it very difficult to connect with characters and care about them. There are very few moments of actual kindness, and even fewer where characters just talk, calmly and neutrally. Everything seems to be an argument or a fight, and by the end, it just has the result of making the characters seem flat and one-dimensional. Especially Shayla -- there's a strong arc potential there -- even for a complex villain like Regina in OUAT, but when we finally get her POV near the end, it just seems like a soap opera villain.
For one--Gul is obsessed with killing Major Shayla (at first, this seems to be her primary goal) and the king (this is the goal that takes up much of the focus of the book, even though Shayla was the one who actually did the killing). In theory, the desire for revenge is understandable -- they're responsible for her parents' deaths. But in actuality, it just seems to come out of nowhere. Not to mention she is *terribly* ill-suited for the role of assassin: she has no patience and seems bothered by the idea of training and working for her goal. She shows no ability to blend in or take on a role that would put her in proximity to the people she wants to kill. She just barrels through life, and things "happen" to work out for her. (Compared to _Six of Crows_ which is a delightful heist novel and shows the planning and prep that goes into pulling something like regicide off.)
Two--characters either have strong reactions or...are minor side characters with no personality. For some unfathomable reason, Amira *hates* Gul -- calls her princess, thinks she's spoiled, etc. For the life of me, I don't understand why. The girl had a nomadic childhood, watched her parents get brutally murdered in front of her, and Amira is just so...mean. (Perhaps this bugs me so much because the organization is literally called a Sisterhood. I was expecting a tribe of strong female warriors -- like the Amazons in Wonder Woman. Even in Fireborne, where competition was built into the Guardians, the female characters still supported each other.)
Same thing with Cavas: he's instantly smitten with Gul -- he's crushing hard on her -- and then, the next time they meet, he calls her a privileged brat. Like...WUT. If this was supposed to be because he learns she's a magi or because she's not from the tenements, like, okay, maybe. But it was a compelte 180 to go from reliving a kiss to privileged brat.
- At times, it is just so glaringly derivative. Look, I'm not saying every great story has to have a 100% original idea and can't borrow from, or pay homage to, great fantasy that came before. That's not possible. But in a great fantasy, the allusions are subtle -- or inserted with a unique spin that you go, "Huh. I like what you did there." Half of my notes are comments like, "Major Occlumency vibes" or "Amira is Snape, hating Harry/Gul and abusing their teacher position." But the biggest one had to be Gul chanting the names of people on her kill list -- which, by itself *might* have been okay -- had she not been immediately taken in by a secret organization of shape-shifting mystics (i.e., the female equivalent of the Faceless Men).
*****
First Impressions -- 10% done:
Eh. It's fine -- but I'm not hooked yet.
+ Diverse Book -- I appreciate the "inspired by Medieval India" setting, as fantasy can be a genre dominated by white, medieval-Europe characters and settings.
+ No Love Triangle Yet!
+ Sisters of the Golden Lotus -- This is a promising concept, although I can't quite get a read on the women. They seem helpful and kind one minute, but then scornful and callous the next.
~ I have got to stop reading books which open with the murder/deaths of parents.
~ It's hard not to compare this to the last book I read (Fireborne), since there are (1) orphans with murdered parents; (2) a questionable male leader in charge; and (3) a similarly questionable government with a designated Ministry for determining "Truth" and spreading it through propaganda.
- WORLD BUILDING. I know I'm a stickler for this, but there is more to *good* fantasy (and science fiction) than just making changes to what's known and familiar. In the first few chapters, you get hit with things like "Sky Warriors" (what are they? what do they do? We only know they're bad -- at least from the protag's POV), "atashbans," magi (and non-magi), thanedars, something called a Code of Asha, and Prophets, Gods & Goddesses. I recognize that this is a pet peeve, but just dropping those into a story isn't effective. What is a thanedar? Why are there prophets? How are they connected to these gods/goddesses? I hate having these questions and I usually get increasingly frustrated if they're not answered fairly early on. Devices like "Prologues" or "excerpts from the History of..." are great at providing your readers even a little bit of exposition so they understand what's going on. [Google just told me that this is Bhathena's first fantasy novel -- she's published two romances previously -- which may explain this.]
- It's coming off a *little* derivative at the moment. By which I mean,
"Major Shayla. King Lohar.
I repeat their names over and over, memorizing them the way I would a lesson. A prayer.
Kill Major Shayla, I whisper. Kill Raja Lohar."
First off, it's two names. Not much to memorize. Not like, say, ARYA STARK'S LIST, which has like a dozen people on it. Second of all, yah. TOTAL Arya Stark vibes here. A fact which is not helped by the description of the Sisters of the Golden Lotus:
"Of women with shadowy faces and daggers glinting in their hands. Women who wear their saris like fisherfolk, who knock down doors and slash into enemies with knives and swords and spells.[...] No one is quite sure if the Sisters are legends or common brigands, and no ever quite remembers what they look like. Appearing and disappearing from villages and towns with a stealth that rivals King Lohar's Sky Warriors, the Sisters have no permanent home, successfully melding into their surroundings like color-changing lizards."
Again, TOTAL Faceless Men vibes here.
Not necessarily a bad thing, but it does lessen the "WHOA" factor for me.
- Gul, our protagonist. I know her parents just died, and I should feel sympathy for her but...she's a little flat for me right now. I'm not really connecting.
- Plot Quibble: "hundreds of magi girls with star-shaped birthmarks have been taken or killed over the years." WUT. Is it common for every magi to have a birthmark? Is it common for those birthmarks to be star-shaped? Is having a birthmark a sign of magi powers? Because, if so, that's not clear. If not, then...why are birthmarks so common?!
**I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
So the fact that I finished this book is a testament to the premise: I was intrigued enough to request an ARC from NetGalley, and I was hoping for a lush, rich fantasy that I could just lose myself in. And, to be fair, it was lush and rich, but I just couldn't get absorbed in it -- I would pause every few pages asking questions (to my dog who, sadly, couldn't provide any answers) and venting my confusion. I just get so frustrated when I want a book to be so. damn. good and it doesn't deliver. Because, ultimately, there were just a few major things that I couldn't get past:
- First and foremost, I *cannot* abide by this troubling "suffering-is-strength" premise. There's a passage about a 1/3 of the way through the book:
"Amira went through even more [rape, torture] than I did,” Kali continues. “She resents you for it—which is her problem entirely, not yours. But you need to also start toughening up.”
Then, a few pages later, Gul concedes that she hasn't suffered enough which...I can't. She's not a particularly round or likable character, but the girl did watch her parents get murdered. If that's not suffering...if suffering is deemed "physical violence" or "violation," I don't know what the message is supposed to be.
Add in the Flesh Market and this cage fighting...the violence just seems like a sensationalized plot device, rather than any sort of weightier commentary -- and one which doesn't do existing stereotypes of exotic-but-barbaric Middle Eastern lands any help.
- Another thing I just can't get over is the world. It's a richly detailed world, don't get me wrong, but as fantasy worlds go, it's...not tightly built.
For example: one of the basic premises of this world is that there are people WITH magic (magi) and people WITHOUT (non-magi). The basic rules of magic -- how it works, what types there are, what determines whether a person has it or not -- seem largely irrelevant to the story, and Bhathena doesn't seem interested in them. If it's convenient for a character to have (or not have) magic, so be it. Their type of magic also seems a matter of plot convenience. Apparently there is life magic, death magic, and earth magic? Maybe more? I don't know?
But if it's hereditary -- and it seems to be? I don't actually know, because it's not a matter of concern -- then why are any of the magi lower-class? If a person has a strong magic, why are they a servant, or a slave? Because if the prejudice against non-magi is so strong, then why aren't they in the positions of servitude? Isn't it dangerous to have a powerful magi as a servant? Couldn't they attack you? Obviously those sorts of power structures are wrong, but in the world that Bhathena has created, they seem like fair questions. I know that a well-built world is a pet-peeve of mine with fantasy works, but if the world isn't solidly and tightly built, I find myself getting distracted by those questions rather than following the plot. Because if they're not integral to the story, why even make it a fantasy? Why not just make it a medieval historical fiction, with the typical class divide of rich and poor?
Near the end, Gul thinks, "Magic doesn't work the same way for everyone." and that line just seems to sum up Bhathena's approach to magic in this story. Which is fine, but it just doesn't make for strong fantasy, IMHO.
- The plot seems to revolve around big moments of contrived action. Chapters can be spent in daily life events and then BAM! Plot point! Gul trains with Amira -- there's exposition! and minimal action! Then BAM! She decides to run away and sell herself at the Flesh Market. BAM! She crosses the rekha and is caught and is branded a trespasser! The action doesn't flow naturally or smoothly -- it seems to be linked by big contrived moments.
Hardest thing for me to deal with: the Raj impulsively (I get that it's supposed to be a calculated move, but...c'mon.) betroths his ELDEST SON AND HEIR TO A SERVING GIRL. No. I just can't. Why would he do this?! Politically, it makes no sense. Even though we don't see any of them, there have to be courtiers, rich families, politicans, landowners, merchants who sell something that keep this economy going. And royal marriages are political alliances. There is no way that any King would marry his heir to a serving girl just to make some half-baked point. Because she'd be the First Wife, which is always a big deal. I can see the King marrying her, maybe, as his Fourth wife. Sure. Giving her to his son as a concubine, sure. Maybe even marrying her off to one of his younger sons, because they're not going to rule, so what does it matter who they marry -- especially since one of them seems halfway decent. But it was all so convenient -- especially when said youngest son came in all, "Look! There's this obscure ancient law no one's heard of that says you can challenge the king to a death duel to protest you being engaged to some guy you don't want to marry!" WUT.
- I also don't...understand (?) these characters.
Everyone reacts out of strong, negative emotions: usually anger, defiance, etc. Tempers flare, there are misunderstandings...which makes it very difficult to connect with characters and care about them. There are very few moments of actual kindness, and even fewer where characters just talk, calmly and neutrally. Everything seems to be an argument or a fight, and by the end, it just has the result of making the characters seem flat and one-dimensional. Especially Shayla -- there's a strong arc potential there -- even for a complex villain like Regina in OUAT, but when we finally get her POV near the end, it just seems like a soap opera villain.
For one--Gul is obsessed with killing Major Shayla (at first, this seems to be her primary goal) and the king (this is the goal that takes up much of the focus of the book, even though Shayla was the one who actually did the killing). In theory, the desire for revenge is understandable -- they're responsible for her parents' deaths. But in actuality, it just seems to come out of nowhere. Not to mention she is *terribly* ill-suited for the role of assassin: she has no patience and seems bothered by the idea of training and working for her goal. She shows no ability to blend in or take on a role that would put her in proximity to the people she wants to kill. She just barrels through life, and things "happen" to work out for her. (Compared to _Six of Crows_ which is a delightful heist novel and shows the planning and prep that goes into pulling something like regicide off.)
Two--characters either have strong reactions or...are minor side characters with no personality. For some unfathomable reason, Amira *hates* Gul -- calls her princess, thinks she's spoiled, etc. For the life of me, I don't understand why. The girl had a nomadic childhood, watched her parents get brutally murdered in front of her, and Amira is just so...mean. (Perhaps this bugs me so much because the organization is literally called a Sisterhood. I was expecting a tribe of strong female warriors -- like the Amazons in Wonder Woman. Even in Fireborne, where competition was built into the Guardians, the female characters still supported each other.)
Same thing with Cavas: he's instantly smitten with Gul -- he's crushing hard on her -- and then, the next time they meet, he calls her a privileged brat. Like...WUT. If this was supposed to be because he learns she's a magi or because she's not from the tenements, like, okay, maybe. But it was a compelte 180 to go from reliving a kiss to privileged brat.
- At times, it is just so glaringly derivative. Look, I'm not saying every great story has to have a 100% original idea and can't borrow from, or pay homage to, great fantasy that came before. That's not possible. But in a great fantasy, the allusions are subtle -- or inserted with a unique spin that you go, "Huh. I like what you did there." Half of my notes are comments like, "Major Occlumency vibes" or "Amira is Snape, hating Harry/Gul and abusing their teacher position." But the biggest one had to be Gul chanting the names of people on her kill list -- which, by itself *might* have been okay -- had she not been immediately taken in by a secret organization of shape-shifting mystics (i.e., the female equivalent of the Faceless Men).
*****
First Impressions -- 10% done:
Eh. It's fine -- but I'm not hooked yet.
+ Diverse Book -- I appreciate the "inspired by Medieval India" setting, as fantasy can be a genre dominated by white, medieval-Europe characters and settings.
+ No Love Triangle Yet!
+ Sisters of the Golden Lotus -- This is a promising concept, although I can't quite get a read on the women. They seem helpful and kind one minute, but then scornful and callous the next.
~ I have got to stop reading books which open with the murder/deaths of parents.
~ It's hard not to compare this to the last book I read (Fireborne), since there are (1) orphans with murdered parents; (2) a questionable male leader in charge; and (3) a similarly questionable government with a designated Ministry for determining "Truth" and spreading it through propaganda.
- WORLD BUILDING. I know I'm a stickler for this, but there is more to *good* fantasy (and science fiction) than just making changes to what's known and familiar. In the first few chapters, you get hit with things like "Sky Warriors" (what are they? what do they do? We only know they're bad -- at least from the protag's POV), "atashbans," magi (and non-magi), thanedars, something called a Code of Asha, and Prophets, Gods & Goddesses. I recognize that this is a pet peeve, but just dropping those into a story isn't effective. What is a thanedar? Why are there prophets? How are they connected to these gods/goddesses? I hate having these questions and I usually get increasingly frustrated if they're not answered fairly early on. Devices like "Prologues" or "excerpts from the History of..." are great at providing your readers even a little bit of exposition so they understand what's going on. [Google just told me that this is Bhathena's first fantasy novel -- she's published two romances previously -- which may explain this.]
- It's coming off a *little* derivative at the moment. By which I mean,
"Major Shayla. King Lohar.
I repeat their names over and over, memorizing them the way I would a lesson. A prayer.
Kill Major Shayla, I whisper. Kill Raja Lohar."
First off, it's two names. Not much to memorize. Not like, say, ARYA STARK'S LIST, which has like a dozen people on it. Second of all, yah. TOTAL Arya Stark vibes here. A fact which is not helped by the description of the Sisters of the Golden Lotus:
"Of women with shadowy faces and daggers glinting in their hands. Women who wear their saris like fisherfolk, who knock down doors and slash into enemies with knives and swords and spells.[...] No one is quite sure if the Sisters are legends or common brigands, and no ever quite remembers what they look like. Appearing and disappearing from villages and towns with a stealth that rivals King Lohar's Sky Warriors, the Sisters have no permanent home, successfully melding into their surroundings like color-changing lizards."
Again, TOTAL Faceless Men vibes here.
Not necessarily a bad thing, but it does lessen the "WHOA" factor for me.
- Gul, our protagonist. I know her parents just died, and I should feel sympathy for her but...she's a little flat for me right now. I'm not really connecting.
- Plot Quibble: "hundreds of magi girls with star-shaped birthmarks have been taken or killed over the years." WUT. Is it common for every magi to have a birthmark? Is it common for those birthmarks to be star-shaped? Is having a birthmark a sign of magi powers? Because, if so, that's not clear. If not, then...why are birthmarks so common?!
**I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
mxyost's review against another edition
5.0
Thanks to the publishers I was able to listen to this for free on libro.fm.
This book was really good. Once I realized that there was a second book in the series, I bought it before I even finished this one.
This book was really good. Once I realized that there was a second book in the series, I bought it before I even finished this one.