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crothe77 's review for:
The Legend of Meneka
by Kritika H. Rao
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
The Legend of Meneka by Kritika H. Rao is a first person-POV retelling of the Hindu legend of Menaka, an apsara, and Vishvamitra. Meneka was created to seduce those her lord, Indra, deems dangerous. When a sage named Kaushika proves a threat to Indra’s reign, Meneka is sent to seduce him in return for her freedom once her mission is complete. But she soon finds herself falling for her mark and questioning if she is being manipulated by the other celestial beings.
I was not familiar with the story of Menaka and had never heard of Vishvamitra before reading this. I have some knowledge of the more popular Hindu figures, but most here were fairly new to mean. Kritika H. Rao does provide a glossary at the beginning of the book to explain the terms used throughout the novel and they are helpful if this is a reader’s first time encountering them as many of the terms are not explained in the text. Rao takes the path of immersing the reader in the world by letting them learn unfamiliar terms via the glossary or from context rather than an aside unless Meneka herself needs an explanation.
Meneka and Kaushika’s romantic arc is one full of push-and-pull, as Meneka stays at his ashram and gets to know him and the other people there, as well as their beliefs, but he initially keeps his distance. Initially, Meneka tries to see what he lusts after and cannot find anything, surprising her. It isn’t until later that she finally sees Kaushika is attracted to her as well, but that he has a good handle on controlling himself. By that point, she is attracted to him as well despite her mission and her relationship back in the heavens with another apsara, Rambha.
As noted in the author’s note, there is a layer of eroticism that never goes away even if there are only a handful of sexual scenes on the page. The original story of Menaka involves her seducing a man and this aspect is never brushed aside or minimized. Meneka has had other lovers and so have many of the other characters, including Rambha, and members of the ashram where Meneka stays. I really appreciated this because Rao makes it clear that sex is not dirty or shameful and that female sexuality is powerful. In a time where it feels like more and more people want to hide that sex even exists, we need works that are not erotica that celebrate the freedom to choose our partners no matter the gender.
I would recommend this to fans of romantic fantasy and Hindu mythology tellings and readers looking for a fantasy that celebrates human sexuality