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A review by spicedragon
The Descent of the Drowned by Ana Lal Din
3.0
tw sexual assault and also possible spoilers?
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I want to preface this with saying Ana Lal Din is an amazing writer, honestly what had me hooked with this book from the start was the atmosphere she sets and the scene she paints of the town and it's people. Genuinely, she is an amazing writer, and I will be reading the second book and any hopefully any other book she puts out.
What I found disappointing thought, was Roma's perspective... She starts off as a fierce girl who, despite her past, has sharp edges and is willing to do whatever to defend her loved ones. She constantly questions her community's objective, criticizing their traditions which cause women harm. But for some reason when another character looks to break free of that same tradition Roma seems furious? I don't know if it was her jealousy of not being able to run away, but I thought she would've been more supporting.
Furthermore, I personally found it uncomfortable how Roma was always close to being re-traumatized every other chapter... as a survivor of sexual assault she underwent so many situations that reopened her wounds... ESPECIALLY near the end... I felt as though... there was a better way to go about that... I hope the second book does Roma better because... her chapters compared to Leviathan's were so jarring....
On one hand we have Levi, broody grey eyed brown man who is skilled soldier... going around trying to repent for his sins against his mother's people.... and his chapters are literally just him solving mysteries and killing child traffickers... compared to Roma where she just continues to relive her trauma...
So that's what made me drop 2 stars... There's a lot of potential in this story and I do hope Book 2 handles Roma better and actually gives her a chance to heal. I know Ana Lal Din was trying to show the realities of caste and gender based violence, it was interesting criticism of upper caste brahminical society but REALLY wish that Roma's chapters had been more than her lamenting the devdasi's position and being traumatized at every corner.
.
.
.
I want to preface this with saying Ana Lal Din is an amazing writer, honestly what had me hooked with this book from the start was the atmosphere she sets and the scene she paints of the town and it's people. Genuinely, she is an amazing writer, and I will be reading the second book and any hopefully any other book she puts out.
What I found disappointing thought, was Roma's perspective... She starts off as a fierce girl who, despite her past, has sharp edges and is willing to do whatever to defend her loved ones. She constantly questions her community's objective, criticizing their traditions which cause women harm. But for some reason when another character looks to break free of that same tradition Roma seems furious? I don't know if it was her jealousy of not being able to run away, but I thought she would've been more supporting.
Furthermore, I personally found it uncomfortable how Roma was always close to being re-traumatized every other chapter... as a survivor of sexual assault she underwent so many situations that reopened her wounds... ESPECIALLY near the end... I felt as though... there was a better way to go about that... I hope the second book does Roma better because... her chapters compared to Leviathan's were so jarring....
On one hand we have Levi, broody grey eyed brown man who is skilled soldier... going around trying to repent for his sins against his mother's people.... and his chapters are literally just him solving mysteries and killing child traffickers... compared to Roma where she just continues to relive her trauma...
So that's what made me drop 2 stars... There's a lot of potential in this story and I do hope Book 2 handles Roma better and actually gives her a chance to heal. I know Ana Lal Din was trying to show the realities of caste and gender based violence, it was interesting criticism of upper caste brahminical society but REALLY wish that Roma's chapters had been more than her lamenting the devdasi's position and being traumatized at every corner.