Scan barcode
A review by mesal
The Surviving Sky by Kritika H. Rao
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The worldbuilding was really the highlight of this book. I already love cli-fi, and Rao blended the subgenre with fantasy to create a very unique and captivating setting. What I was primarily looking forward to before beginning my read, though, was the relationship between Ahilya and Iravan: a marriage in trouble and the question in the air of whether they'll be able to get back together makes for an excellent romance trope.
I don't think I was as invested in the two of them as I expected to be. There were far too many emotional moments in the first few chapters of the novel, before I as a reader could even begin to care about the characters, for their emotions to mean something to me; this probably carried forward into later scenes, unfavorably coloring my read. The lack of attention given to Ahilya's relationships with other characters did not help, either: we find out in Chapter 36 that she and Dhruv had grown up as siblings, despite there being nothing in their interactions to suggest such a closeness; in a terrifying experience that Ahilya and Tariya both shared, the sisters didn't so much as share a glance to express their worry to and about each other.
The way the book ended did make up for a significant portion of my complaints, and I walked out of it having overall enjoyed my read.
I don't think I was as invested in the two of them as I expected to be. There were far too many emotional moments in the first few chapters of the novel, before I as a reader could even begin to care about the characters, for their emotions to mean something to me; this probably carried forward into later scenes, unfavorably coloring my read. The lack of attention given to Ahilya's relationships with other characters did not help, either: we find out in Chapter 36 that she and Dhruv had grown up as siblings, despite there being nothing in their interactions to suggest such a closeness; in a terrifying experience that Ahilya and Tariya both shared, the sisters didn't so much as share a glance to express their worry to and about each other.
The way the book ended did make up for a significant portion of my complaints, and I walked out of it having overall enjoyed my read.