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A review by mjandbooks
Hunted by the Sky by Tanaz Bhathena
4.0
I read this a long time ago and never ended up writing a review but since I buddy-read this with someone, I have a couple of the texts that I'll include in this review:
The opening line is FANTASTIC.
As someone who kind of knows Hindi, reading some of the names is really awkward.
For eg: the General's horse's name is Raat (which means night in Hindi) and one of the sentences reads, "Will he be riding Raat tonight?"
Another name - Neel - which translates into Blue in Hindi - and one line says, "the blue of Neel's eyes."
Yeah, it's like when Americans call a drink Chai Tea Latte.
Still, it's super fun to read a YA Fantasy set in India. It's interesting to see the difference between what YA used to be like, with primarily white protagonists, and now where POC characters are coming into the limelight.
There were some scenes that really touch a chord - like when Gul recalls her mother's words to crack a skill she wasn't able to master and honestly, Gul is a great protagonist! She's a very realistic teenager and her emotions are put across very well through the author's writing. All the older ladies in the book were also great and just badass.
One thing that the author excels at is planting hints of the truer picture - sprinkling little moments that don't seem obvious until you get to the reveal, making it totally uncliche and pulling off surprises like
However, the protagonist's sudden increase in power is something I've never liked in a story and Cavas' father's death was totally unnecessary - Cavas' entire goal in this book was to get his father out and so, allowing his father to come along goes against his character.
Amar is also a WASTE of a character. The romantic subplot was completely unnecessary. Also, Rajkumari Malti is probably my favourite character.
Cavas, our male lead, was such an interesting character - but, on his own. His forced romance with Gul is very yawn-inducing. I don't remember being generally invested in the story arcs of male leads in YA books and so, he was a breath of fresh air.
I'd say that another issue with the book is the pacing - the first 60% is pretty slow after which, it picks up a little too fast and then, that last 10% has the perfect pacing. With the world that the author hints at with that ending, it opens the book to a whole new world and has me kind of excited for the sequel.
Essentially, it's a very formulaic YA book but the different setting is what makes it interesting.
The opening line is FANTASTIC.
As someone who kind of knows Hindi, reading some of the names is really awkward.
For eg: the General's horse's name is Raat (which means night in Hindi) and one of the sentences reads, "Will he be riding Raat tonight?"
Another name - Neel - which translates into Blue in Hindi - and one line says, "the blue of Neel's eyes."
Yeah, it's like when Americans call a drink Chai Tea Latte.
Still, it's super fun to read a YA Fantasy set in India. It's interesting to see the difference between what YA used to be like, with primarily white protagonists, and now where POC characters are coming into the limelight.
There were some scenes that really touch a chord - like when Gul recalls her mother's words to crack a skill she wasn't able to master and honestly, Gul is a great protagonist! She's a very realistic teenager and her emotions are put across very well through the author's writing. All the older ladies in the book were also great and just badass.
One thing that the author excels at is planting hints of the truer picture - sprinkling little moments that don't seem obvious until you get to the reveal, making it totally uncliche and pulling off surprises like
Spoiler
the reveal of Cavas' heritage, Major Shayla's betrayal, and a couple of things that I really appreciated.However, the protagonist's sudden increase in power is something I've never liked in a story and Cavas' father's death was totally unnecessary - Cavas' entire goal in this book was to get his father out and so, allowing his father to come along goes against his character.
Amar is also a WASTE of a character. The romantic subplot was completely unnecessary. Also, Rajkumari Malti is probably my favourite character.
Cavas, our male lead, was such an interesting character - but, on his own. His forced romance with Gul is very yawn-inducing. I don't remember being generally invested in the story arcs of male leads in YA books and so, he was a breath of fresh air.
I'd say that another issue with the book is the pacing - the first 60% is pretty slow after which, it picks up a little too fast and then, that last 10% has the perfect pacing. With the world that the author hints at with that ending, it opens the book to a whole new world and has me kind of excited for the sequel.
Essentially, it's a very formulaic YA book but the different setting is what makes it interesting.