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A review by roaming_enn
Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohanty
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"Nothing like the imminent loss of life to let you know you are truly alive." -Storm
Once I learned that this book is a retelling of the epic Indian poem the Mahabharata--which I didn't know anything about--I decided to try to go into the book as blind as possible. Needless to say, some of the characters I liked were actually supposed to be antagonists in the Mahabharata, and some the characters I disliked were the poem's heroes. (E.g., I liked Shishupal a lot, especially in part 1, and he was supposed to be an antagonist; and I disliked Krishna all the way through, and he was supposed to be a hero.) I thought that was funny.
I still don't know much about the poem, so now that I'm done with the book, I will look at the poem more carefully to see how Mohanty changed it or not changed it.
I read this as an ebook, which made it harder for me to refer back to the character lists and maps. So I found the book to be a bit difficult to follow, especially with remembering who did what. So just be aware that there are a LOT of characters that you'll need to remember. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it. There were a lot of twists and turns in the plot, characters backstabbing each other, etc. There is some child torture, especially in the beginning, which caught me a little off guard. And of course, war scenes, including graphic murder and graphic rape scenes.
Once I learned that this book is a retelling of the epic Indian poem the Mahabharata--which I didn't know anything about--I decided to try to go into the book as blind as possible. Needless to say, some of the characters I liked were actually supposed to be antagonists in the Mahabharata, and some the characters I disliked were the poem's heroes. (E.g., I liked Shishupal a lot, especially in part 1, and he was supposed to be an antagonist; and I disliked Krishna all the way through, and he was supposed to be a hero.) I thought that was funny.
I still don't know much about the poem, so now that I'm done with the book, I will look at the poem more carefully to see how Mohanty changed it or not changed it.
I read this as an ebook, which made it harder for me to refer back to the character lists and maps. So I found the book to be a bit difficult to follow, especially with remembering who did what. So just be aware that there are a LOT of characters that you'll need to remember. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it. There were a lot of twists and turns in the plot, characters backstabbing each other, etc. There is some child torture, especially in the beginning, which caught me a little off guard. And of course, war scenes, including graphic murder and graphic rape scenes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Murder, Child abuse, Rape, and War