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A review by cyfox
Dance of Shadows by Gourav Mohanty
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
"Staying grows so very lonely when one stays all alone. But it is far, far lonelier when one has to stay with ghosts."
⭐⭐⭐/5
I can say with confidence that I enjoyed the first volume far more than this one.
I find the rest of my thoughts kind of muddled. Likely they will clear up in time. What I feel most strongly right now is disappointment that the first 75% of the book did not match the last 25%, and that is to say, I was quite bored / appalled / frustrated with this book for a LONG TIME.
One of the things I found disappointing was that I felt Mohanty's quirky writing style from Sons of Darkness did not come out as strongly throughout most of Dance of Shadows. I thought SoD was FUNNY, and I was easily entertained by characters such as Krishna. This means I thought Dance of Shadows felt dull in comparison; Mati, Dantavakra, and Vahura were making me laugh towards the end, but everything else felt stagnant to me. Now, this is a long book, and it doesn't have the most compelling characters to me, so this was a heavy blow.
The SECOND — and honestly more important — thing, had roots in the first book but felt especially damning in this one. That is, the treatment of women in this book is concerning at best and downright disturbing at worst. I don't want anyone thinking I am some kind of coward when it comes to gore (the scenes in this book were not worse than what I have read in the past), but it was a little frightening how many violent, DETAILED torture scene (including disembowelment, beheadings, rape, etc) were reserved for the women in this series. In this book alone, I would wager that, for every violent (described) male death, there were four women to accompany him. It felt, to an extent, that this was intentional. Following this, I have plenty of misgivings towards the way women are written in this series, but if I was to lay all of those out, this review would be far longer than I am willing to write. Just know, if you appreciate women who are written to be human beings, and you want these human beings to live, you probably shouldn't bother reading this series.
Still, to give this book series credit for something, it has got to be one of the ballsiest in terms of throwing characters out like it's nothing. I seriously cannot feel safe with anyone for any extended period of time, and I actually think that's a good thing. Keeps me on my toes!
I do intend on continuing this series once the next one comes out, but I urge anyone trying this out to approach it with caution.
⭐⭐⭐/5
I can say with confidence that I enjoyed the first volume far more than this one.
I find the rest of my thoughts kind of muddled. Likely they will clear up in time. What I feel most strongly right now is disappointment that the first 75% of the book did not match the last 25%, and that is to say, I was quite bored / appalled / frustrated with this book for a LONG TIME.
One of the things I found disappointing was that I felt Mohanty's quirky writing style from Sons of Darkness did not come out as strongly throughout most of Dance of Shadows. I thought SoD was FUNNY, and I was easily entertained by characters such as Krishna. This means I thought Dance of Shadows felt dull in comparison; Mati, Dantavakra, and Vahura were making me laugh towards the end, but everything else felt stagnant to me. Now, this is a long book, and it doesn't have the most compelling characters to me, so this was a heavy blow.
The SECOND — and honestly more important — thing, had roots in the first book but felt especially damning in this one. That is, the treatment of women in this book is concerning at best and downright disturbing at worst. I don't want anyone thinking I am some kind of coward when it comes to gore (the scenes in this book were not worse than what I have read in the past), but it was a little frightening how many violent, DETAILED torture scene (including disembowelment, beheadings, rape, etc) were reserved for the women in this series. In this book alone, I would wager that, for every violent (described) male death, there were four women to accompany him. It felt, to an extent, that this was intentional. Following this, I have plenty of misgivings towards the way women are written in this series, but if I was to lay all of those out, this review would be far longer than I am willing to write. Just know, if you appreciate women who are written to be human beings, and you want these human beings to live, you probably shouldn't bother reading this series.
Still, to give this book series credit for something, it has got to be one of the ballsiest in terms of throwing characters out like it's nothing. I seriously cannot feel safe with anyone for any extended period of time, and I actually think that's a good thing. Keeps me on my toes!
I do intend on continuing this series once the next one comes out, but I urge anyone trying this out to approach it with caution.