A review by shimmeringice
We Shall Be Monsters by Tara Sim

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The setting of this book was a real star. I really enjoyed the spotlight on Indian folklore, and I think that this focus added an extra dimension to the exploration of the what it means to be good vs evil. Unfortunately, I feel like the development of most of the themes, as well as the characters, was a little scattered/inconsistent. For example, while I generally enjoy the trope of 'science minded protagonist fighting against a superstitious world', I think that Kajal felt a little out of place, like she had been plucked from our world. More importantly, while I recognize that this is the first of two books and therefore I'm not totally sure how these themes are going to develop in the sequel, I feel like there's not a satisfying place to go exploring sacrifice and loss. 

Spoilers for the ending/climax:

The setup suggests dark bargains and irrational obsession, but it turns out that in this setting, you can actually just resurrect people without cost? Ok, it requires a few hard to get materials and all of the pieces of the body, but three (3!) people come back from the dead basically no worse for wear. This kind of undermines the idea that Kajal is dangerously obsessed with anything, since it turns out that she was just right.

I was also not really convinced by the reincarnation aspect. I'm not sure that it adds to Kajal's character that she's the reincarnation of a dakini who was friends with both Tav and Advaith. Like, I can see threads of what the author might be going for, but I can't say it was executed super well there.

Caveats aside, this was overall a very fun ride, full of twists and some great flavor.