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samburkhouse's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, Death, and War
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Grief
Minor: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
some_random_person_hi's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
I love when people retell stories in ways that uproot it from the bigoted views from the time it was written. It was kind of slow but even without having previous contact with the Ramayana, the impending sense of doom compelled me to read on and by the last ~80 pages I couldn't put the book down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Death of parent, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, War, and Mental illness
Minor: Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Medical content, and Infidelity
not_asha01's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Violence, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore
writingcaia's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Kaikeyi is a badly portrayed woman that tried her best to save and keep her family amidst an incredibly difficult life journey that takes her from her father’s home and country - where Kaikeyi found the unfairness of being a woman, where she was abandoned by her mother, but also where she found her power and forced her twin to teach all the arts of war - to her husband’s, the young ruler of the biggest kingdom, home and land, to be his third wife.
Scared but brave, Kaikeyi with her magic power and her cunning will soon be loved by all and have the power to change women’s lives in her new kingdom, which will have repercussion throughout. But not all will be happy about this.
And, the Gods were always against her, never replying to her prayers and sometimes even going so far as to do the opposite of what she prayed for.
Prophecies will unfold no matter Kaikeyi’s wishes and good intentions. Evil is lurking and the Gods are playing.
I loved loved loved this story.
I never knew of the Indian epic Ramayana, but it’s definitely intriguing to me now, although after this amazing tale of a minor character in it, the hated stepmother, I don’t think I can love it as much.
Absolutely brilliant take, the way the four parts of the book start, with what I assume are the “actual” tales written of Kaikeyi, and how as you read you understand how it played out, how the best of intentions and of her love get twisted by “history” is amazing.
Also, love that she’s portrayed by the author as asexual, as greysexual myself I love to see this representation.
There’s so much more I could say, the awesome writing, the incredible side characters, the scope of the story and the empowerment of women, and spoilers, but I’ll let you go ahead and read it.
Go now.
Scared but brave, Kaikeyi with her magic power and her cunning will soon be loved by all and have the power to change women’s lives in her new kingdom, which will have repercussion throughout. But not all will be happy about this.
And, the Gods were always against her, never replying to her prayers and sometimes even going so far as to do the opposite of what she prayed for.
Prophecies will unfold no matter Kaikeyi’s wishes and good intentions. Evil is lurking and the Gods are playing.
I loved loved loved this story.
I never knew of the Indian epic Ramayana, but it’s definitely intriguing to me now, although after this amazing tale of a minor character in it, the hated stepmother, I don’t think I can love it as much.
Absolutely brilliant take, the way the four parts of the book start, with what I assume are the “actual” tales written of Kaikeyi, and how as you read you understand how it played out, how the best of intentions and of her love get twisted by “history” is amazing.
Also, love that she’s portrayed by the author as asexual, as greysexual myself I love to see this representation.
There’s so much more I could say, the awesome writing, the incredible side characters, the scope of the story and the empowerment of women, and spoilers, but I’ll let you go ahead and read it.
Go now.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Violence, and War
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Suicidal thoughts
cardanrry's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Death, and Misogyny
Moderate: War, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Grief and Domestic abuse
destynee's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Life truly did not want me to finish this book, and I finally did! This book is honestly what I expected Circe to be. We are introduced to Kaikeyi and have time to get to know her, but unlike with Circe she truly is an advocate for women. She may have stumbled at some parts but she was very much human and even worked to look for solutions to those problems. As usual, characters made me laugh, smile, and even made me angry. I look for that in books and it was just as prominent here. Vaishnavi Patel did a great job at not only explaining and showing who Kaikeyi was but at giving her justice as well. Her story truly is heard in this novel and it is one that I will keep with me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Sexism
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Medical content
snohwhyman's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Minor: Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts
readwithria's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Kaikeyi takes the Hindu epic Ramayana and gives us its prologue through the eyes of our titular character. This book is wonderful, and full of characters whose bonds can literally be seen waxing and waning.
I loved so much about this book! The pacing is excellent, especially given how many years this book spans. There are so many wonderful relationships in this book, and seeing how they change over the decades was so interesting. Kaikeyi is such an ambitious woman, and her strength was apparent throughout her journey. I loved the magic, and how it was and wasn’t used. It really was a fantastic book.
Why wasn’t it a five star read? I don’t know. It just didn’t give me the ~vibes~ I guess, but that’s nothing to do with the book and everything to do with me. I loved this book, and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys retellings, fantasy, or historical fiction.
This was a marvelous story of power and connection and fate. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 4.5 stars.
I loved so much about this book! The pacing is excellent, especially given how many years this book spans. There are so many wonderful relationships in this book, and seeing how they change over the decades was so interesting. Kaikeyi is such an ambitious woman, and her strength was apparent throughout her journey. I loved the magic, and how it was and wasn’t used. It really was a fantastic book.
Why wasn’t it a five star read? I don’t know. It just didn’t give me the ~vibes~ I guess, but that’s nothing to do with the book and everything to do with me. I loved this book, and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys retellings, fantasy, or historical fiction.
This was a marvelous story of power and connection and fate. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 4.5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Violence and Death
Minor: Sexual content and Death of parent
dannilmp's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A mythology re-telling that will inspire people to want to read more about the Ramayana while also offering a different perspective on why Kaikeyi took the actions she did rather than her just being labelled the evil-stepmother. Despite not knowing much about the Ramayana before reading Kaikeyi, there is now an inspiration for me to go and learn more and then most certainly come back here for a re-read (hopefully in audiobook form next time) to see how I feel about the novel then.
One thing I thought was done really well in this novel was the use of the time skips throughout. None of them felt especially forced, or jarring and I was never confused as to whether there had been a time skip or the length as it was clearly stated in the novel. To see what Kaikeyi achieves, especially as a woman in her time was inspiring and motivating. While I never realised that asexuality featured in this story(I just believe that due to it being an arranged marriage, Kaikeyi never developed true romantic feelings) looking back it is a little more obvious, I really enjoyed rethinking about this aspect of Kaikeyi and found it is good and really well written into her character.
On the other hand, it is some of the men that I couldn't stand and am ashamed to say this is why the book won't be a five star for me (at least on first reading) and while I understand that culturally and historically the actions and beliefs of these men would have been written accurately, I still couldn't get over how annoyed and angry it made me feel. But credit given for such writing being able to cause me to emote like it did
One thing I thought was done really well in this novel was the use of the time skips throughout. None of them felt especially forced, or jarring and I was never confused as to whether there had been a time skip or the length as it was clearly stated in the novel. To see what Kaikeyi achieves, especially as a woman in her time was inspiring and motivating. While I never realised that asexuality featured in this story
On the other hand, it is some of the men that I couldn't stand and am ashamed to say this is why the book won't be a five star for me (at least on first reading) and while I understand that culturally and historically the actions and beliefs of these men would have been written accurately, I still couldn't get over how annoyed and angry it made me feel. But credit given for such writing being able to cause me to emote like it did
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, and War
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child abuse
mightymegan25's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, War, Abandonment, Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry