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danreadsitall's review
adventurous
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
How do you feel about stories inspired by other stories? Personally, I'm a fan if it takes an angle I didn't expect or expand on a minor character. Just a subversion of my expectations. But what if you didn't know the story? In this case the Mahabharata, which I plan on rectifying this void soon.
"Sons of Darkness" by Gourav Mohanty starts with some folks in a bad spot. And then keeps the boot on their throats. You have a city state attempting a daring ploy to escape being crushed, led by a plotter and his third wife with her band of those who dont fit the norm. A naive prince, who really just wants nothing to do with any of this except politicking is keeping him from the pirate he loves. A warrior who is defying caste and thriving. And a student who nothing bad at all will happen to. Oh and the guy who is prophecy say is rising soon and immortals coming out of the shadows. Super minor and not relevant to the plot at all.
Reasons to read:
-The inspiration isn't based on stories I've been bombarded with my entire life so I don't know what's going to happen
-Kinda everyone is awful so grimdark is occurring
-Food descriptions made me eat a lot
-Need to see some comeuppance for some folks
-Magic just doesn't work for people and it is a known thing
-Bad things keep happening to decent folks and then they do a violence about it
-Bow Duel
Cons:
-Was a little lost till the 40% mark when things started clicking on what was actually happening
"Sons of Darkness" by Gourav Mohanty starts with some folks in a bad spot. And then keeps the boot on their throats. You have a city state attempting a daring ploy to escape being crushed, led by a plotter and his third wife with her band of those who dont fit the norm. A naive prince, who really just wants nothing to do with any of this except politicking is keeping him from the pirate he loves. A warrior who is defying caste and thriving. And a student who nothing bad at all will happen to. Oh and the guy who is prophecy say is rising soon and immortals coming out of the shadows. Super minor and not relevant to the plot at all.
Reasons to read:
-The inspiration isn't based on stories I've been bombarded with my entire life so I don't know what's going to happen
-Kinda everyone is awful so grimdark is occurring
-Food descriptions made me eat a lot
-Need to see some comeuppance for some folks
-Magic just doesn't work for people and it is a known thing
-Bad things keep happening to decent folks and then they do a violence about it
-Bow Duel
Cons:
-Was a little lost till the 40% mark when things started clicking on what was actually happening
bassgirl456's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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
3.5
herbivorehaunts's review against another edition
I really tried with this one š
mateyy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
roaming_enn's review against another edition
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
shubh_reads_constantly's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
narratricenessa's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
For a Hero of Light, he reckoned he cast a rather grim shadow. Hero. The word slithered nastily in his mind. An honour bestowed upon you when you had killed all those who would have called you a mass murderer.
Sons of Darkness is a complex reimagining/reinterpretation of the great and equally complex ancient Indian epic the MahÄbhÄrata but set in A Song of Ice and Fire-esque fantasy setting. A reimagining of a revered and complex classical text, especially one with a large cast of characters, in a grim epic fantasy setting, is an ambitious undertaking. Especially for a debut novel, however, Gourav Mohanty manages to make this work.
Sons of Darkness is a gripping tale that possesses all the elements that fans of epic fantasy like - a large cast of characters, lots of scheming and political machinations, revenge, epic fights and battles, morally grey characters... The reader does not need to be familiar with the synopsis of the MahÄbhÄrata to read Sons of Darkness. However, familiarity with the original text might help you get your bearings quicker because the story has a large cast of characters and their interconnections can, at times, get quite complicated. But even if you don't know anything about the original text that inspired this quite grim epic fantasy reinterpretation of the story, once you start reading you will enjoy Mohanty's writing and will be too immersed in the story that's unfolding to worry about not being familiar with the MahÄbhÄrata.