Reviews with content warning for Blood - Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove

I was really not a fan of main character (and thus the book) until about 1/3 of the way through. Katya was written to be headstrong/outspoken, but it was honestly overwritten at first until some of the major events happened that softened the characterization a bit and helped the book focus a bit more on the plot (and helped me become a little less agitated with her). By the end of the book I was eager to see what happened next, but it was a bit marred by the tough beginning. I liked learned about some of the mythology I hadn’t been familiar with before though!!

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r1vana's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative 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

3.75

"Bonds can be broken, but debts

must be repaid."

A YA south Asian fantasy novel.

I did not expect to enjoy this story.

The story got me engaged from the beginning. I love this alternative world of India. The setting;the characters; the angst; the betrayal; the romance are really good. Whereas the climax was anticlimactic because the reason of betrayal was kinda predictable.

The world itself was refreshing because we get to see a magical historical fantasy including, dark forests; palaces; living deadly monsters,spirits like (vetalas, pretas, daayan,

yatus), et cetera.

3.5⭐️

This story seemed to be inspired with India mythology/ folklores.

This book has a strong lead girl.

After reading An Ember in Ashes, I’d hoped to read more Laia. And Katyani is somewhat similar but different as her own. Katyani is a bodyguard and a family member of the King and Queen’s of Chatani. She is bonded by the Queen when she saved Katyani’s life when she was an child. And so, she serves as a bodyguard for the royal princes and princesses.

We get to see her immense love and protectiveness for her adopted siblings and the fierce loyalty and protectiveness she possesses for this family, especially for the queen.

From her training days at the gurukul to the new insights about her life she learns, K is shown as a resilient and skilled woman at every step of the way.

Her own character development is also fun to follow. Her nuanced interactions/distorted talkbacks with Acharya Mahavir, one of the most respected priests.

We get to see her meet people/being which leads to make me feel like it all lead to her growth.

There are times where I would sympathize with her. Especially when she was used as a pawn in a f-up political game, but at the end of all it was reassuring that there are people that she can call family in spite of everything she had to go through.

Her whole life has been about training. But what she didn’t expecting was her life to take a turn (full 180.)

Kayla is portrayed as a funny character.

She is very good at making light of difficult situations with her erroneous quips and jokes.

Sometimes a bit too much for my taste.

One day, the Queen is forcing Katyani, Arya(prince) and Barath (prince’s cousin) to go to the Gurukal in order to meditate and learn more about the monsters that surrounded them.

On her way there, she meets a mysterious guy who saves them from those ‘evil’ beings. Funnily, they meet each other again at the gates of the Gurukal and at first sight, K did not like Airya Daksh first impression.

She is frustrated that he seems to ignore his presence and his indifference to her.

Side note: I didn’t like her as much in the beginning because she always speak out without thinking.

She definitely does not grow out of it, but she is later portrayed caring, strong physically and mentally. But can’t seem to talk about her feelings to Daksh.

I smiled whenever she would tease Daksh and leave him flustered or embarrassed.

Daksh was astute but is really into his ethical teachings, at least he tries to because Katyani breaks through his serious facade and makes him blush and smile. Katyani was shown as lighthearted and frequently unrestrained.

Sometimes, Ariya surprises Katyani by suddenly asking her to kiss:

Daksh closed the distance between them in one step and brushed her lips with his fingertips. "I'd like to kiss you," he said, his eyes burning into hers. "May I?"

she looked at him, flabbergasted. Her mouth opened and uttered the first thing that entered her brain. "Sure, if you even know how?”

The only thing I took out 0.5 of the star review is because the romance got dragged so much that it was frustrating. The teasing and the tension would build up and then poof, they get cockblocked or they will change the subject.

Some may say that it is a slow burn, but the author has been teasing the reader!

Strongly recommend for fantasy enthusiasts:

"I am your curse, she thought. I am the sword that will pierce your heart.”

The Indian setting/world building:

I am thankful to see how much the author put out the Indian cultures, with gods names, important people’s title names, the believes within Gurukal and the food itself…

Ps: there is a glossary at the end… for theses who are interested in reading this…

TW: death; blood; whip punishment; violence

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siobhanisreading's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

4.0

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e_flah's review

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove follows Katyani, who is the head of the royal guard of Chandela and has a soul bond with the queen. With the exception of some assassination attempts on the king and queen and the fact that Katyani is being sent to the gurukul -- a remote school similar to a monastery -- in order to keep an eye on the two princes, Ayan and Bhairav, Katyani thinks she knows where her life is going. This is definitely a book I'd recommend going into not knowing much about the plot in order to fully enjoy the ride.

Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove was a mixed experience for me. The setting is full of magic and monsters, which were very interesting but not really explained at all. I don't need hand-holding in my world-building but more explanations of what things looked like and/or how Katyani experienced them would have made the reading experience more immersive.

I also found the character development of the main characters, particularly Katyani, underwhelming. The prose does a lot of telling, not showing. A big example of this is that we're told over and over Katyani is the best guardswoman in Chandela, which is why she heads the royal guard. We see Katyani do well in a fight but not have any other skills that would explain why a teenager is leading the royal guard over adults who have fought in war. I kept hoping for more character development because I really wanted to root for Katyani. She's a determined person who is always trying to make the best of a terrible situation. Her grit was my favorite thing about her and definitely kept the story moving forward at a brisk pace.

My favorite thing about Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove was the pacing. After a somewhat slow start while the reader gets to know the characters a bit, the book is very fast paced. There's lots of political machinations and action scenes that kept me wanting to know what happened next. I also appreciated that there were some well-done pauses in the story that gave the characters time to process and react to what was happening rather than having them run from crisis to crisis.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove by Rati Mehrotra

tahsintries's review

bookcaptivated's review

sknappy1's review against another edition

shelbibroeking's review

r1vana's review against another edition

siobhanisreading's review

e_flah's review