Reviews

Blue-Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu

Only show reviews with written explanations

nogayourbroga's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Read for my personal Jewish/AAPI readathon for May.

Wow. I was absolutely spellbound from the start, and it became impossible to put this down. Be warned m, though, the blurb is a touch misleading; the NYC bit takes place more than halfway through the book. Granted, that's more a marketing thing, and this is the kind of book that's not easy to write a commercial blurb for. There are also a couple of typos, but not enough to bring my score down.

The themes of clashing gender, class, religion—the deconstruction and reconstruction of Kalki—that hit hard. The medical twists and turns, the way

Kalki's adoption, methemoglobinemia, and secret whiteness

took me by surprise yet made perfect sense looking back at the little details, were horrifyingly delightful. And the representation really warmed my heart. Characters were LGBTQ, fat, and lower-caste in such a meaningful yet casual manner.

Highly recommend this one!

sculpthead's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

3.0

anyajulchen's review

Go to review page

5.0

I didn't expected much of this book and far surpassed my expectations. A book I'll share.

runthechus's review

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

noellesmagicallibrary's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful 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

4.0

I'm sad slept on this one, it was great! I had an ARC for Blue-Skinned Gods so I should have read and reviewed this by November 2021.... and here we are in April 2024. Oops.
But I'm actually glad that I waited to read it because this was easier for me to digest as an audiobook and my ARC is an ebook. There are many many words and names that I would have great difficulty pronouncing. I know that I would spend too much time trying to sound out these unfamiliar words and it would take me out of the moment and probably would have prevented me from enjoying this one so much. It's been almost 3 years since I read the synopsis, but at some point I assume I had an idea of what this was about. By the time I picked it up though, that memory was out the window. Color me surprised when the story eventually takes us to NYC and references as a family famous for an uncommon medical condition

it's the Fugate family and methemoglobinemia.

I really couldn't tell in the beginning if this book was veering more towards magical realism. It was written in a way that kept me guessing for a while, and I liked that.

This book is heavy. There's a lot of love and self-discovery but it comes along with abuse.

I found it sad that Kalki leaves his Ayya only to be used by Lakshman in a similar way.

kaeliwolf's review

Go to review page

4.0

I enjoyed the originality of this story as well as the excellent description that made it all the more enjoyable to read. The names were all ones I haven't seen before, which probably means my inner-head pronunciation was off but that always makes the story more interesting. The chapter art is beautiful and the chapters are short and manageable, which I always enjoy.

purnuhja's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

3.0

I think this book had a stronger first half than second half. It’s a challenging and interesting story that explores identity, faith, and the consequences of idolizing humans. I enjoyed the perspective it had to share but I felt like it sometimes lacked nuance or a proper resolution. Kalki was exploited at home in India as well as in the US by his new community, but the former was more of a societal commentary so it ignored the actions of his brother. I found that and the pacing (too rushed at the end) to be really disappointing. Otherwise, I liked the message of the book and thought it approached it in a unique way, it was just prioritized too much over the actual story itself.