Reviews

The Spice Gate by Prashanth Srivatsa

mamaavocado's review

Loaned book to Vernell

maria_ionela's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

 

My thanks to Netgalley, HarperCollins UK and Harper Fiction for a free eARC of "The Spice Gate" - a High Fantasy standalone debut by Prashanth Srivatsa. 

"The Spice Gate" has an immersive start and it has the ability to transport the reader into its vibrant Indian-inspired setting. 

In this world spice has such a prominent importance as form of payment, medicine, religion, trade and the seasoning of food, but it can also as an addiction. The spices are also cleverly linked to the magic system of this world. They can be used by the carriers of spice in order to be able to pass through the mystical spice gates. These carriers instead of being appreciated for their service of transporting spices from one kingdom to another, are actually the lowest caste, fated to a life of poverty, forced service and oppression. 

Amir, the main character of this story had his fate sealed when he was born with the spice mark on his neck. He dreams of escaping his fate and saving his family from their situation. 

As with other similar underdog stories, the hero gets swept in bigger plots that would ultimately force him to grow, adapt and try to change the world around him. 

Up to the 40% mark “The Spice Gate” was close to become a new favorite reading experience, but then some pacing issues made the story drag, ideas were being constantly repeated, the once mesmerizing descriptions started feel tiresome and I just wanted the plot to move forward. 

While I understood all the conflicting feelings that our hero went through, I started to feel stuck in his confusing ever-shifting thoughts. 

With all that said, I would still recommend “The Spice Gate” to Fantasy readers that love a strong focus on character development and a rich and diverse worldbuilding that moves away from the same old Medieval Europe settings. 

I am excited for Prashanth Srivatsa’s writing career as there is a certain growth ahead. 

You can now support my passion for books with a small donation here https://ko-fi.com/mariareadssff 

animar19's review

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring 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

3.5

I very much enjoyed this debut novel by Prashanth Srivatsa! The world-building is rich and well written. The author clearly spent a lot of time in this world and thinking of how everything connected. I also loved Amir as the main character - he was easy to root for and had a good narrative voice. He was an underdog the entire story and his spirit and drive were endearing. 

Also Karim bhai - what a great side character! As the book went on, I loved every moment he was on page. 

I did have a hard time in the first few chapters. The world building is not well paced at first - everything is introduced very quickly without any time to breathe. This improved a lot and by the middle, the pacing was perfect. Otherwise, the only other piece I would've liked more of was Amir and Harini's relationship. 

Thank you to Harper Voyager and Goodreads for the Advanced Readers Copy of this book.

littlelea05's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

starrysteph's review

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The Spice Gate was a colorful & creative standalone epic fantasy – while the world building wasn’t quite integrated smoothly and the dialogue was a bit awkward at times, I really appreciated the vision and journey.

In a land of eight distant kingdoms, spices are both power and balance. Each kingdom cultivates one critical spice, and each kingdom is connected to the others only through the magical Spice Gates, a gift from an ancient and powerful god.

Amir is a Carrier – the spicemark on his shoulder distinguishes him as a person who can travel through the Gates and transport spices from kingdom to kingdom. Though Carriers are critical to every aspect of society, they are a terribly oppressed group, essentially treated as slaves. Amir experiences extreme pain, both from moving through space in moments and from the sacks on his back, and he fears for the day his kid brother will enter the trade. 

He dreams of escaping the kingdoms and their cruel royalty altogether, and all he needs is one vial of the Poison (which will help his spicemark-less pregnant mother travel through the gates alongside her sons to live among rebellious pirates). But as Amir searches for his freedom, he gets sucked into a deeper conspiracy – and perhaps a revolution against everything he thought was true about his world.

I think this book has a challenging start - there’s a lot of info & lore tossed at you all at once in a bit of a clumsy way - and I can see a lot of readers DNFing this one. However, if you’re comfortable diving into new fantasy worlds and open to being a bit confused throughout the first chunk, I think it’s worth it. 

It’s a story about fighting back against oppression & the costs of revolution and reshaping, what it means to re-evaluate ancient traditions through a more just lens, and about what it means to be a good parent, child, and sibling. 

The romance element here is between Amir and Harini, a young woman who is also a throne keeper. Harini very readily dismisses the way she has been raised to view the world (we see this briefly in a flashback) and is wholeheartedly there for Amir. In my opinion, the nature of Amir and Harini’s relationship is a little too fairytale-esque when paired with the more brutal elements of their hierarchical world. I just don’t buy that Harini is SUCH an inherently good soul that she is able to immediately see past everything she has been told.

As far as the writing goes, I generally found it quite compelling. The dialogue was the biggest issue (differentiating between character voices, leaning into cliches, mixing words so it felt partially fantastical and partially modern, and so on). But the descriptions of places and the inventiveness of the magic system really let the author’s creativity shine, and I thought the action scenes were well done. 

My favorite elements were most definitely the mythological ones. The description of the ancient god was visceral and chilling. And the beasts who prowled the outer forests were just as good. The sensory elements (how the spices smelled - how they brought up emotions & memories - the tastes of food) were really beautiful, too.

CW: death (parent), classism, murder, gore, animal death, grief, addiction, mental health, abandonment, vomit, excrement

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(I received a free advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Vomit, Murder, Violence, Classism, War, Addiction, Death, Animal death, Death of parent, Excrement, and Blood

nookandcrannyseattle's review

Mostly I'm just bored. Maybe it's the wrong time and I'll circle back later. I will say the world they are building has the potential to be interesting, but it is poorly developed and poorly explained.

glassglassmadeof's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A beautiful novel, compelling characters, and fascinating world. Works through and around the traditional fantasy quest narrative to enact a well-wrought consideration of how we view societal change and social upheaval. Strong contender for fantasy debut of the year!