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ashablue's review
4.0
Astrid Amara has a way of making extremely hot sex between men happen within a really good story context. And that is all I have to say! Reading book two now.
ljstrain28's review
4.0
I really like the characters. Very strong and engaging. Must read the rest of the series!
mallorychristine's review
5.0
The story of Keshan and Jandu was so compelling that I couldn't put the book down. I generally do not like politics in fantasy novels, but the political aspects of this story worked really well with the overall story and didn't feel confusing or forced.
cgirl98's review
3.0
I enjoyed it a lot. Though I had some issues.
You always take a gamble with reading books that are going by word of mouth...it doesn't always work out, especially in the M/M genre...but so far I have been lucky to only run across those that live up to their hype, Mostly. The world created on this book was very interesting and the magic pretty well explained and built...though I would have liked a bit more information on how the demon world worked and more into how the demon world and the human world interacted...how did they begin, etc...so more explanation of the mythology. I thought that would make some aspects of the story easier to understand and follow.
But outside of this, I enjoyed the story. The characters were well thought out...their motivations understandable...so even if they do bad things you get an idea of why and why. This story goes to demonstrates that everyone is the hero is their own story. Every thinks their reasons for doing things are just and right. Whether it is for love, or family, for religion, for honor or even revenge...we all justify ourselves....who is right ends up being is survives in the end. I enjoyed seeing all of the characters journey's even if it did not end well. I especially enjoyed Tarek's arc.....how easily you can be destroyed by the wrong kind of love. In some way I found this love story...a bit better realized/a bit deeper than the main. Which is one other issue I had with the tale.
Overall I enjoyed the conflict and the love story and the ending gave me lots of satisfaction......sometimes we need that happy ending.
You always take a gamble with reading books that are going by word of mouth...it doesn't always work out, especially in the M/M genre...but so far I have been lucky to only run across those that live up to their hype, Mostly. The world created on this book was very interesting and the magic pretty well explained and built...though I would have liked a bit more information on how the demon world worked and more into how the demon world and the human world interacted...how did they begin, etc...so more explanation of the mythology. I thought that would make some aspects of the story easier to understand and follow.
But outside of this, I enjoyed the story. The characters were well thought out...their motivations understandable...so even if they do bad things you get an idea of why and why. This story goes to demonstrates that everyone is the hero is their own story. Every thinks their reasons for doing things are just and right. Whether it is for love, or family, for religion, for honor or even revenge...we all justify ourselves....who is right ends up being is survives in the end. I enjoyed seeing all of the characters journey's even if it did not end well. I especially enjoyed Tarek's arc.....how easily you can be destroyed by the wrong kind of love. In some way I found this love story...a bit better realized/a bit deeper than the main. Which is one other issue I had with the tale.
Overall I enjoyed the conflict and the love story and the ending gave me lots of satisfaction......sometimes we need that happy ending.
threerings's review
5.0
EDIT: I was posting this for the Book One Kindle version, which is this book split into 3 parts. So here is my review for the complete book.
So this book as a whole...is amazing. It's one of my favorite things I've read recently. It's a gay romance fantasy, similar to Ginn Hale's books. (In fact it has a lot in common with her Lord of the White Hell.)
The fantasy is set in a world reminiscent of India, with a rigid caste system and lots of religious laws. Homosexuality is punished by death. So when a prince 4th in line for the throne and another man of the warrior caste begin a romance, there are very real and dangerous obstacles to their relationship. The beginning focuses mostly on the development of their relationship, but eventually the political situation of the country takes center stage. Pretty much everything that could go wrong does, and the story spends a lot of time making the characters suffer. Honestly this was the weakest part of the story, but ultimately it adds to the story as a whole. The final third of the story involves yet more horrible things happening, and eventually war.
But throughout, the story is about how people's beliefs change, about the strength of the love between these two men, and ultimately it's a story of hope. I spent the last sixth of the book in nearly constant tears, either from the injustice of the society or from the thwarting of those injustices.
I really can't recommend this book enough.
So this book as a whole...is amazing. It's one of my favorite things I've read recently. It's a gay romance fantasy, similar to Ginn Hale's books. (In fact it has a lot in common with her Lord of the White Hell.)
The fantasy is set in a world reminiscent of India, with a rigid caste system and lots of religious laws. Homosexuality is punished by death. So when a prince 4th in line for the throne and another man of the warrior caste begin a romance, there are very real and dangerous obstacles to their relationship. The beginning focuses mostly on the development of their relationship, but eventually the political situation of the country takes center stage. Pretty much everything that could go wrong does, and the story spends a lot of time making the characters suffer. Honestly this was the weakest part of the story, but ultimately it adds to the story as a whole. The final third of the story involves yet more horrible things happening, and eventually war.
But throughout, the story is about how people's beliefs change, about the strength of the love between these two men, and ultimately it's a story of hope. I spent the last sixth of the book in nearly constant tears, either from the injustice of the society or from the thwarting of those injustices.
I really can't recommend this book enough.
rhi_new's review
1.0
DNF at 25%
I truly don't know what I am missing about this book. I was pretty excited to find it in a used book store after reading the glowing reviews, and it looked incredibly refreshing -- it's always a struggle to find non-European fantasy and fantasy with lgbt+ leads. Both in one book? Seemed to good to be true!
And it was! The writing is horrible. HORRIBLE. I truly don't understand how there are so many glowing reviews about the writing. I am genuinely interested in the plot and the setting, but the process of actually reading the book is painful. The author has some strong points -- she paints a very lush depiction of the setting, and her descriptions of magic are enchanting. She REALLY excels at describing food (every time the characters had to eat, I came away feeling hungry), funny as that may sound. Her descriptions of the characters are pretty solid, even though it eventually becomes tedious to read ANOTHER description of a young man with rippling abs and glowing bronze skin.
The problem is that the author does a great job of "showing" when it is relevant to creating the setting and the magic system. The setting is appealing. The writing on the characters? Awful. The tell-inous of this story is incredible. As soon as you get into character thoughts, motivations, and inspirations, any of the complexity of writing is lost. It makes the characters incredibly grating. There is NO subtlety at all in any of the characters, their thoughts, their feelings, their motivations. There is no grey room, no room for questioning, no room for anticipation. It's incredibly flat and aggravating to read, and eventually, I just gave up. As much as I am interested in the plot and would love to see where it goes, the writing (on the characters in particular) is painful. It makes characters who I would otherwise really enjoy (the two main characters are brats but I find their personalities pretty fun) painful to read.
Another thing that I found frustrating. In the first like 120 pages, there are like three women. And most of them are one dimensional and vilified. When I realized this, I realized what the book reminded me of -- it reminded me of bad slash fiction from like 2009. The women are all b!tches, the men are all beautiful and misunderstood and falling for each other left and right. I honestly don't mind the polyandry angle of the book, I'm not trying to pass moral judgments on any of that -- but the female characters were just, like, thrown in there to.... be there? It was like propping a cardboard cutout up in the kitchen, calling it your wife, and then blaming her for lack of depth. It really did feel like slash fiction from the early 2000s, and I feel like maybe this story just.... appeals to slash fans exclusively, and that's why some people love it and some people hate it.
I honestly don't know what I'm missing. If someone could honestly tell me the writing improves in the second half of the book or any of the sequels, or that there is any more nuance, subtlety, and death. I might consider reading it. At the moment, though, it seems like a really intriguing story and lush world bogged down by boring writing.
I truly don't know what I am missing about this book. I was pretty excited to find it in a used book store after reading the glowing reviews, and it looked incredibly refreshing -- it's always a struggle to find non-European fantasy and fantasy with lgbt+ leads. Both in one book? Seemed to good to be true!
And it was! The writing is horrible. HORRIBLE. I truly don't understand how there are so many glowing reviews about the writing. I am genuinely interested in the plot and the setting, but the process of actually reading the book is painful. The author has some strong points -- she paints a very lush depiction of the setting, and her descriptions of magic are enchanting. She REALLY excels at describing food (every time the characters had to eat, I came away feeling hungry), funny as that may sound. Her descriptions of the characters are pretty solid, even though it eventually becomes tedious to read ANOTHER description of a young man with rippling abs and glowing bronze skin.
The problem is that the author does a great job of "showing" when it is relevant to creating the setting and the magic system. The setting is appealing. The writing on the characters? Awful. The tell-inous of this story is incredible. As soon as you get into character thoughts, motivations, and inspirations, any of the complexity of writing is lost. It makes the characters incredibly grating. There is NO subtlety at all in any of the characters, their thoughts, their feelings, their motivations. There is no grey room, no room for questioning, no room for anticipation. It's incredibly flat and aggravating to read, and eventually, I just gave up. As much as I am interested in the plot and would love to see where it goes, the writing (on the characters in particular) is painful. It makes characters who I would otherwise really enjoy (the two main characters are brats but I find their personalities pretty fun) painful to read.
Another thing that I found frustrating. In the first like 120 pages, there are like three women. And most of them are one dimensional and vilified. When I realized this, I realized what the book reminded me of -- it reminded me of bad slash fiction from like 2009. The women are all b!tches, the men are all beautiful and misunderstood and falling for each other left and right. I honestly don't mind the polyandry angle of the book, I'm not trying to pass moral judgments on any of that -- but the female characters were just, like, thrown in there to.... be there? It was like propping a cardboard cutout up in the kitchen, calling it your wife, and then blaming her for lack of depth. It really did feel like slash fiction from the early 2000s, and I feel like maybe this story just.... appeals to slash fans exclusively, and that's why some people love it and some people hate it.
I honestly don't know what I'm missing. If someone could honestly tell me the writing improves in the second half of the book or any of the sequels, or that there is any more nuance, subtlety, and death. I might consider reading it. At the moment, though, it seems like a really intriguing story and lush world bogged down by boring writing.
grimread's review
2.0
Another tough decision about rating and more spoilers to come. You have been warned.
I enjoyed the first part. It had a predictable ending but it was quite amusing. But the second part is very much annoying. They have been in the jungle for 3 months but haven't done anything for their survival, and the older brothers are just moping around while Jandu supports the whole family. When they are coming to a crisis the problem is so easily solved by Keshan that you get no feel for the struggle the family was supposed to be going through, and they don't learn anything. I know they are in hiding (which is so peculiar how good they are at it, but I would say it was just convenient for the writer) but how about making some hand craft out of wood or something to sell it? No can do, Jandu must go beg, how else will he learn humility. Jandu is the only person whose character is being evolving but the only reason for that is him being the main character.
One would think that if you know you will run out of food yet still have a plan for overcoming that they would employ it sooner. Why wait so many months of starvation to actually go for it?? You learn the answer in the third part. So it was a plot device. As is basically everything that happened to Jandu. And that is why the third part is such a drag. It just goes on a never ending quest to conveniently getting rid of everyone who stands in the way of the author’s idea of Jandu becoming the benevolent liberal king of Mahevedran.
As this book is being part of gay literature, it is interesting how shy the sex scenes are depicted in the first part, and how extensive the letter-sex is portrayed. They consist of nothing else. But there is one thing that doesn’t quite add up. If Umina was reading Jandu's letters, how come she didn't know they were not for her if Jandu addressed them to Keshan? Or did she only look at the pretty pictures?...
All in all, I liked the Indian vibe of this book, but the inconsistency and predictability killed me. I don't know if the original story, since I find out this was based on some Hindu legend, is also this messed up and that was the reason for a Bollywood type of a story or it's just poor planing, either way I’m glad it's behind me.
I enjoyed the first part. It had a predictable ending but it was quite amusing. But the second part is very much annoying. They have been in the jungle for 3 months but haven't done anything for their survival, and the older brothers are just moping around while Jandu supports the whole family. When they are coming to a crisis the problem is so easily solved by Keshan that you get no feel for the struggle the family was supposed to be going through, and they don't learn anything. I know they are in hiding (which is so peculiar how good they are at it, but I would say it was just convenient for the writer) but how about making some hand craft out of wood or something to sell it? No can do, Jandu must go beg, how else will he learn humility. Jandu is the only person whose character is being evolving but the only reason for that is him being the main character.
One would think that if you know you will run out of food yet still have a plan for overcoming that they would employ it sooner. Why wait so many months of starvation to actually go for it?? You learn the answer in the third part. So it was a plot device. As is basically everything that happened to Jandu. And that is why the third part is such a drag. It just goes on a never ending quest to conveniently getting rid of everyone who stands in the way of the author’s idea of Jandu becoming the benevolent liberal king of Mahevedran.
As this book is being part of gay literature, it is interesting how shy the sex scenes are depicted in the first part, and how extensive the letter-sex is portrayed. They consist of nothing else. But there is one thing that doesn’t quite add up. If Umina was reading Jandu's letters, how come she didn't know they were not for her if Jandu addressed them to Keshan? Or did she only look at the pretty pictures?...
All in all, I liked the Indian vibe of this book, but the inconsistency and predictability killed me. I don't know if the original story, since I find out this was based on some Hindu legend, is also this messed up and that was the reason for a Bollywood type of a story or it's just poor planing, either way I’m glad it's behind me.
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