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okay. so. im actually on my pc to write this because i could not contain thoughts thru my phone

i wanted to like this book DESPERATELY. like, i wanted to like it so much. i can't say that i really did, though.

here are the things i liked about it:
- two wlw woc. woc/woc romances are SUPER rare, so i'm v grateful for that
- the indian setting was GREAT. very into that. definitely need to read less eurocentric fantasy/sci fi
- discussion of colonisation is very important and needs to be talked about more
- the prose itself is well written. Tasha Suri is very good at writing clear, accessible, and enjoyable prose, and for that she garners my respect.

here are the things i did Not like about it:
- for the first 200 pages, the pacing is super weird and janky. it speeds up, and then slows down again--and then when it finally speeds up for good, it's a relief, but for Too Much of the book i was just waiting for something to happen
- plot is just. god. what plot? tell me what the plot is? i'd love to know
- the prose is well-written, but characterisation is flat and boring
-- Malini is supposed to be bad. we have very little evidence of said badness beyond her being a bit of a bitch sometimes . both of these things do not strike me as bad choices. she is "manipulative", but honestly in a very understandable way considering her situation
-- Priya is supposed to be bad/complex but is very not complex and also just Good. like every choice she makes sits firmly in the 'good' dnd moral alignment chart. idk what else to say, really
--- basically neither character is "grey" idk what that means in the context of this book
- the romance between them is? fine? not particularly compelling--but again, i think this ties into their characterisation. i wasn't at the edge of my seat waiting for them to kiss or anything. it was all very meh
- male characters are so flat as to be 2d
- this is just my taste but i wasn't a huge fan of the whole jumping-from-pov-every-chapter thing? like give me one to three solid pov characters. don't just hop around willy-nilly for the sake of plot advancement. also there were so many poorly written men i struggled to differentiate them.
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- i don't think the worldbuilding was particularly strong until about midway through the book. before that, it felt very... idk. just poor
- IT'S SO UNNECESSARILY LONG. for a 500 page beefy boy™️ book i would've expected far, far more movement, both in terms of personal situation for the characters and plot. neither were achieved

idk maybe im not the target audience for this? but like. idk. i regret paying real life money + spending my time on this

i think basically there is something compelling under here, but this suffers from the same curse as a lot of fanfiction: writing 300k just because you can, not because you have anything to say