A spectactular feminist story of Kaikeyi, the only princess of Kekaya, as a retelling of the traditional Ramayana story. She pushes back against the social narrative that her only worth is in her marriage and becomes a force, using magic she has to pull at the bonds she creates with others to influence them. While I was not familiar with the traditional Ramayana story, I was able to follow along as Kaikeyi went from voiceless girl to wife, mother, warrior, diplomat, and queen. Kaikeyi is an admirable female lead, and I greatly enjoyed her journey. This was a fantastic debut by Patel and I am very intrigued to see what she writes next!

Thank you to Redhook for the gifted ARC!