Having now read Kaikeyi and Goddess of the River, I appreciate how consistently Patel writes compelling female characters who have complex relationships with intimacy, motherhood, companionship and family. Her retellings explore women in a way that carves out space for all people to be more than they seem and more than they are remembered, and I love reading her characters. Ganga, our goddess-turned-mortal-turned-goddess-again, is no exception and represents so much of what I love in Patel's character-building. And when this story centered Ganga, it worked so well, feeling rooted and intentional and insightful. 

When the story shifted, though, to our large cast of side characters - Bhishma's extended family across three generations, and the many people who intersect with their stories in fortuitous ways - the narrative felt unmoored to me, and the expanded focus made it challenging to connect in the same way with her characters. She's trying to accomplish a LOT in this, condensing the complex tales of the Mahabharata - an epic story in and of itself - into a thread primarily centering Bhishma and Ganga. And I feel like it could have worked had she kept the linear timeline in these sections as well? The addition of 10+ new characters at once, a skip into the middle of action after an extended solo narrative, and then a non-linear storyline filled with a number of asides and flashbacks, made the story feel clunky. 

The final quarter, though, returns to a more linear timeline and centers, again, Ganga and Bhishma, to stunning effect. I loved how Patel concludes the story and the reflections on war and honor, duty and righteousness. Ganga is such a compelling character and her arc in this story is its strongest, by far. Ultimately, I would recommend this to fantasy readers who don't mind referring to frontmatter, enjoy complex retellings and family dramas, love female characters who don't apologize for being whole people, and don't become overly stressed if they can't track third cousins once removed and can just *go with the flow.*

Note: I read an advanced reader copy and did not realize Patel had the family tree available on her website ahead of publication (it is referenced in the ARC frontmatter but is not included). This would have been immensely helpful, and I'm sure readers will appreciate it in finished copies of the book. I so wish I had had it within the advanced reader's copy. 

Thank you to the author and publisher for an advanced reader's copy.