Rishika Porandla’s “Letalis” was quite an ambitious debut! Being of the fantasy and gothic dark academia genres, I was particularly intrigued by the premise of the book and the early mysteries that it established. From reading the first few lines of the prologue, I felt quickly pulled into a world of dark enchantment and the active fantasy and emotional elements were strong points in the whole story. The atmospheric and unique haunted quality of Porandla’s writing really made it easy to visualize myself in the setting and follow Ceres’ story, who in basic summary is a young woman living in the desolate Sun District, drawn into a clandestine empire where power and flesh merge.

The characters in Letalis are both fascinating and frustrating. Whilst they are vividly portrayed, many of them felt two-dimensional, and it lacked a lot of the character development I was hoping to see. The side characters in particularly felt merely like plot devices to help move the story’s plot action forward, and most felt as if they embodied the personal trauma that happened to them, which I was most definitely not a fan of. Ceres herself is a complex figure who struggles with her newfound power and the moral ambiguities it brings. However, her journey often felt overshadowed by the lack of depth in the supporting cast. Moving onto their relationship, Eris and Ceres, in particular had many scenes in which they lashed out at each other as a form of perhaps coping with pain (which is my interpretation), and the whole relationship didn’t feel steady. I understand this may be more of a dark romance but the relationship clearly lacked basic foundation to make it a worthwhile plot line to follow along. As such the characters did not feel entirely relatable or lovable, although of course, that may have never been the intention. But it was still difficult to continue the story because I could not connect as well to them.

Porandla’s writing, while lush and immersive, could also be challenging at times. The opening chapters, in particular, are filled with metaphors and dramatic descriptions that felt too showy and read almost as if she were trying to include as many complex-sounding words as possible when in reality, this only made the comprehension the world feel somewhat inaccessible. The narrative does improve and simplify as it progresses, but the confusion around the political and magical systems remained, and there were many issues I found with incomplete worldbuilding that made the entire atmosphere more confusing and hard to believe in. The slow pace was also something that affected how much I wanted to read it, because I was honestly struggling throughout most of the book.

Even the atmosphere felt thin at times, lacking the detailed descriptions that might have made it more immersive. Much of the writing revolved around characters simply knowing things instinctively, and I felt there was definitely more telling than showing in her writing.

Despite these issues however, it was still a rather interesting read due to the concept. Whilst the execution did not live up to the ambition, I thought the more mature themes included were explored with a good enough depth. Though the character development sometimes relied on more artificial moments that felt like it was just making it convenient to the author to write the story, it didn’t have too much of a major issue in my reading experience.

Overall, Letalis was a haunting debut that, despite its flaws, showcased the potential this author has as a storyteller. Whilst there is a long way to go in terms of perhaps writing, worldbuilding and pacing, I thought it was still a good effort at a unique blend of dark fantasy and a twinge of romance. I can only hope she’ll continue improving and elevating from here!

I'm not sure I'm smart enough to fully understand this book. I found the language quite formal and complex. I didn't understand the magic system that was used by the two main characters, if it even was magic - it read like it was Jedi mind control but took about forty pages to explain that and I'm not even sure that's correct? I struggle to understand the worlds involved and then there was just random insta love at the end, and a sentence that mentioned that over a year had passed since the characters first met but read like everything happened within days of each other.
This is written by such a young author and I have tremendous respect for that but for such a short book it was too complicated for me and would benefit from being longer with more world building, character exploration and a developed magic system.

Characters: 5, well I definitely didn't find them lovable, but then, I was not meant to. Antares is the closest to human, I think. Eris and Ceres both unleash hurt onto other people in order to live with the weight of their magic. Ceres apparently has no moral compass nor compassion; Eris conveniently loses hers in favor of bitter jealousy, for two days. But mostly the characters are one-dimensional and revolve around their defining tragedy.

Atmosphere: 4, I couldn't really picture much aside from stark details: Solarians have platinum hair and brown skin, Sun District has a desert near it and is filled with destitute people, Quen Vega and Ceres are adept at hiding their emotions from physical representation. So much of the writing revolves around characters just knowing things (I guess instinctively, but beyond what instincts are capable of picking up on), maybe it would've been too blandly obvious to describe stuff. But this kept it from being immersive, for me.

Writing: 4, the first 15% or so of the book, the writing felt awkward- not exactly florid, more like the reader is meant to feel confused by how Ceres thinks, what the Thieves Gate is, and how the districts and kingdoms work. Frankly, it was off-putting even though I trusted it served a purpose. After that point, the writing became easier to follow (though I was forced to accept not understanding the magic or political system, by dint of the MCs not understanding them). There is a lot of metaphor and dramatic description of things, which slowed down my comprehension of the story.

Plot: 5, the pacing is quite slow (the whole thing is very cerebral), but it was consistently so. It did pick up briefly, when Ceres and Eris get conflict, but then slid right back into a plot untethered from emotional investment in any outcome.

Intrigue: 4, I had to talk myself into picking this up and finishing it. From the book teaser, it didn't seem like much plot was actually happening, and that proved correct- the lack of tension and character investment made it feel like a very wordy book where not much happens, but the character development is also based on convenient and implausible deus ex machina moments. There was definitely about 10% of it, though, where I thought it was headed toward something more exciting (political intrigue and manipulations, rather than straight tragedy).

Logic: 4, there were some plot holes that threw me off (if Ceres has lived her whole life in Sun District, why did she join the Thieves Gate only a year ago, and what has she been doing for the 15 or so years prior to that- which seems to not have taught her anything about her world or herself? And how can Eris know everything about Ceres one hour after meeting her?) and some very convenient but implausible cases of people suddenly knowing things they couldn't possibly know about other people they've just met. There was also a lack of consistency around Queen Vega's motivations, which made her more plot device than character.

Enjoyment: 5, to be honest, I struggled with this one. It's a debut and the author is young- and that shows. I wanted to like it, because morally grey characters are my jam and "is evil ever justifiable" is always a fun game to play in fiction. But overall, I struggled to understand the world, I struggled to accept the implausible shortcut bits, I struggled to care about anyone, and I was turned off by the insta-love plot device deployed (apparently) to make us care about Ceres in the final chapter. It wasn't bad enough to DNF, it just didn't pay off the amount of energy I invested, sifting through the prose for relevant items.

*I received this e-book from NetGalley for the purposes of reviewing it. This in no way impacts my experience and review of the novel.

eARC provided by Netgalley for honest review, given voluntarily.

A wonderful debut novel for Rishika Porandla! The writing is beautiful and the story well thought out and intriguing. Rishi definitely has a way with words, and I loved the lushness of the writing itself. I felt drawn into the story, to Cere's struggle and her journey as a character. I felt very connected to the prose in general and found myself pleasantly surprised at how well executed this entire novel was!

The characterization of all of all the separate characters was vivid and true, their internal turmoil's were brilliantly painted.

The ONLY thing I would say is that (not sure if it's just the eARC version or if they fixed in the Amazon version) the eBook is not formatted very well. I can see the page numbers and the "page headers" of "LETALIS" and "RISHIKA PORANDLA" such that it looks like they just scanned the physical book, and didn't re-format it for Ebook or EReaders. The first letter of each chapter's firs word was always cut off and would appear randomly in the middle of the next line, so I was always trying to piece together sentences in the middle of the page, jumping around the page numbers and the headers. It definitely made for a less than pleasant reading experience, but I tried my best to ignore that and review it based on purely the content and story rather than the technical layout.

Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone who loves a good rich, fast-paced fantasy and loves a bit of indulgent prose.

for an author so young, Rishika clearly knows what she's doing, and I only see her going up from here. beautiful prose and yes, while it may seem cliche to some, her writing is intended for a teen audience. So I could definitely see this being a hit with fans of YA

I enjoyed this novel, and upon reflection I think this is something I will often recommend to high schoolers. The writing is beautiful and executed well; it wasn’t too flowery, not too dramatic. I was genuinely surprised when I did research and found that Letalis was written by a teenager! Some triple-published adults can’t even write this well. I think with this novel especially, it is important to remember that its intended audience is high school students, so plot points that may seem cliche are actually ideal for this genre. For the author being so young, this was incredible!

This book had good writing, it was descriptive but still had a good mix of dialogue to keep it interesting. It was the classic fantasy story formula with a few unique elements and was overall a fun read. However, I personally don’t feel the story will stick in my head.

Strange world, lacks descriptions. Every paragraph is it’s own entity. Lots of focus on random thoughts. Feels disjointed.

I took a chance on this book, the cover and blurb intrigued me. And I’m glad I did. The story drew me in, wanting to understand and learn more about Ceres. She has grown up an orphan with a power she doesn’t fully understand, and which brings herself and others harm. When she manages to return to her own land things look brighter. But past history and tragic betrayal are never going to lead to a happy ending. Thank you to Rishika Porandla and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.