Thank you for sending me this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a huge fan of fantasy inspired by different cultures and was very curious about this one. As someone who’s not familiar with Hindu culture and mythology, I was grateful for the glossary and the more I read, the more I understood.
I enjoyed the story and found the mortal and celestial magic very interesting. Meneka really was on a difficult mission and I thought her inner conflict was described well. I liked how she started questioning things and finding herself.
Even though I liked the tension between Meneka and Kaushika, I think they needed a more emotional connection. I could understand that they were attracted to each other, but missed love on a deeper level. That might be the case because many things were told rather than shown (maybe a chapter from Kaushika’s pov would’ve made the reader get to know him better).

However, I still enjoyed this book and loved how colourful the writing was. The plot twist at the end was well done and made me curious about book 2, which I’d definitely read.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the arc!

🌟🌟/5

I really, really wanted to like this. A romantasy steeped in Hindu mythology is an amazing concept, but the story did not do it justice.

The Good:
The mythology aspect of this was really well done. I loved how to author's take on apsara lore. The worldbuilding as the magic system were well done. The author brings the setting to life through her prose. I also appreciate the fact that the world is queernormative.

The Not-so-good:
As someone who's familiar with Hindu mythology, I did not face much trouble with the infodumping. However, readers unfamiliar with it might get confused while reading. Meneka's internal turmoil was overdone to the point that she came off as whiny and annoying. The writing was repititive in many parts. My biggest issue with the book is the 'romance'. Meneka and Kaushika's relationship is fueled by lust. There is no chemistry between these two, and that is why when Meneka discovers that love is magic (literal magic, mind you) in its own right, I'd have flung this book across the room if I'd had a physical copy. NOT THE FRICKIN POWER OF LOVE AGAIN. These two were neither enemies nor lovers at any point. The lack of chemistry made the smut scenes terrible.

The ending was...weird. I wish the author would've made the book longer and wrapped up the story in one book. Even the climax was unsatisfactory. I don't want to dive into spoiler territory, but the way these people handled devas-all powerful forces of nature-without any great repercussions, was just...😐.

As you can see from my review, personally, the cons heavily outweighed the pros. We don't see enough Hindu mythology inspired book so I had to get an arc for myself. Unfortunately, this was a big miss. I'm not sure if I'll be reading the sequel.