Rati Mehrotra

Full disclosure: I provided a blurb for the first book of this duology and the publisher also supplied me with a gratis copy of Mahimata for review.

Rati Mehrotra's Asiana duology comes to a fantastic conclusion in Mahimata. In this Asian-inspired fantasy settings with unique sci-fi twists, Kyra is a highly-trained assassin telekinetically bound with her blade. Her world has erupted in war. Her sect has fought against local wyr-wolves for centuries, but now a greater--human--threat has show more emerged and threatens to take over Asiana. In the turbulence of the first book, Kyra met and fell for Rustan, of a rival sect--and also almost died. As Mahimata begins, she struggles to recover physically and reconcile herself with what she has learned about her sect, her power, and her world.

The action is intense and well-grounded in genuine emotions. I especially love how the wyr-wolves developed. This is a book all about maturity and growth for both Kyra and Rustan as they fight to save their people at great cost. I'm sorry to see the series end, but this conclusion truly hits all the right notes. show less

I received an advance copy from NetGalley.

I loved Rati Mehrota's previous books, and I loved her YA fantasy debut! I read almost the entire book in one day. It zoomed by. This book has it all: a fantasy setting based on India loaded with magic, gods, and monsters; a sassy protagonist in Katyani, a trained body guard who can't hold back her tongue; betrayals galore along with court intrigues; a sweet, nicely-escalating romance that never goes anywhere graphic but is good, flirtatious fun. show more This is the kind of book where you THINK early on that you know how the plot will go, but wow, it twisted and turned and surprised me all the way through. show less

There were some good things about this book (mainly the worldbuilding) and I liked several aspects of it, but in the end it didn't really grab me. This is the author's first book, and I think she has promise, but I'm not sure I'll pick up the next book(s) in the series. Maybe at the library, but I don't think I'll be buying it.

The worldbuilding, however, was very interesting, and the backstory of this world worked into the overall plot quite well. Perhaps this is Earth, perhaps not; we're show more eight hundred and fifty years past an apocalyptic event known as the Great War, which may or may not be a nuclear holocaust; and there are mysterious beings called "the Ones," who may or may not be aliens. (I suspect the former, due to the fact that they left behind a sentient, telepathic metal called kalishium which can be worked into knives--and guns--and bond with humans, and they were the apparent builders of the Transport Hubs. This is a bit of a MacGuffin that is accessible by the katari, or the magical daggers, and can magically move people great distances...and ahead in time as well, it seems.) If all of this sounds way too vague, well, it kind of is. But it provides a fascinating subtext to the story, and presumably some of these mysteries will be revealed in subsequent books.

Where this book fell down for me is the uneven pacing and the characterizations. After a slam-bang first chapter, we meander almost halfway through the book before what I thought of as the real story began, and from there it's a breathless race to the cliffhanger ending. Some characters--Shirin Mam and Nineth, in particular--are much better written than others. Unfortunately, the "others" includes the protagonist, Kyra. I just couldn't connect very well with her. And the villain, Tamsyn, seemed cartoonishly over the top, despite a valiant attempt to humanize her in the last chapters. Also re the pacing, I couldn't believe the climactic final fight, the thing Kyra spent half the book training for and obsessing over, took place over the sum total of four pages. That definitely felt like a cheat. And the ending was so rushed I could hardly figure out what was going on.

So this was okay, but I'm not jumping up and down and squeeing over it. Hopefully the author can get some of these issues corrected in the next book. show less

Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove by Rati Mehrotra is another novel that surprised me. I wasn’t certain what to expect but quickly found myself drawn into its lush descriptions and an intriguing mystery involving royalty and monsters. Katyani has quite an exciting past and present, and I adore her fierceness. She is a woman who knows her worth and will not let anyone or anything tell her she’s wrong. As the story unfolds, we learn the depths to which people will go to obtain or show more maintain power, which is ugly. Katyani’s world implodes, and we can only watch and wait to see how she handles it and what happens next.

Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove is the type of novel that draws you in so entirely that you lose track of time. The setting is almost magical in its luxury while being exotic at the same time. The characters are intense, while the magic feels almost subtle but is anything but that. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Katyani and would love to explore more of her world. This is another stand-alone, but in this instance, I would love it if Ms. Mahrotra would set another novel in this world of hers because I want more. show less