Tanaz Bhathena

Susan Thomas is a South Asian teen who has been deposited in Mississauga Ontario for her final year of high school after spending most of her life in Saudi Arabia. In addition to the universal struggle to fit in at high school, she is also feeling adrift in her own cultural identity; “too Saudi for India and too Indian for Saudi,” and now being forced to buy into her father’s vision of the Canadian dream.

Like many immigrant children, or children of immigrants, Susan has a lot of show more pressure on her to succeed, and to succeed by her parents’ narrow definition of what success looks like. This is often delivered via what Susan calls “the brown parent lecture.” Success for certain does not include dating troubled boy Malcolm, and yet together they help each other find the courage to reconcile with their parents, and to stand up for what they want for themselves.

I’m sure many students will relate to Susan’s situation; struggling to fit in at a new school in a new country, a first (forbidden) boyfriend, mean girls, fighting parents with high expectations, exams, university applications, and more. Many may also appreciate the culturally-diverse characters in the story and how Bhathena weaves real world events, like the Syrian refugee crisis, into the story without ever being didactic.

I’m going to expose my white privilege here and admit that at first I was discomfited by the use of the name Susan Thomas for a person of Indian heritage. Part of the importance of reading own voices novels is to challenge our own assumptions about race. As Susan says “my name has more to do with my religion than my nationality . . . my name is as Indian as any other.” I’ll remember that. show less

4.5 Stars. This had that transportive quality you crave from a fantasy with the magic and atmosphere, but there were elements that grounded it in recognizable reality as well with politics driving the conflict, haves abusing their power and have nots struggling for the most basic life necessities, the more realistic aspects of this story all the more interesting when you discover the author pulled from some actual historical figures in India.

The secondary characters were well-crafted, show more villagers and villains alike were multi-dimensional, thought clearly put into their emotions and motivations.

Roshan and Navin spark from the moment they meet but thankfully it did not feel like insta-love, I liked that their relationship progressed at a reasonable pace, they got to know each other while plotting against each other, earned trust and suffered setbacks in that trust.

I’m so glad this went with alternating POV’s so we could be in both Roshan and Navin’s heads as they dealt with each other and with their significant family baggage, the weight on her shoulders to be a leader, and the weight on Navin to prove to others and more importantly to himself that he isn’t just the waste of space spare heir, he has something to contribute. They both held my interest really well, I especially loved that they were big on strategy, constantly thinking their way through situations rather than barreling in without a plan, intelligence is always by far my favorite weapon.

I received this book through a giveaway. show less

I had this audiobook on my phone from some year it was offered with Audiobooksync. Wow. I find it very haunting.

The first chapter reveals Zarin and Porus dying in a car accident. They hold hands as they drift upwards and look down upon their families as they cry over their deaths. The religious police appear to be asking a lot of questions. The rest of the book tells their story from different perspectives. Zarin tells what it's like to have people talk about her--she's someone you don't be show more friends with because she's a "girl like that." She smokes and goes on dates. This behavior seems fine except she lives in Saudi Arabia where good girls lower their eyes and never look a male directly in the eye. Others assume she does things with boys she shouldn't, which she doesn't. She lives with an abusive aunt and an uncle who allows the abuse. Zarin's parents are both dead; she has an inheritance from her father that the aunt and uncle take care of. She lives a very unhappy life where no one truly knows her--everyone judges and says that she is bad.

Mishal offers another perspective. She and Zarin compete in English for the highest grade, so Zarin is smart. Mishal seems obsessed in some ways with Zarin. Mishal has an anonymous blog where she gives accurate gossip about everyone at school. Her brother dates Zarin through the beginning of the novel, so Mishal listens in on his conversations, which allows her to know what is going on in the school. His friends are not nice boys. I don't know what my opinion is of her other than she doesn't seem to take responsibility for what she knows.

Farhan tells of his privileged life with money, believing he can do whatever he wants and his father will take care of it. He abuses girls.

Porus met Zarin a few years ago and is re-united with her. He is the only person who can see who Zarin really is. He takes a lot of abuse because she puts up a lot of walls and responds with anger to people as a self-defense. He does whatever he can to show her that he will always be there for her. He and his mother are close; his father died of leukemia a few years ago, so he takes care of his mother. He's a loving, good man.

This is not a feel-good novel. There's no epiphany; characters don't learn a lesson and advance as characters. It's a tragedy. It's also captivating because you want something good to happen. The society will irritate you because the women are always to blame for anything that happens--even if abused by a male. The religious police are always a presence, reminding the reader that there are consequences for behavior they do not condone. It's realistic fiction from a country where women hold little value as humans. Zarin and Porus's deaths change nothing.The end could be hopeless or hopeful, depending on your point of view. I found myself telling people about the book because I couldn't get it out of my head--it lodges in because you want to help and change things. Be prepared to have it linger in your life. show less

Of Light and Shadow is equal parts entirely typical and highly creative, and I like to call that a trope with a clever spin. There's nothing wrong with using a regular trope and adding your own style to it. If I tell you a starving thief responsible for countless murders out of war and desperation meets a frat-boy prince who has never had to work a day in his life, are forced to work together, and they obviously don't get along, you already know where it's going to end up by the end, but how show more could they possibly get there? It's completely unbelievable, and yet, you know it's inevitable. It's a weird paradox.

I'll come back to that trope in a second because it is my main issue, but first I'd like to talk about the worldbuilding because this is very important in the fantasy genre; It's fantastic in here. There is magic involved, but it puts a very clever twist on how it's used. In a fantasy setting, magic tends to be a creative sticking point but a well-developed magic system breaks from the normal and makes you consider how it works. For example: "I'll spam magic and wait a few minutes for my bar to charge up" is boring. Luckily, this book is far more creative.

I won't spoil it here, but magic in this world, especially regarding healers, is something you would only want to use very sparingly for your own safety. There also isn't really a rule that says a magic user would even have enough magic to be any useful, and I've always thought that was interesting. What if, for example, magic was very weak with a person and the only thing they could ever train to do is throw a rock or bend a tin can or something? Some users have enough magic to move mountains, and we typically call them main characters, but why aren't there any who have so little they're practically useless in application? Having only enough magic, even after training, to knock a fork off a table wouldn't be very interesting, but it should be a possibility, right?

Enter: amplifiers, and I think this is a really cool idea. Our two leads, Roshan and Navin, do have the usual significant amount of magic main characters do, and Roshan being a healer requires a great deal of it (though it still isn't enough for severe injuries), but they receive a hefty "boost" through special jewelry they wear. This jewelry cannot get lost or fall into the wrong hands or your magic won't be strong enough. I'm so good at losing things that the idea of having to carry a ring or necklace everywhere I go in the off-chance it saves my life or somebody else's... that's anxiety inducing. It seems like a silly thing but I was pretty on edge that amplifiers would just "fall off" somewhere. I love the idea of amplifiers, they're great, and even with them magic isn't completely broken because of the consequences of using it.

My one main issue with the story is the characterization. The story starts off with our main character Roshan who is a complete badass, commits murder and piracy through raids frequently, and is entirely no-nonsense. Prince Navin is a spoiled drunk who doesn't much care for the issues the kingdom faces. Of course, his character needs to grow up and eventually does. He becomes significantly less annoying the more he sees of the poverty and hardship around him and turns into a dedicated activist you really want to root for. Navin is a great character and his development works.

Unfortunately, and I'm not sure why this decision was made, it comes at the expense of Roshan who already had these qualities. I don't see any problem with having them both embody the same fighting spirit, they're on the same side after all, but her character is heavily weakened at this point. She becomes too infatuated, or nervous, or whatever it is and at a point they basically completely switch roles and she becomes the dead-weight, allowing Navin to take charge. This was extremely jarring. It's great to have a childish character really mature over the course of a book, that's what we all hope to see, but I don't understand why this character who has been no-nonsense from the start had to take a back seat to this new no-nonsense character.

What happened to the leader of the much-feared Shadow Clan who spent her entire life acting out to make her so timid? It doesn't make any sense and that's a trope that I wish would stop happening. You can have two no-nonsense characters with different personalities. One doesn't have to be weakened so much just to boost the other. My only thought is that Roshan's character was meant to soften a bit, as Navin was meant to mature, which is fine, but not do a complete reversal in characterization that makes her a weaker character than how she started out. The fact that this change in characterization happens at almost the same time means there's a drastic turning point rather than a slow development. I'm sure this is a one-off but I'm still hoping for a sequel of some sort that does Roshan better justice.

Regardless, that's my one big issue, but the story itself moves along very quickly and there is tons of middle-fantasy action to keep you entertained throughout. It isn't a spoiler to say it's an enemies-to-lovers story as that's in the book description, and I thought it would be too cliché and forced, but I actually bought it by the end so that was very well done.

The story and setting are both fantastic and while the trope is standard, the journey is fresh and creative, and it's backed up by its clever worldbuilding. There are multiple points that will keep you on edge and the book flew by in no time. This is a high recommendation for action/stealth & fantasy-lovers. Very well written and I'm excited to see if there will be any more books in this world to explore the setting some more. I'm very impressed by the worldbuilding and magic system creativity, so I'll definitely be checking out the author's other fantasy works.

Thank you to Tanaz Bhathena and Penguin Random House for a copy in exchange for an honest review, it was very much appreciated. show less