I absolutely loved this book. Like most fantasy it took about 100 pages to get into the world and the characters-especially because the author uses a lot of POVs, including some for minor characters for just one scene- but once you get used to it, the writing flows smoothly and it doesn't take any effort to keep reading. The book explores the effects of religion, nationalism, war, and revolution especially on children, and all the women characters were very different, and refreshingly unashamed of using their specific strengths to their advantage.

The things I personally appreciated from this book were the explorations of different sibling relationships (especially how they are informed by childhood trauma), the South Asian culture, and (of course) the sapphic element.

I would recommend this book for people who are interested in fantasy, South Asian culture, and/or morally grey sapphic characters.

Word vomit spoiler section ahead:

Spoiler

I did not see that coming with Malini at the end, and I'm so excited and nervous to see just how dark she'll go (is she going to end up killing Aditya??). Once we saw that he didn't remember what Chandra did to her though I was pretty sure it wouldn't be cupcakes and roses between them.

I also loved how the book illustrated the difference between kindness and niceness in Priya's character; she's so empathetic and compassionate with Rukh but is also like 'your newborn smells bad and her face looks old' what an icon

I am so concerned about Sima, we didn't see much of her after the first few chapters and I'm worried she's going to be a kind of sacrifical/turning point death for Priya.

As much as I love Priya and Malini together (and I do, a lot) I really like that they're both invested in their own sides. Like usually in enemies to lovers, once they get together the characters hold that above their committments to their nations but that's definitely not the case here and it makes for a much more interesting story that way.