Princess Mahiya is the niece of the Archangel Neha. A
privileged position – or it would be if she weren’t the daughter of Neha’s
cheating husband and Neha’s own sister. Neha is more than a little bitter and
not above using Mahiya as a scapegoat for her parents’ actions
But when one of those parents, her father Eris, is brutally murdered the Archangel Raphael offers to send Jason, his spymaster, to help investigate in the hope of curbing Neha’s growing instability and rage. But for Neha to trust Jason in her lands, she needs someone to bond with Jason – the disposable princess seems like an ideal choice. But Jason sees far more in Mahiya than ever Neha did.
This book has an excellently balanced and paced storyline
– it combines character development, mystery and romance in a perfect amount
that none of it is neglected and none of it is overwhelming. We have a series
of murders to investigate and not once does it feel like the characters are
ignoring that mission – but nor does that mission get in the way of us seeing
the characters and allowing the characters to show they have their own agendas
beyond the mission they have been given. They’re not just servants and we
really get to see their own personality. Similarly the romance doesn’t get in
the way of the mission and it doesn’t subsume the characters own personality in
a wave of oh-how-hot the other is but it still allowed to grow in strength and
depth over the course of the book with enough passion to keep it real without
the melodrama to make me want to roll my eyes.
I especially like how Mahiya doesn’t expect a long term relationship and though would prefer one, understands if it isn’t on the cards. The best line of this is when someone worries about Mahiya getting her heart broken to which Mahiya accepts it could happen – but that she’d live through it and heal. She acts like a mature grown up – more, she acts like the immortal creature she is and that a bad love affair won’t destroy her.
On top of that we have some nice building of meta – it’s
a nice slow burn which I think this story needs because the early books in the
series pulled out the vast epic so early that we needed a more slow burn to
prevent the idea that vast epic disasters afflict every week. There are lots of
questions and hooks left in this world to bring in a vast number of storylines
which points to a rich world and a lot of meaty plots to come.
What I loved most about this book is how it flipped the
script – both on the last four books in the series but also in the genre in
general.
Like every paranormal romance character ever, both Jason
and Mahiya have tragic pasts (a tragic present in Mahiya’s case) and Jason
follows the same pattern we see a lot of male characters with tragic pasts do –
he’s cold and distant and unable to connect with people. He isn’t, however,
cruel which is a very nice change nor is he aggressive. His tragic past that
still haunts him isn’t treated as an excuse for him to lash out at others – he’s
distant, cold and his emotions are dampened. He’s isolated but he doesn’t force
that isolation with savagery or cruelty or bitter womanising with the
inevitable trail of desperate women who just want to love him dogging his wake
(like Dmitri) which is very nice to see.
But Mahiya is even better. She has taken the constant
abuse she takes from Neha and found a wonderful strength in NOT becoming like
her. She isn’t vengeance obsessed or defined by her hatred nor is she broken or
hurting and needing a man to save her. Neither of these would be bad things because
people respond to abuse differently, but both are very typically written and
commonplace. Mahiya breaks the script. She knows she has strength, she has
worth and she has value. While Neha has tried to isolate her, she has found
some friends who surreptitiously treat her well. Mahiya’s vengeance is a vow to
survive, to escape and to flourish. She is hurting but she isn’t vulnerable,
others are much stronger than her but that doesn’t make her weak and she is
quite willing to patiently use the immortality angels are granted to get free
and have the life she knows she deserves – a life that is based on love and joy
and not Neha’s hatred. I love her resolve to be everything Neha isn’t, her
determination to be better and her strength to know she is worth better – a strength
and realisation she came to on her own, she didn’t need Jason to show her it.
From the very first meeting Mahiya was clearly strong and
capable – and it’s a very different kind of strength from Elena or Honor that
we’ve seen in past books. Mahiya is subtle, crafty, alert and politically adept
and the way it is written is really impressive – Jason is impressed by her but
so am I reading about her. I also love how she is quick to put Jason in his
place when he presumes to make judgements on her life and actions – she knows
what she does and what she has to do to stay alive in Neha’s court; Jason does
not and her has no right to criticise her for it. It’s a great scene and Mahiya
is an excellent character
This book brings some nice nuance to all the major female
characters. It would have been easy to paint Neha as a jealous, spiteful,
raging woman – and she certainly is all of those things. But she’s also
cunning, adept, a gracious and honourable host and a very good, fair and just
queen who is rightly loved by her subjects. She’s also intelligent and more
than capable of holding her own against any member of the Cadre. She’s more
complex than just an evil enemy and even when she’s cast as someone to fight
against in this book we can still see why Raphael may want her as a friend and
ally beyond merely fearing her attacks. Even the depiction of Neha and Nivriti
fighting over Eris is interesting because even though both are obviously
jealous and spiteful of each other, the underlying message is that Eris is
really not on par or worthy of either of them. In fact, the whole rivalry
between them comes with an underlying message of what a tragic waste it is to
have these strong, capable women at odds.
This book takes place nearly entirely in India and the
characters reflect that – the vast majority being Indian (with some minor
characters from other parts of Asia) including Mahiya, all of which are
definitely informed and enriched by their culture rather than it being absent
or stereotyped. I especially liked a nice touch in the use of the word “exotic”
as being a word for things from a distant land – and characters considering “exotic”
things which westerners would consider commonplace (regarding, for example,
cherries in the same way westerners may regard mangos or papaya). Jason is a
Pacific Islander and his history is a part of his backstory (a tragic one, of
course). Even the bit entries come from Elena, Dmitri and Honor, all of which
are POC. It’s by far and away a POC heavy cast.
This is another book that erases LGBT people. On the
ongoing treatment of mental illness, I did appreciate the cameo of Dmitri and
Honor that made it clear that Honor has not been magically cured by the
mystical penis of true love – which is always a pit fall.
When this book started and I saw a brand new character
and a previously very minor character heading their way to a romance, I was
worried – especially when both started dragging up their tragedies. The clichés
hemmed in, and I thought this series was going to start dragging down the same
very very very well worn path as many before. But it didn’t, the romance had
elements that kept it fresh and unique – more, the world was still so very present
in the story and the characters, rather than just a backdrop for the characters
to fall in love. But above that the ongoing story, personal, plot-wise and
meta-wise is still there and still going strong. After a brief dip, this series
is going strong again
