The Heartless Divine
Ratings1
Average rating3
15
Ratings1
Average rating3
In this unexpected twist on mythology inspired by Sangam India, reincarnated lovers find themselves bound together, connected to their past by a centuries old tragedy that only one of them remembers. In the ruthless martial empire of Naja, Suri is the crown’s unfailing blade. But the princess dreams of a life exploring the lands beyond the borders, unshackled by blood. The king and queen offer her freedom, at a price: marriage to a king she’s meant to kill, and the death of Athri, a kingdom her family once nearly destroyed. Her only obstacle lies in the mountains above the Athrian capital of Marai, where a young prophet sees a world struck by catastrophe—a world where a girl lies dead in the temple of the fire god, and the city lies burning below. Centuries later, Suri lives with no recollection of her past lives. Haunted by her family’s deaths eighteen years ago, Suri sees the boy bleeding gold on her doormat as an opportunity to unravel the mystery of the car crash that took their lives. But not all gifts are created equal, and the boy soon proves to be more trouble than he’s worth, a dangerous link back to a world of gods and wishes.
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I've wanted to read this book for quite a long time now, but I only bought it recently when I realized the sequel was coming out next year. I had only heard great things about this before from my dear friends, and it's so rare to find a South Indian inspired (in this case specifically Tamil Nadu) fantasy novel that I knew I had to give this a try.
However, I don't know if I am having a bit of a bad luck lately because I seem to not be loving all my reads. Which is ofcourse always possible because I can't always be reading 4 and 5 star books but I guess I've been spoiled for most of this year with absolutely wonderful books. That's not to say this book was bad. The prose is actually quite beautiful and the author does a lovely job telling both a historical and contemporary story in the same book. It is told in two alternate timelines, or in other words, two different lifetimes of the same characters. The current timeline is where I completely lost my interest.
I found the beginning itself to be very abrupt and then I couldn't fathom why the characters started feeling so deeply for each other, especially Suri because Kiran atleast had a reason to feel the love. The past timeline was definitely more interesting with Suri having to travel to an enemy kingdom and get acclimated to the land and it's people while also harboring a dangerous secret. I liked her character who has been brought up with violence as her creed but probably wants something different if she could choose. Kiran too is fascinating because he is neither completely human nor a god, and living a haunted life due to being able to see the visions of the future have made him seem much more guarded and dispassionate. While I enjoyed their relationship dynamic, I just found it not so plausible because she is technically betrothed to the king. And the other unbelievable part was that she hardly has any interactions with Viro, and none of them ever to alluding to the fact that they probably are supposed to be married someday. I probably liked Tarak the best of the lot but we see quite little of him. The mystery of who is betraying the kingdom is also pretty easy to guess but there are only a couple of choices, and why of it didn't seem convincing enough.
But overall, it wasn't something I couldn't get through. The lovely prose and the historical timeline hold enough water that it kept me going and I wanted to know how the subplot would end. But I really would have skipped the present timeline if I felt I could. Maybe it would have worked better for me if the two timelines were in separate books, but many others have enjoyed this book so I guess it's just my personal preference. And now I am unsure if I wanna continue with the sequel. Let's see what I will decide in the future.
