The Queens of Hastinapur

I remember really enjoying the first two books in this series because I'm usually very biased towards well written Mahabharata retellings but I don't actually remember a lot of the story. But having no time to reread them, I proceeded with this third book and as I'm familiar with the source material, I found it quite easy to follow.

I have developed a lot of interest in reading our epics told through the women's POVs, so reading this one through the eyes of Ganga, Gandhari and Pritha was a revelation. It's a tale of destiny and fate, of what happens when celestials meddle in the lives of men, and how long term consequences are written into existence when women take charge of their own desires and fight for what they want. This is a story of motherhood, kingship, ambition and the lust for power - and ultimately what it leads to.

I think the author does a great job giving an interesting spin to the story, especially in portraying the queen mothers as more significant in the events that shaped the Hastinapur empire and I loved getting to know more about these women. They are shown as quite a bit ruthless and power hungry and while it's something of a new portrayal and might offend some readers, I thought it was written quite well. The next two books seem to concentrate on Krishna's side of the story but I hope we do get to read about the Pandavas exploits as well. Definitely excited to continue the series.