I found this retelling of the epic Hindu poem The Ramayana quite engaging. Vaishnavi Patel is trying to explore what led to the actions Kaikeyi took in that poem by adding nuance and a feminist flair, with varying degrees of success. While I haven’t read the original, I looked up enough to know that Kaikeyi plays an important role but not a large one in the original story. In this version, we witness her childhood as the neglected princess among several princes who are more important by virtue of their gender. Kaikeyi does have a close relationship with her twin, who teaches her warfare, but even he typically views her as “just” a girl. She feels forsaken by the gods and on her own develops a power in which she can see and manipulate bonds between herself and others, allowing her to influence them. She takes this skill with her and it helps her adapt when she is married off to a neighboring king who already has two wives.
Part of what bothered me about the book is that use of this ability is rarely questioned by Kaikeyi or the author. As readers we understand that it’s a way for Kaikeyi to have power in a misogynistic world, but although Kaikeyi learns that sometimes using this power negatively affects her relationships, the author never seems to engage with the question of its morality, not even late in the book when an element of hypocrisy shows up.
Although that left me with some at times conflicting emotions about Kaikeyi, I often liked her as a character. And I particularly loved the relationships that she develops with the other queens after she is married. So often female relationships like that are portrayed as catty or hostile, but these women become a unit. And although Kaikeyi didn’t want to be married, and seems to be asexual, she still develops a solid bond of respect with her husband.
There are some pacing issues, particularly at the end, though I didn’t mind what some people seem to view as a slower pace earlier in the book. There are also some inconsistencies about how the gods are portrayed, and I even question just how much of a feminist retelling this is. However, the very end helped alleviate some of that questioning. I generally enjoyed the book and learning more about this time period and religion, though I recognize that Patel took liberties (and even addressed some of this in the author’s note). 3.75 stars rounded up.
