Raman's Indian-inspired fantasy debut is a dream for seekers of character-driven stories. The third-person points-of-view of each of the four siblings artfully delivers distinct personalities who have the same aims but with entirely different reasons. Although the story progression is relaxed as readers acclimate to the main characters, the world building and backstories are intriguing and well thought out. Slow-burning romance, BIPOC and queer representation, family drama, and a country under threat of war-the first in Raman's duology does not disappoint. Booklist, starred review
Akshaya Raman fell in love with writing when she wrote her first story at the age of ten. Though she graduated from UC Davis with a degree in biology, she gave up pursuing a career in science to write books. She is a co-founder and contributor to Writer's Block Party, a group blog about writing and publishing, and has served on the planning teams of several book festivals. She lives in the Bay Area with an actual scaredy cat, and in her free time she enjoys baking, travelling and watching too much reality TV. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter @akshraman.
