Disclaimer: I bought this book on my own accord.
Rating:
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Age: 16+ (sexual references, violence, slight gore)
Pages: 304
Synopsis:
Marinda has kissed dozens of boys. They all die afterward. It’s a miserable life, but being a visha kanya, a poison maiden, is what she was created to do. Marinda serves the Raja by dispatching his enemies with only her lips as a weapon.
Until now, the men she was ordered to kiss have been strangers, enemies of the kingdom. Then she receives orders to kiss Deven, a boy she knows too well to be convinced he needs to die. She begins to question who she’s really working for. And that is a thread that, once pulled, will unravel more than she can afford to lose.
Okay so what instantly drove me to this book was the concept. It’s intriguing and interesting. The writing for the most part is okay and the characters are fairly well interesting.
However, there are a lot of issues with this book. The world building is lacking, the romance is too insta for my coffee, and the book definitely need some Indian beta-readers and some research on the author’s part. India has a ton of cultures and languages. It’s more of a melting pot in terms of culture and language than the USA. I did some research and realized that some of the language used in the book is misused from its English meaning, which I’m seeing as a big problem with authors writing about a culture and language they might not have firsthand knowledge of. Xpresso Reads has a very well written review on the cultural appropriation that happens in this book and I bow to her knowledge. I also want to say that the book had a pacing problem and it just felt really shakey and incomplete for a finished book.
Verdict: Research is your friend if you’re a writer.
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