Kaikeyi

More of a 4.5 but I'm definitely rounding up.

It's not an exaggeration to say that Kaikeyi is my most anticipated book of 2022. I have been excited to read it since the announcement and once that absolutely stunning cover reveal happened, I was only more eager to get my hands on it. And I was so so happy when I won the advance copy in a giveaway. But I'm also a mood reader and despite reading Part One of the book many weeks ago, I put it down and could only get to it now. But I'm glad I was in a much better mood to appreciate this book as it deserves.

First thing that comes to mind how much the cover and the writing complement each other. Not only is this book beautiful on the outside, the writing is absolutely gorgeous and it feels like the author took meticulous care in crafting every single word. The pacing is slow despite the story covering the main character's life from childhood to atleast her 30s and more, but it only accentuates the connection we get to make with the main character. I also liked how the time skips were seamless and it was quite palpable on page that the characters had grown and changed in the time we couldn't get to read about. The magic system with the binding plane and the threads connecting people was also something I found very unique and I was amazed at how well the author was able to integrate these elements into this story. And this lovely writing was made even better by the masterful narration of the audiobook by Soneela Nankani. She is very good at expressing the various emotions of the characters and I was so engrossed listened to it, that I walked more than I usually do as part of my daily routine.

If you have any knowledge of the Ramayana, you know that Kaikeyi is the most vilified person in the epic. But the other view is that it was her destiny to make those choices so that Lord Rama would be able to exercise the duties for which he had taken a mortal form. Which is why I was excited to see how Vaishnavi would create a backstory for Kaikeyi and would we see her in a sympathetic form. And I was right. The author explores through the story the patriarchal world of the times and how women are constrained and sidelined in every matter, the only explanation given that it is ordained in the scriptures by the gods. The author gives us a story of how women can try to work within these constraints to achieve a sense of agency over their own lives, gain some power and maybe help other women with their issues. The one thing I will take away from this book is the female solidarity and how women working together for each other's betterment is so much more powerful than vying for the affections of a man and being against each other. We also have themes of power and destiny vs free will, how the heady feeling of a higher purpose can twist one's notions of justice, and how a strong teacher with wrong ideas can corrupt the minds of even the best of pupils. There are also quite a few important changes from the original epic and while some are the author's choices, some are just little known regional variations of the Ramayana, but I'm now used to reading retellings and reimaginings of epics, so the changes don't bother me, as long as they work for the story the author is trying to tell and they work perfectly here.

Coming to the characters, Kaikeyi is our central figure and she is so very well fleshed out that she feels like a real person. She is the only sister to seven brothers and from her childhood, she is made aware subtly and deliberately that she doesn't have the same choices like her brothers, and it is her duty to do what she has been told by the men in her life. But she is not one to live life according to what others deem it, and endeavors to learn every skill within her purview, so that she can be as independent as possible. She is helped much in this by her twin brother Yudhajit and their's is a beautifully written and loving sibling relationship. They encounter many ups and downs but I loved their bond ultimately remained strong despite distance separating them.

The relationships she carefully inculcates after getting married is also wonderful to read about. She is asexual and maybe even aromantic, but ofcourse these terms aren't relevant to the times and the author does a marvelous job depicting this integral part of her personality without using any labels. That's why I thought her relationship with her husband Dasharatha was written with a lot of care, because despite her sexuality, she values her marriage and utilizes the power being a radnyi gives her to make small and incremental changes in the kingdom, working to solve the problems of people no one cares much about. The bond between the three wives of Dasharatha is also depicted wonderfully from initial apprehension and distance to a gradual development into almost a sibling bond, and this formidable sisterhood is majorly responsible for the reforms that happen across the land. Kaikeyi also has immense love for all children and she hardly shows any partiality towards her own son.

In the second half of the book, the proceedings gradually move to include our main characters of the epic and we get to see the author's versions of Rama, Sita, Ravana and the others. Rama is kind of a negative character in this book and while quite a few reviewers have felt it was wrong to depict him like that, I am not one to gatekeep an author's vision. But his character felt true to the world the author has created. He is conflicted between wanting to listen to his mother's teachings and believing in the words of a charismatic teacher who believes in his godly destiny. He is definitely not easy to like and very misogynistic who wants to adhere to the scriptures, but Kaikeyi believes he can change given time and opportunity and we want to believe in her conviction. Sita on the other hand is not exactly helpless but is implored by the gods that her duty is to follow her husband, even if she doesn't agree with him, and his attitude towards women doesn't help matters. I felt that we didn't get enough page time with her, which is also the same for Ravana, who starts off as much more sympathetic but we see bits of his issues at places, which foreshadows his future descent into evil.

However, this is Kaikeyi's story and it didn't bother me that the heroes and the villains of the epic weren't fleshed out here. The major story of the epic is also not part of this book because it's not relevant to Kaikeyi's life. If you are looking for a mythology reimagining story of one of it's most infamous women, which is feminist and tells us the tale of people who never get talked about, then this book is perfect for you. If you are someone who loves beautiful prose and delicate characterization, and doesn't mind critically looking at the epics we have grown up with and questioning our traditions, then you might find this to your liking. But if you think Lord Rama or Sita or anyone else can't be depicted outside of what we know from Valmiki's Ramayana, then this is definitely not for you. I myself really enjoyed my experience of reading this book - and have so much more to say but want to leave this review at a reasonable length - and I hope I'll get a chance to reread it because I want to annotate this one for a change. And I'm also really looking forward to see what Vaishnavi's next project will be.

This book is nearly 500 pages, but I was absorbed the whole time. It's been compared to Circe, but it reminded me more of Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian (which I liked better!), and I loved how it introduced me to a new cultural myth.

the execution of the ending ruined it for me tbh