I have a lot of beef and a lot of praise to the editor and/or Srivatsa himself in charge of this book.

One of y'all mother fuckers, idk who, should have been just a LITTLE bit more cut throat in paring down this book.
There was too much telling rather than showing us and allowing the reader to have a brain to piece things themselves. Not a lot of leeway was given to the reader to make their own conclusions and thoughts to the point it felt like this was a better audiobook than reading book if that makes sense.

Srivatsa CAN create a world and plot, that much is apparent, but the editor or author needs to be honest that not everything can be added a book. And that's a good thing! You want to respect the reader can make a conclusion or a thought.

Plot: Plot is ok and a bit basic with the standard plot twist thrown in. But it's a pretty straight forward story.

Prose: Most deductions come here. Too much thinking and coming to conclusion with character's thoughts that Amir himself could have deducted but the narrator doesn't have to do that. Let Amir pick up things, not the narrator. Also, the prose itself has too similar sentence structures with itself that it becomes monotonous to read through a chapter.

Pace: Steady, pretty slow in the beginning, sorta brrrrs to the finish line. There's no hurry to the pacing, even though the plot implies it but for some reason we're still kept at the same pace.

Characters: Minor deductions here. I'm not going to be too harsh on the characters because at least the MC is kinda done with everyone's shit and calls everyone out. It's actually quite nice to see MC done with passive MCs and calls people out in their BS. Perks of being a lower caste in this book. Everyone else is a bit one noted but props where it's due.

Vibe: We're in India, but it's not desert, there's jungles, marshes, cliffs, etc. He actually plays around with it a little and allows some creativity to go in towards the settings. If the map is not a hint towards this, idk what will.

Worldbuilding: Here is why I'm not dropping this to further than 4 (3.5 stars technically). Srivatsa CAN create a world, a good magic system involving spices, and make it interesting. He can create a vibe that you're in a spice miasma dream, however the prose style bogs down this dream that we lose some of it's charm. I want to think it's because Debut Syndrome and I won't lie, I had fun navigating this world he built. I just wish the prose could have been fixed to allow this book to really take off.

Now, if this doesn't turn you off, here's something to keep in mind.
If you're one of the neurodivergents that love to be told what character's thoughts, motivations, and feelings are, you WILL love this book as it does a good job of doing so.

It didn't hit off with me (I'm also a neurodivergent) because I prefer some subtle context to my books and not have everything explained in a controlled environment.

So go with this book with an open mind, you might need to look up some Indian translations (Idk why Srivatsa didn't do a translation for "pajama" but fully translated "chappalu" instead of just calling them sandals), but if you're not thrown off by the prose, it's a real cup of chai

3.5/5