In this retelling of “The Lady or the Tiger” set within the tribes of Pakistan, Durkhanai is the granddaughter of the a powerful Badshah. She is heavily involved in much of the local politics and outreach within the tribe. This often gets her into situations that put her at odds with her grandparents. And while they want her to learn about the world to prepare her for rule, there is much they keep from her. She gets herself into several scrapes including ones that involve a certain handsome and mysterious foreign ambassador. He exposes her to a different side of the world she thinks she knows, then she must figure out the truth.
I really loved seeing a story set in these cultures, which we consider in the modern world to be very patriarchal, to see the women within the royal family have such power and presence. There are times when she is frustratingly precocious and principled and other times where she has such nuance. What boy are there some stunning betrayals she must endure.
I am always seeking out stories from diverse settings and authors from backgrounds different than my own and I am always amazed by how much I learn and how easy it is to immerse in cultures anew. I think it would have been easier to settle into this story if some of the culturally specific terms had a bit more explanation in the beginning, after a few chapters I got the hang of the titles and details but at first I was a little overwhelmed and had to keep stopping to google terms.
Read this one if you liked City of Brass (although there is no magic in this one) or Daughter of the Salt King. I want to give it five stars but the ending was a bit too open for me so I’m landing at ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐💫.
Thanks to CamCat Books via Netgalley for access to this audiobook. All opinions above are my own.
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