If you are a fan of high fantasy and enjoy new cultural perspectives and relearning a new version of mythology, then this sequel is for you!
With the Rise of the Celestials, Kritika takes us back to her jewel hued, golden toned Amaravati or city of the immortals and the twists in the struggle for power between the Lord of the skies Indra and his Queen Shachi. The book opens in surprising fashion with an intimate moment between the bold Meneka and her lover, the warrior sage Kaushika. In the last book, Meneka, an apsara redefined her prana or power by weaving together the Mortal or Tapasvin magic and the Celestial or Immortal magic to weave a stronger power source of Infinite prana, the essence of the Universe.
The melding of the realms, the duality of nature and the primordial source of power are beautifully drawn out as we journey with Meneka to try and find out who wishes to harm Amaravati. This journey sees the introduction of Matali, Indra's mahout or elephant driver in the myths but a Gandharava or a musical weaver, the opposite of the Apasaras, the celestial dancers. I loved how the streams of consciousness and the concept of Shakti was discussed between Vashishta and Meneka - this section was one of my highlights from this sequel!
The enmeshing and trinity of the power lore and the interaction between realms and the simplicity with which she approached the concept of a universal femininity and the ending was simply astounding, as someone who grew up in the culture and heard the stories, the baselining of devotion, love and definition of self were mesmerizing in logic and evoked a wonderful sense of meditative contemplation...
All in all, absolutely loved the storyline and spinning of Meneka and Vishwamitra's love ballad with cosmic interplay!
My sublime gratitude to Avon and harper Voyager and Netgalley for blessing me with the ARC, and my humble namastes to Kritika for a well sung ode to the cosmic confluence of Shakti...
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