Ok this was one hell of a let down. The cover and synopsis promises desi representation but what I got is a haphazard mix of Kashmiri, Sanskrit, Latin and English??
This started out good. But from the very second chapter it went downhill for me. The pacing was very odd. So many plot digs but none of them was used.
I'm surprised the author is not a white person. I mean clearly the way the cultures had been thrown together like with little to no research was really frustrating and problematic.

Gorgeous novel. The author is clearly skilled in weaving narratives and creating worlds for the readers to explore. Incredible story and incredible writing.

I did not like this book.

This book felt like it is the summary of a good 500+ pages novel.
Writing:
20% of this book has good writing. There are beautiful descriptions and thoughtful observations. The rest, however, feels like an extremely drained out version of this aforementioned sweet honey.

World-Building:
Readers are thrown into this world. We travel to places with the characters and since I did not like the characters I did not enjoy listening to them describing the places. And the story is written in such a way that the girl is talking/thinking about all the bad things that may happen and then suddenly begins describing the sunset of her current location which is just annoying.

The author wrote this book when she was just 17. So, I think the blame lies with the editor. This book could have been so much better under other circumstances. There was a lot of scope for the development of almost everything.
1) For starters, it's a good idea. Try to think more about it and ink all that imagination on paper, it is a fantasy. Go wild !!
2) Character relationship described in this book is just bland. I felt absolutely nothing about any of these characters. More work could have been done here to make the characters more likeable or hateable.
3) I could not understand if some of the characters had a romantic or platonic relationship with the MC. This could have been used in a much better way. Friendship could have been displayed in better ways.

This book had scope. Not a good own-voices book though. Let's just read it as a fantasy.

I will not recommend this book but if the author ever decides to rewrite this book, I will give it a chance.

This book has a first-person POV. And I have realized that I cannot bear it.

I think the book had a brilliant premise:
An Indian-inspired fantasy setting, a world with magic, a chosen girl, who is the last hope of the country against an evil king and his regime. Plot-wise, it's not necessarily something we haven't seen before, but with fleshed-out characters and good writing, it definitely would have been in my wheelhouse. I was pretty sure that I would love it.
Unfortunately, the execution left a lot to be desired... I agreed with most plot points, but they often felt too rushed and out of the blue. I think the best way I can describe this is that actions didn't have consequences. For example, the protagonist, Reya and her friend steal some food from rebels, but instead of being punished, they are invited to eat with them, even though the rebels don't know anything about them. Or there is a scene, where Reya cuts off her hair to show that she has some steel in her, but nobody, literally nobody, comments on it in the next chapter.
Another point which annoyed me was that the protagonist didn't seem to have a consistent character. One moment, she was terrified for her friend, who was held captive and threatened to pressure the protagonist, the next she forgets all about it and starts raving against the captor. There were too many moments like this, to make the character wholly believable.
The twists at the end of the book were very interesting, but I think they could have had some more depth.

There were some odd moments on a cultural level, too, but I think other reviewers have put it more eloquently than me. I'm also not part of the desi community, so it's not really my place to criticize, especially since the author is an #ownvoices author. That said, it did strike me as odd that Reya was teaching her friend the literal alphabet (ABCD) in an Indian inspired setting? Where British colonialism hadn"t even happened yet...?
And having turban wearing enemies in a region called Kasmira (which has an uncanny similarity to Kashmir) seems a bit... iffy. Please refer to these #ownvoices reviews for further insight:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3485409710?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3493480524?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1

All in all, I do think it is an impressive debut for such a young author. I think she has a lot of potential and I will be looking forward to what she writes next. Especially, because it is so important to have more diverse fantasy settings and #ownvoices authors publishing their stories. But I also hope that she will have brushed up on her writing skills in the next book. This is why I'm rating this book 2.5/5.

BTW, I'm not sure whether the printed version of this book has one, but I think it would improve the reading experience to have a map included if that is not too expensive :)

I thank NetGalley and Tanglewood Publishing for providing me with this eARC.

I didn't love The Bookweaver's Daughter, but I do think it's amazing that Malavika Kannan wrote this when she was only seventeen years old. That is incredible.

The Bookweaver's Daughter is about 15 year old Reya Kandhari, who lives in the fantasy country known as Kasmira. Reya is the daughter of the last Yogi, the Bookweaver. Reya is living as a peasant, working in the fields when she is forced to flee with her best friend Nina, an ancient book, and her newfound magic. Reya and Nina must run, but more importantly, they must take down a cruel dynasty, and free magic once more.

I won't lie to you, this was a pretty boring read. I predicted quite a bit of it, and it felt very much like a first draft. There were so many things that were left unthought and it was just not complex enough to be considered a Young Adult novel. I think this would be a lot better as a Middle Grade read, and that it was marketed that way, because it would reach an audience who would enjoy it much more.

There were quite a few things I loved here, though
OwnVoices South-Asian rep, which we see so little of, and it makes me so happy whenever I see it
The main character (mild spoiler I guess) DOESN'T FALL IN LOVE WITH ANYONE! There is no love story here, which is why it's such a shame that it's more Middle Grade than YA, because there are so few YA Books without a romance (also, while we're on the subject of single protagonists, I SHIP LUCIE HERONDALE BY HERSELF)
No use of the hot prince trope I'm sorry guys that was for Elissar
PLATONIC BOY/GIRL FRIENDSHIPS
Unfortunately, the bad outweighed the good, and I was just plain confused by some of the things in this book.

Reya was a really annoying main character. Everyone was annoying, but Reya especially. She would be all 'yuh ima badass sarcastic gorl' and just be an idiot when her life was in literal danger (also, Reya doesn't feel fear guys) but then the next page she's like just pouring her heart out into this pretentious writing which felt vaguely Book Thief-ish but not in a good way.

There were also a lot of things that didn't make sense- Reya's all 'ah yes i must protect my identity' but she's like 'YO I'M REYA KANDHARI THE BOOKWEAVER'. She makes no sense.

There's also this big reveal at the end for no reason, that made no sense, and I was really annoyed by this. I was so, so annoyed. I cannot express my annoyance. I'm not going to tell you, because no spoilers and all that. But it annoyed me to an extent to which I cannot coherently convey through words, only through very angry mugshots, which I will probably spam Elissar with. (SORRY ELISSAR)

The Bookweaver's Daughter gets a 2.5 star rating from me, and I think that with some editing, this could be an incredible Young Adult, and get beyond just a Middle Grade novel. The concept is amazing, but the execution was not.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for giving me the opportunity to review this book. I admit in my joy at joining NetGalley I may have been overzealous in my requesting numbers. As this book has already been published, I am choosing to work on the current upcoming publish date books in my que. As I complete those I will work on my backlogged request and will provide a review at that time. I again send my sincere thanks and apologies.

I so truly truly wanted to adore this book and for a bit I did. I wish more could have been done with the prince, I feel like his story wasn’t finished. Honestly about half way through I could tell how rushed the story was going to end up which was disappointing I would have gladly read another 100-200 pages so the story could be fleshed out even more. The ending was a bit disappointing it seemed far to easy of a fix. For a first novel it’s pretty good, I look forward to hopefully reading more of her books
In the future.

I really, really wanted to like this book, as there are so few books out there that revolve around the magic and cultures outside of Western perspectives. I did enjoy reading the prose itself, as Kannan has a way with words where I would often read phrases and go "oh, wow" while reading it.


However, there is a lot to be desired from the actual story itself. The execution of this promising idea needs work - there were entirely too many times where I would read a scene and go "how convenient for Reya," and these deus ex machinas happened about every ten pages. *Avatar: The Last Airbender* clearly was a huge influence on the author, and it shows - there were dozens of scenes in this book that clearly took inspiration. Having inspiration from other works is perfectly fine, but I found that this book read as a discount version of Avatar's storytelling, and that was painful. There are also many plot holes. I also find it unbelievable that everyone that Reya lashed out to would not get angry back at her for the most part.

There were also phrases such as "naan bread" which felt annoying to me, even as someone who isn't Indian. Naan is bread, and the fact that they're saying "bread bread" just leads me to believe that this book is written for a primarily white audience, Kannan choosing to "other" her own culture in order to make it more palatable.

In addition to this, while reading the reviews from Indian OwnVoices reviewers, I have learned that the villains in this book are from a culture that is a thinly veiled reference to Islam and there are a lot of events that seem to draw inspiration from historical events in the Kashmir region, a conflict which is still going on today and has resulted in the persecution of thousands of Muslims. While Kannan is an OwnVoices author, she now has a platform and needs to make sure she's not contributing to a narrative that is actively still causing harm to real-life groups. I hope she takes the time to hire a sensitivity reader next time, and as such, I cannot creatively support an author who elected to demonize Islamic cultures and ethnic groups.

A thank you to Tanglewood Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

Unfortunately I DNF’d this book as I found it was quite hard to read and didn’t think it had a great representation.

I would try something else by this author but this just was not for me and I dnf’d at 52%

Talk about female empowerment scenarios, this book is it....and written by a teenager at that. Loved it!

I can not rave enough about this book and was even more excited when the author showed up on my TikTok account when it released and I got to fan girl that I was one of the first to read!

I am quite late on catching up on my reviews, but this one is truly a masterpiece. There are not enough BIPOC authors to interweave customs and stories from their upbringing to help educate young females and those who identify as females in this day and age. Your child will feel safe and accepted reading this peace of art. I look forward to their next book already!

I was excited about this book, but the pacing was all over the place, and it was filled with info dumps and plot holes.

I personally am not Indian, however many own voices reviewers have pointed out the incorrect and harmful representation in the book.

The author is a young WOC and I hope that this doesn’t halt her career, but that she educates herself and works to do better in the future.

I definitely had really high hopes when I started reading this. I did have every element that was sure to make this book a hit. Indian inspired fantasy, strong female characters, friendship and fantasy world building. I did also enjoy reading the first few chapters. However my interest and the story kind of faltered midway. It had so much scope to shine but the lack of Indian representation dimmed it along the way. I know the author gets a lot of flak for the same so I'm not going to be stretching that point further more but I hope her next book is a lot more entertaining and relevant.

A wonderful book of Indian folk lore and captivating friendship.
The story was fast paced and wonderful!! The character arc was perfect and man I need more!!
this book works fantasy so vividly it makes for a great read!

The book fails to give a proper, unbiased, unstereotyped representation to Indians. Was hard to read

Initial Thoughts/Expectations:

I went into this book with expectations of being immersed in the culture of India and Indian lore. I had visions of great world building and was very excited about the promise of mythology and magic. I have always enjoyed a good YA Fantasy because of the extra creativity that goes in to balance out the reduced amount (or sometimes, absence)of romance, and I was ready to see where Malavika Kannan took me with her story. I was extra intrigued because Malavika was only 17 when she wrote this, and I found the prospect of reading a YA written by a young adult fascinating.

What I loved:

This book focuses on the incredible friendship of the main character Reya and the best friend she made while she was disguised as a peasant working in the Fields. As the story progresses, the constant driving force seems to be that friendship. Nina seems to be a very strong young woman, one that anyone would be lucky to have as their “ride or die”, and no one needed a person like that in their life more than Reya. 

Reya’s life has seen many dramatic shifts and when her father is no longer the one constant in her life, Nina takes over. Throughout the story we meet many wonderful characters determined to be a constant in Reya’s life, and I loved those characters too. This book was a light and easy read, and I was bought in most by the characters.

The overall storyline was decent. I kept reading to see how it was all going to be brought together or play out in the end. The book tackled big ideas such as friendship, friendship between those in different stations, our propensity to allow ourselves to be held back when we aren’t educated, and even fate!  There was magic entwined in the art of telling the story, which I found intriguing.

What I Didn’t Love:

I felt like the author focused on making profound statements or realizations through her characters arcs, but they occurred in the short term rather than building throughout. And they were spelled out for the reader,rather than letting us come to the conclusions ourselves.

The world building lacked for me. I struggled to see Kasmira on the level I think the author intended. I felt like all the cities, the palace, and the Fields existed in a space as large as my neighborhood.

The magic, while being made out to be integral part of the story raised more questions than it answered.  I found myself frustrated by the magic and its role in the story at many points throughout the book. The frustration came in large part from an imbalance - too much at some times and little to none at others.  Additionally, magic was mastered in a relatively small amount of time without any real clarity as to how the mastery took place. 

I feel as if this book aimed for “epic” and missed the mark. However, I see potential and can imagine this author reaching that epic level in the future. I can’t speak to the cultural aspects of the book, but I can say that I expected to be more immersed than I was.

Final Thoughts:

I did not dislike this book. It read fast, and I probably could have finished it in one sitting. There are beautiful moments and glimpses of a fascinating world that I know *I* could not have dreamt up at the age of 17! The characters are wonderful, and the theme of friendship absolutely hits the mark. There were a few little twists that are entertaining, as well. I would seriously love for the author to one day take this story and get it to a place that it lines up better with the description in the blurb.

Thank you, NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book was ok. I didn't love nor hate it, it just wasn't my type of book. On that note I do hope to read more of the author's works.

DNF at 60%

***ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

This has been on my currently reading for over 6 months now and I just know that I won't continue with it. I was never really engaged in the story. The stakes felt so high and we were told that we should care about the events but there were never enough motivation to why we should care about certain characters or events.

Going through other people's reviews, I'm not gaining more interest in finishing the book. Many OwnVoices readers seem to be disappointed by the representation in this book and are arguing that a lot of its content is problematic.

I can't personally speak on that since I'm not educated about those concerns, but what I can speak of is the fantasy elements and they simply were not interesting enough.

I dnf'd this book at 25%. I really liked the first chapter but afterwards I ost complete interest. I read some own voices reviews Wich all say that the representation wasn't good at all. And so with all that I've decided to dnf this book.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. When I read the blurb for this book I was so excited to see how it would all workout. I have to say it is a magical world that she has created and the characters are amazing. It pulled me in and I wanted see what would happen to the characters. The magic of the Bookweavers that bring stories to life is magically perfect. With each page I wanted to know more about Reya as she move forward. My heart broke for all she had to go with on her journey, but her self-discovery was so wonderful. It left me hanging on each word to see what would happen next.