The Descent of the Drowned by Ana Lal Din, a YA Indo-Persian Fantasy, is the best way to accustom one's self to a foreign culture, while enjoying a great story!

In this debut novel, we follow Roma, a temple dancer bound to serve the higher zaat's and the King for eternity. With her auction looming close, she discovers the lies the temple has been hiding from her and the outcome she is sure to meet eventually. Then, we follow Leviathan, the bastard son of the King and one of the deadliest soldiers in the country. Having been forced to kill in his tyrannical father's name, lines blur and Leviathan estranges himself from reality and what he is meant to believe in. Together, the two rise amongst the rebellion, hoping one day to avenge both Leviathan's mother and Roma's brother.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the grand amount the Persian language and terms included within this story. for someone of Middle Eastern descent, I was able to catch on to a few of the foreign words. Yet, for someone completely estranged to such, they'll find great use of the glossary at the back.

One thing I wish could have been done differently is the introduction the characters received to each other. While I loved the moment they met, I feel as though a few scenes dragged slightly and their meeting could have been placed earlier without these moments.

Yet, overall, I absolutely loved this book and, due to the cliffhanger, can't wait for the upcoming sequel! Please, please can there be more scenes between Junho and Zufar?? I need more of their dynamic!

I wanted to like this book but it ended up being disappointing for me. I think the plot and the world building could use more work as they seemed to be all over the place. I don't think I'll be reading the next book in the series either.

**Book Review**
This ARC was provided to me via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Set in an Indo-Persian world,Roma is a Dēvadasi: a slave of god in Lamiapur, a temple of religious prostitutes. She is a a sacred slave of a goddess in the lower caste system. Bound to serve, but soon finds that she has a greater destiny.
Leviathan, the Firawn’s son, is not content with the oppression that his father has forced on the country. But Roma and Leviathan’s destinies are entwined, for the good of the people.
I loved this book. The beginning of The Descent of The Drowned is fairly jarring due to the terminology and world-building. However, the influence of pre-Islamic Arabian mythology drew me in. Roma is a resilient and strong female lead that I absolutely loved. Leviathan is a dark and mysterious son of a widely feared leader who finds himself wrapped up in Roma’s destiny.
.
.
4⭐️ read for me!

A solid plot. Relatable characters. Stakes. The characterizations were well thought out. I was able to read the story without any problems. While my attention was held, there were a few parts that I wanted to skip, but these parts didn't ruin the book for me. I would still recommend this one.

Three and a half
A fantasy that tries to make sense of the atrocities that humans are capable of. These words don't really do justice to this authors work but it's kind of true. A story based on what I perceive as middle east based and covering a plethora of ideas, events and sadly brutal history. I write from my comfortable western perspective and yet I do see that some injustices whilst past can also be present.
The story is based heavily around Roma and her position as an offering to the Gods. She's one of many living within the temple who can be purchased and yes I do find that distasteful. Roma is wily, smart and full of life. She doesn't believe the lies or hypocrisy and dreams of freedom.
Leviathan is the son of the most powerful man in their kingdom, a despot who uses magic to survive and cares little for the lives of others. Leviathan is drawn to Roma but his need to right the wrongs of his father see him taking chances that skirt the boundaries of a rebellion.
There's a lot here about what it's like to live within the confines of the temple and its clear that the lies just perpetuate the myths that keep the people downtrodden. The class system rules and it leaves a bad taste in this readers mouth as those who cannot fit because of birth or clan are frequently abused heinously.
Essentially most of this book is a journey for the two main protagonists. Roma is treated appallingly although the author does paint a picture without pushing details down the readers throat. There's almost what felt like a reprieve as Leviathan becomes entangled with rebels which ironically is when we get lighter moments with humour and genuine affection but pretty soon the author throws us back into more harrowing events to follow.
Ok I'm going to address the biggest problem and that's magic or lack of it. From the very beginning there's something that happens involving something ahem not human that is just ignored. Then it's obvious Leviathans father uses magic but honestly it's hardly touched on so left me somewhat frustrated. The end comes full circle back to the ahem not human angle. Plus the terms used to describe everyone means you really do need the glossary that's included. This is a very interesting book and I'm very glad I have read it but perhaps a different beta reader would have encouraged the author to explain the magic more ?
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

I really enjoyed this book, and it was a really refreshing change to other YA Fantasy stories. I loved the Indo-Persian setting and I felt her world-building was really well done. I enjoyed most of the characters, but some of Leviathan’s boys blurred together a bit for me. Overall the book wasn’t predictable, but I did feel that some parts were rushed or jumped too quickly from one to another. Not that I was expecting chapters of Lord Of The Rings style travelling, but it felt like they occasionally teleported from one spot to another with no time passing. I’m still really looking forward to her next book and finding out what happens next.

When a sacred slave and a trained assassin meet, they discover their world is dependent on their choices. Roma was dedicated to a goddess as a baby and has grown up in a world where women are holy vessels, yet do not have a voice of their own. Leviathan is the illegitimate son of the cold and calculating Firawn. With their destinies intertwined, Roma and Leviathan must look into the darkest parts of themselves and conquer their own demons to survive.

I so, so wanted to like this novel. With such a rich setting, I had expected to be utterly enchanted. Unfortunately I feel like this book fell into several debut novel pitfalls, and I found myself just wanting to get this book over and done with.

As I mentioned before, there is a lot of possibility in this book. Inspired by pre-Islamic Indo-Persian mythology, it is a new world for me as a reader. At the same time, it's a very difficult world in some aspects. It felt like there was a lot of info-dumping throughout the novel. Expansive world-building is only helpful as long as the information is needed, and I finished this book feeling more overwhelmed than immersed.

I realized early on that this was not a book for me. I didn't click with the writing (too flowery for my tastes) and failed to connect with the characters. With the exception of Junho, Leviathan's friend who is the embodiment of chaotic energy, I couldn't shake the feeling that the characters were a little on the flat side. It felt like Roma and Leviathan weren't people with trauma, but rather shells built around trauma.

For me, this felt like the precursor to the actual story. I didn't really feel truly invested in the plot until I was close to the end. And while a small part of me wants to know what happens next, I unfortunately don't think I'll be reading the sequel.

Lastly, this is a heavy book. There is quite a lot of scenarios that would be disturbing to the young reader, and for that reason I consider this more new adult/adult than young adult. TW: sexual assault in various forms, self-mutilation, suicide, gore

** Thank you to NetGalley for sending me and ARC in exchange for an honest review **
I gotta say, the plot and the extract showed an incredibly interesting story. More so after being told it was inspired by indo-persian mythology which I had nothing but curiosity over and holding great expectations.
Sadly, I felt like all those great images of what that story would be did nothing but hinder the actual story. I was quite excited for the fact it was an own-voices book that would shed light on practices that were nothing short but cruel on people and that still go on to this day, to read about a culture and a new system of belief I had no idea about and tie it to a girl forced into a life of servitude. I was so, so excited. But this was ultimately not it.
I'd say the first 20% if not the whole half of the book is simple name-dropping. I felt like there was not any sort of world building but instead a world where the reader was smacked in and told 'good luck'. I was lost during this whole reading, not knowing what these words meant, the expressions, the terms for brother or other people in authority, I still have no idea what a zaat really is nor do I find any good thing about the belief system they have going on. So really, this was a headache to even pick up, much more to keep reading.
To add to that, the characters all fell flat and very 2D images of a bulletpoint list specifying their trauma. I've never had problems reading about sensitive topics, if anything, they help me understand such acts better and humanize the pain people have gone through. But this? It felt more like a sketched out idea that was never developed into the characters and simply written to gain any sort of effect.
Because of this, the plot felt dull and at the same time too confusing to understand, I felt sympathy for no character whatsoever and could barely remember who was who. But, I do agree that the idea going behind this book is somewhat original and that there was a true effort made. Seeing as so many people loved it I only hope that this was simply a bad experience for me and that Lal Din grows in their writing even more than before. That is all.

*Thank you to Ana Lal Din, NetGalley, and White Tigress Press for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

I absolutely loved reading this book and the cover is stunning! It was amazing how the author intertwines Roma's story with Leviathan's to create a tale that forces the two enemies to work together. The way Roma's past continued to affect her even after many years shows how difficult it is to overcome her scars and move on from assault. The Indo-Persian setting was a fresh change from books I normally read, and although some terms were confusing at first, it was easy to follow along throughout the story.

This book does introduce sensitive topics such as abuse, human trafficking, and drug abuse in the story that can be triggering for some people. However, I think that it is difficult to portray the struggles that many people face after experiencing such traumatizing things, and the author does a wonderful job showing how easily people's minds can be controlled out of fear and the power of religion.

Overall, this was a wonderful book! I didn't see the ending coming and I was utterly speechless! I'm so excited for book 2!

Never thought I'd be gutted by a YA novel, need more raw emotions in your life?
The Descent of the Drowned by Ana Lal Dina is a hard hitting fantasy novel set in a violent ancient-arabic-persian-indian inspired world. Its genre branded as YA hadn’t prepared me for the violence found in those pages which was more akin to Game of Thrones than any YA book I ever read. Do not glance over the trigger warning with a shrug, this is not a book to put in every hands and it will hollow a chunk out of you as you survive with Roma the horrors of her word.
The world building is this book is impressive, the culture, nature, beliefs everything is vibrantly leaping out of the page and locking you into its vicious world. You suffer in those pages, you need a breather when you flick them, you drown with Roma… but her strength keeps you rooted.
This reads like the prequel to a big epic, the birth of the legend, and I must say I want to know how it will spread. But the punitive nature of the read holds me back. You have to be in a good place to read this, confident… because this will hurt. I can’t believe some of the practices in there are taken from documented past practices. It is appalling to remember how vulnerable women have been through time and in so many civilisations and in so many places even now…

DNF at 20%

I really tried to like this book. I devoted myself to getting through it. But, every time I picked this up, I felt a reading slump coming on. It became a waste of time to continue, because I knew I wouldn't enjoy this.

To me, this book felt like it had no idea what it wanted to be. The first 20% is just constant name dropping, it was unbearable. I'm all for exploring new cultures, I love it, but this book explained nothing. I was thrown into a world full of gods, characters, and customs I knew nothing about, and I spent hours confused. At the end of it all, I can't justify continuing something that I won't enjoy, so this is getting out down

Thanks to Netgalley and Ana Lal Din for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Where do I begin?

What a fantastic debut novel!

Like I don’t think I have enough positive words to describe this book. The immersive and rich world building immediately drew me in. The storytelling was captivating and I was in love with the plot. The dark themes were raw and unrestrained and the characters were beautifully developed. I also enjoyed reading the dual POV in third person as I felt like the Ghaib - just watching everything unfold for Roma and Leviathan at such a close distance. Such a unique way to write!

Although marketed as a young adult book (I assume due to Roma and Leviathan - 18ish and 21ish respectively - are of that age bracket...but then again they are adults I guess), I think there needs to be a separate genre for books similar to this due to the dark themes that were explored. Trigger warnings are given on the Amazon website and I assume for other book purchasing stores but I wouldn’t recommend this to someone that is under the age of 18 anyway so I would be more inclined to label it as an adult fantasy fiction novel.

I am an absolute fan of Ana Lal Din’s work and I’m so upset that I have to wait for the following books until next year or so! I need to get myself a hardback physical copy of this book because the cover is so stunning. I’m glad it’s a trilogy though because I am nowhere near ready to leave this beautiful world.

This story follows the lives of Roma and Levi. Roma is a slave of a goddess and Levi is the bastard son of the immortal tyrant. His mother hails from a persecuted clans rendering him casteless. He is built into a weapon who follows his father's order. He believes that his soul cannot be saved but as we read on we realise that there is still hope for him to get out of his father's clutches.

As the story proceeds we see Levi's story and Roma's story getting intertwined.

Ana Lal Din's writing is absolutely phenomenal that kept me going. The story gets quite dark and i would not classify this as YA. Some of the themes of this story are not meant to be read by children who make a large part of YA readers.
This book is meant to be read slowly and its the best if you go back to the scenes and refresh your memory.

Even though the themes of the book were quite dark i foumd myself laughing with chirag, junho, malev and the rest of the characters. The relationship and the bond as well as the loyalty amongst the character is something i hold very close to my heart. I love the fact that they would die for each other and it was very refreshing.

i can keep going about this book and I can't wait to read more from the author!

A powerful, searing fantasy debut!!

The world of Khansadun is a world of wealth, power, magic, gods, castes, clans, poverty and desperation. The land was once fertile, rich and full of magic. Now there is drought, the magic is limited, hard to find and available to only the higher castes. Roma is a devadasi, a sacred slave of god, specifically of Lamia, residing with her fellow sister slaves, waiting to be auctioned to patrons who pay for the privilege of lying with a goddess. Her prior experience with a patron has left scars, both physical and psychological on Roma. As the son of the ruling Firawn, Leviathan is both feared and despised, as his mother was of the casteless clans and died giving birth to him. He was sent away to a military academy where he was indoctrinated and forged into a brutal soldier, leader and his father's weapon. Both Roma and Levi have secrets buried not only in their pasts, but within themselves, with abilities that set them apart and which connect them in ways they cannot understand.

I was immediately hooked by this story, the world feels so fully realized with vivid descriptions of the the cities, rituals and landscapes. The cast of characters around Roma and Levi are rich and varied, I especially liked Malev and Almaguir. Roma and Levi each struggle in their own way for an identity that is their own and not one that was forced upon them by others. The depths of the pain and anguish that both Roma and Levi live with ground the story with incredible realism. Choosing survival and the freedom that picking a path of their own, no matter how difficult, makes this story a remarkable one of redemption. This was a totally gripping story right through to the "oh, now I really need the next book right now" ending and I was thoroughly immersed in this amazing world and by these outstanding characters. This truly is a wonderful debut and I so look forward to what comes next.

It makes me sad to only give this book 2 stars because I love that it's an "own voices" book and I know the author is trying to bring awareness to actual horrible practices. But, almost the whole time I was reading, I was not enjoying it. It was very sad. I had to take breaks from reading and I wasn't excited to turn the page or see what would happen next. The main reason I finished it instead of DNFing it is because some buddies I was reading it with said that it would get better, which it did. But, it got better very close to the end. I would have liked more moments of hope or action against the opposing regime sprinkled throughout the sadness so it wasn't so weighed down. It is fiction and fantasy after all so while the real-world instances of these horrible practices might be hopeless, a fantasy and fiction version can have more hope and more rebellion. I think I will continue the series because it ended on a cliffhanger and the last act was good and very intriguing. But, if the next one has the same hopelessness and complete sadness, I will probably DNF.

I really liked the way this book is written it is very unique and unlike anything, I have ever read before I would definitely recommend it to those who are looking for a new YA book to read.

The Descent of The Drowned is the first book I finished in 2021 and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Everything about this book is phenomenal.

Ana Lal Din captivated me with her writing of richly reimagined of pre-Islamic Indo-Persian era. It's almost like she told me a tale that happened one time in Jahiliyyah era. Some entities name mentioned were familiar to me like Hubal, Manat, etc (my teachers taught them in Islamic History classes in school). But nothing will prepared me of the lore of Mother Lamia, and how powerful she is. You really don't want to provoke the wrath of a goddess.

Roma and Levi characterizations also very special to me. Especially Roma, the pain she had endured, how she survived, and all painful journey of her. She was the best story teller of I could ask for. Her pain was so raw and real.

Ana Lal Din also touched so many important topics. Deep-rooted misogyny, abuse, and manipulation to a lot of women by men, even by their closest family members. The broken, tyrannical system that failed poor people the most. People lied behind God's name to enrich themselves. Human trafficking, especially of kids and women. Transphobia. Ethnic cleansing. And so many more.

The end of this book is hit-and-miss for me, because if I interpreted this as open ending, the epilogue is a perfect conclusion. But I cannot ignore the build up about the resistance and the rebel—the Wolves, and I am dying to know about what happened to them.

Lastly. Albeit this book is marketed as young adult fantasy (maybe because the main characters, Roma is around 18 and Levi is around 20), this book is not by all means an easy read. At all. I had to stop mid paragraph (some) and I have to pause for a minute for them to pass. So be mindful and check the trigger warning before you read this book, always take care of yourself.

Here is also the list of triggers I collected:
- death of loved one's
- slavery
- self-harm
- rape
- sexual violence
- gun violence
- femicide
- emotional abuse
- manipulation
- intrusive thoughts
- transphobia
- suicide
- human trafficking
- genocide
- child abuse
- physical torture
- gore
- drug abuse & addiction

While the concept for this book is fascinating the execution falls far short of expectations. The writing is painfully dry and often feels like reading a textbook instead of a rich work of fantastical fiction. Ideas and actions are shoved in your face and the characters lacked any development outside of what felt like bullet point steps to conveniently further the plot.
I think this author has vast potential as the underlying story was there, I could almost taste it, but it just didn't come out as a fleshed out fantasy novel.

I would definitely recommend this book! The emotional storytelling and the rich characters allows for a gripping tale full of despair, danger and joy Ana Lal Din successfully creates a vivid world full of intricate details, leading to you wanting more. I can’t wait to see what else comes from Lal Din!

I was incredibly excited to read "The Descent of the Drowned". I haven't really read many fantasy books based on Arabian mythology which I find fascinating. I wanted to love this book so much. I ended up only liking it.
This is a debut novel and it reads like one, but there is so much potential here. The writing is lush and beautiful, the world creative and deep. It was fun diving into this new, different world.
In the end, I did feel a little overwhelmed - there was just so much information, so much world building that I couldn't keep up and was left confused. Maybe this would have been different for readers with some preknowledge of Arabian myths and the Indo-Persian culture. Still, it was fascinating and enjoyable to read because of Ana Lal Din's beautiful writing style.

The two protagonists, Leviathan and Roma, fell a little flat for me. There is a lot of potential in both of them but I feel like their character development was hindered by the fact that nothing really actually happens in this book. Sure, there is a lot of suffering, there are some minor plots, but "The Descent of the Drowned" reads more like an introduction to this new world. The overarching plot of this series seems to start basically on the last pages, so everything that came before is more or less a very long prologue. The pacing is rather slow, too.

There ist also the matter of agency: Roma barely has any during the whole book. She is an observer most of the time, there are entire chapters from her point of view that consist solely of her watching other characters, including Leviathan, do things while she stands in the background. A lot of time is spent on her suffering, getting hurt, getting abused or dealing with the aftermath of said abuse. Where she goes and what she does is almost always determined by other characters - she is sent to do chores, dances when she is told to, is bought by a new patron, sold to a brothel and so on. There are blink-and-you-miss-it scenes of her taking action of her own volition, but mostly she reacts, observes. This made me enjoy her chapters less than Leviathan's, who is the by far more active protagonist.

It should be noted that this book deals with a lot of very heavy topics: rape and abuse (of minors too), suicide, self-harm, torture. This world is a dark one and there isn't much happiness to be had. Death and trauma are constant companions, there aren't many moments that allow for a little relief. I personally like dark fantasy stories so this didn't bother me, but I do hope that the next book in this series adds some more light-hearted moments and chapters too (and more Ashar please! I love him and he adds some much-needed humour). Without happiness and peace on the horizon, why should we fight through all this darkness after all?