Lioness of Punjab is the story of a brave Sikh girl, Mai Bhago, who is unafraid to challenge the norms of her time in order to fight for her beliefs and her beloved people.

I enjoyed getting this glimpse into the history and beliefs of Sikhism. It's a fascinating time period in history and was well researched and incorporated into the story. The narrative style was not my favourite but this is purely personal preference. I also felt that the ending was somewhat abrupt and would have liked to see the later years of Mai Bhago's life fleshed out a little more.

This was such a good read. Very insightful and it kept me engrossed throughout.
It felt so good to see the story of Indian (specifically sikh) warrior woman who has such an inspiring and moving story.
Do read this masterpiece for the experience of a lifetime

This book took a long time to properly kick off but once it did…


‘Lioness of Punjab’ was different than I expected. Not necessarily worse, just different. Starting it I expected to spend at least 60% of the book on the battlefield, to which I got, right at the end. You see, this is not a book about war or being a fighter or even about going against your family’s vision of who you should be.

This is a book, which slow pace leads us through daily life of the main character, her beautiful, nuanced relationships with her family and friends and her devotion to her religion and the head of it- Guru Gobind Singh. This is a book about finding yourself in a world, where as much as you want to follow your destiny and instincts, you don’t want to disappoint your loved ones. Mai Bhago grows as a person while developing her fighting skills, understanding her role in life as a daughter and sister, then wife, then warrior and devoted Sikh.

I firmly believe the slow pace of this book was intentional. I think it perfectly reflects the story- the pace picks up very gradually, just like the life of Mai Bhago slowly turns from the peaceful one where the war is something mentioned but not yet feared, to the one where she’s starting to lose her family members for the cause, and finally peaking with her proudly going to battle arm in arm with her husband and Guru himself.

The battle scene was written amazingly! I was sitting on the bus gripping my Kindle while reading it as if my life depended on it. One thing I want to give special praise to is the romantic plot between Mai Bhago and her husband. Their story didn’t last long but it was written with so much love and sensitivity and depth and understanding of the characters’ personalities, it helped me connect with the couple so deeply I was genuinely hurt by the later scenes in the book.

I think ‘Lioness of Punjab’ is a book definitely worth reading! I’m taking away one star because even though I understand why the start of the book was so slow, it made it harder for me to engage with it. Nonetheless, this book made me really interested in the real history behind it, so I will be grateful for any non-fiction book recommendations ❤️

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the author herself for letting me review this book❤️ Apologies for the delay ❤️😅

An interesting and riveting look on a legendary woman I had never heard of before. I love my first look on Sikh history and hope I get to see more of it in the future.

"I would not accept my fate as a woman, left behind in the villages to mourn. I was going to fight."

Under siege and isolation, the exhausted forty soldiers of Guru Gobind Singh Ji decided to head home. They were met by a fiery Sikh teenager who lead them back to their Guru.

Sikh history is replete with fierce women warriors. Lioness of Punjab is the story of Mai Bhago or Mata Bhag Kaur who chose the sword for her unwavering loyalty and devotion to her people and her faith. A coming-of-age young adult novel about a teenager who refused to be relegated to household chores. A warrior woman who lead an army of Sikh soldiers against the Mughals.

One of favorite reads and a book I cannot recommend enough. The story of yet another incredible woman Indian history forgot.

After just watching Barbie yesterday, I understand this book even more. As a brown woman, I understand this book even more. While I do not read YA books that much anymore, this was a rare exception. From the first page, I was intrigued over the delicate power plays occurring, and the life of a Sikh girl in such turmoulous times. I feel empowered to stand up for what I believe is justice even more now.

I loved every minute of this read! The writing was wonderful and the imagery was beautiful. I can’t wait to read more from Kharbanda.

This is and ARC review

This book review comes just after another similar historical fiction, this one a little closer home than the other.
I did not know the historical figure that the book is based on, but the actual story was quite fascinating.
This is the story of a young Sikh girl and her bravery in the 1700s in a Mughal-ruled India. The basic principles of Sikhism and the way the community functions are highlighted here. I am not sure if the tone of the narration felt in line with the time and place, but it was a learning experience nonetheless.
Reading books based on different times and places helps provide a different view of a place or system, and this presentation definitely facilitates that. I would recommend it to people who want to know something about the time period or about the culture.
One of the things that took me a little out of the book was some anachronistic terms/situations, like the use of electric blue, since electricity was obviously not in use at the time. It may have been an issue with the advance copy I had, but it is something that affected my reading experience. There were very few more, but this was one that stuck out to me.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

I learned so much approximately Sikh ladies, culture and history from perusing this story. Mai Bhago's identity sparkles through from the primary page. An rousing courageous woman, she is strong, solid, and principled, in spite of all the strengths working against her. The composing itself is simple to get it this much is genuine, and simple to take after the story. However, it does not studied like YA. Wonderful composition, honest and direct story within the words of the lioness herself. In any case, the composing was reasonably clunky and didn’t continuously stream exceptionally easily and it was kinda difficult some of the time to resound with the feelings of the characters.

The passion and perseverance of a Sikh legend is told in this historical fiction where a woman warrior encourages and leads men against the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. With subtle themes interwoven, this coming-of-age focuses on Mai Bhago and her family dynamics as well as romantic feelings. The backdrop of then Punjab and the reiteration of religious strength adds to the essence of this debut.

I don't have a lot to say about this book. Kharbanda uses the narrative to tell the story of one of the most famous Sikh women, a woman who lived around the 1700s. It was easy to read even if she used a lot of terms in the main characters native language without much explanation which made it a little confusing.

I really was excited for this book. However, I found the story to be very confusing. I could not understand what was going on. Therefore, it had potential but needed more explanation.

Such an inspiring retelling of a strong, Sikh figure. This was really well written, with a strong narrative voice and I so appreciated the representation.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm sorry to say that I dnfed this book after reading half of it. It was so slow and it started to get really boring. I also didn't like the writing style and I got really confused with the names and some expression which weren't really translated or explained.

Anita Jari Kharbanda’s YA novelette “Lioness of Punjab” tells the story of Mai Bhago, a Sikh woman warrior who lived in 18th century India. We meet Mai Bhago when she is a teenager, an awkward yet spirited girl who discovers she is different from other girls her age. She grapples with society’s expectations of her which is at odds with what she truly desires - learning sword fighting and wrestling, riding horses, etc. While girls around her aspired to seek out eligible boys, marry and have children, and manage domestic duties, Mai Bhago wanted to fight for her people. Eventually, she would go down in history for leading 40 soldiers in battle against the massive Mughal army.

The book moves quickly and I found it quite an interesting read as things change fast in Mai Bhago’s life. It was also an insightful look into Sikh families, village life, and beliefs of the time. I had never heard of Mai Bhago before and I am happy to have been introduced to her story.

As much as I enjoyed the book, I also wish the author had gone a couple of shades deeper into exploring the key characters further. I would have loved to know more about her husband, for example. The inertia in character development with the somewhat choppy writing in places were some things that would have elevated the book a little more.

Nevertheless, a great read for the history and setting. Thank you to Yali Books for the ARC.

I thought this book was very meh. I kept waiting for the plot to pick up, for the characters to be more fleshed out, for something bigger to happen, and I felt like nothing was happening to pique my interest. In the end, I ended up DNFing this one because it couldn't hold my interest long enough. Very disappointing because I am a big fan of South Asian fantasy and had high hopes for this one.

this book!! i loved it so much, but i’ll pause to give ya short intro before i talk about why it quickly has became one of my favorite books. it follows the story of a female sikh warrior, mai bhago, whose story has been passed down through the sikh community and outside of it — the novel takes us through her early life, her journey and difficulties in finding her place as a female warrior and her more famous accomplishments.

the most notable part of this book for me, from the very beginning, was the writing. each sentence felt so beautifully crafted, and the descriptions of a place and time that readers are bound to be unfamiliar with, felt so captivating.

the story itself, despite being spread out over the period of mai bhago’s lifetime and containing multiple time jumps, felt very cohesive. i was especially amazed by how complete the storyline felt, and how deeply i was able to connect with not just the protagonist, but the side characters as well. no sentence felt unnecessary, or out of place — and it’s been a long time since i’ve felt that way about a book. i also learned so much about sikh history ~ for those of you who don’t know, sikhism is a monotheistic religion that originated in the 15th century in the punjab region of india.

i felt so inspired and connected and captured by the way kharbanda told the story of mai bhago, and i can’t recommend this book enough to anyone - especially those looking for a short, historical read with bipoc/south asian/sikh rep that’s beautifully written.

This is a piece of historical fiction about the Sikh saint Mata Bhag Kaur, and there is a great deal of it that is fabricated by the author, whose admiration for the main character prompted her to write this book (per the author’s note). I’m a little disappointed by that, but I understand that there may not have been much for her to work with in the way of primary source materials.

I like that the author chose not to use Italics for words and phrases in Hindi(?) throughout the book, but was thoughtful enough to provide translations or context clues for readers unfamiliar with the language. That said, the narrative tone feels a bit like those elementary school projects where you have to dress up as a historical figure and present their life story to the class as if you were them. (I can’t have been the only person whose teachers did this.) Even as the narrator ages, the style remains simplistic, taking her from thirteen to an unknown age at which she and her husband depart together to fight alongside their Guru, and then beyond the death of all her loved ones until her own death many decades later.

Overall, it just could have been better.

Absolutely loved the writing style, the expression and the beauty of such a story of courage and bravery that needs to be shared with everyone.
The build up to the end is amazing and I love how the protagonist ends up finding love.

An epic tale about a woman who wouldn’t let sexism bar her from her convictions, with the added benefit of historic truth. It’s the book I wish I would have had when I was younger, but am excited for the strong willed brown girls that get to pick this up.

I do wish there was a little more development on Mai Bhago’s love story with Nidhan Singh, because it seemed as though Mai Bhago went from being totally out of her depth in this marriage to doting wife in just a few pages.

Nonetheless, this book is a great, quick read for any historic fiction buffs who want more women’s perspectives, especially in Sikhism.