Thank you netgalley for the ARC. A wonderful sophomore novel. I still think I like Kaikeyi more but that is because I had more relatability to her than I do with Ganga. This was an excellent examination of duty, power, responsibilities and the choices people make and there subsequent consequences. Patel's prose is excellent in how (and forgive the pun) flows.

Having now read Kaikeyi and Goddess of the River, I appreciate how consistently Patel writes compelling female characters who have complex relationships with intimacy, motherhood, companionship and family. Her retellings explore women in a way that carves out space for all people to be more than they seem and more than they are remembered, and I love reading her characters. Ganga, our goddess-turned-mortal-turned-goddess-again, is no exception and represents so much of what I love in Patel's character-building. And when this story centered Ganga, it worked so well, feeling rooted and intentional and insightful.

When the story shifted, though, to our large cast of side characters - Bhishma's extended family across three generations, and the many people who intersect with their stories in fortuitous ways - the narrative felt unmoored to me, and the expanded focus made it challenging to connect in the same way with her characters. She's trying to accomplish a LOT in this, condensing the complex tales of the Mahabharata - an epic story in and of itself - into a thread primarily centering Bhishma and Ganga. And I feel like it could have worked had she kept the linear timeline in these sections as well? The addition of 10+ new characters at once, a skip into the middle of action after an extended solo narrative, and then a non-linear storyline filled with a number of asides and flashbacks, made the story feel clunky.

The final quarter, though, returns to a more linear timeline and centers, again, Ganga and Bhishma, to stunning effect. I loved how Patel concludes the story and the reflections on war and honor, duty and righteousness. Ganga is such a compelling character and her arc in this story is its strongest, by far. Ultimately, I would recommend this to fantasy readers who don't mind referring to frontmatter, enjoy complex retellings and family dramas, love female characters who don't apologize for being whole people, and don't become overly stressed if they can't track third cousins once removed and can just *go with the flow.*

In reading the ARC, I didn't realize Patel had the family tree available on her website ahead of publication. This would have been immensely helpful, and I'm sure readers will appreciate it in finished copies of the book. I so wish I had had it within the advanced reader's copy.

Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel is a wonderful reimagining of the story of Ganga.
The vivid imagery, absorbing narrative and masterful storytelling this story sucked me in almost immediately and held me captive.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

When the mighty Ganga falls from the celestial heavens, she is bound to Shiva to protect the humans from her descent. As a result, she does not hold much sympathy for mankind. When Ganga finds herself cursed to become mortal for a time it is a struggle, despite her rise to queen, or rani. She is determined to regain her freedom as quickly as possible, but in doing so must leave her son behind.

I loved Patel's first book, Kaikeyi, so I was very excited to read this one as well. I was not disappointed, it's a complex story that expertly weaves so many wonderful moral themes into the captivating narrative. It is beautifully written and so atmospheric, the characters have depth, and this huge tale comes together so well in the end. Some main themes focus on sacrifices in motherhood, and how being unwilling to break a vow can actually be dishonorable. The River Ganga is SUCH a rich character, and her thoughts seem very much like the personification of a river. It was interesting to see her transform from goddess to a bit more of a mother figure to mankind. The story is broken into chapters that skip around the timeline, and change POVs. I found that it flowed well, much like a river should, and really enjoyed both viewpoints of Bhishma and Ganga. The second half of the book is much more philosophical and political, but it still held my interest. Also, the cover art is gorgeous!

I highly recommend this book, especially if you enjoy other retellings or mythology. This is a standalone Hindu retelling, and I went in with no knowledge of the original version. There are some definite trigger warnings, especially for those in the fairly recent postpartum period like me, but the author has a whole section devoted to that before the first chapter. I look forward to reading whatever Patel writes next! I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and Redhook Books for my opinions.

Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel

Thank you Netgalley, Redhook & Orbit for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The writing alone made this book good. I loved the story between mother and son. It was beautiful till the end but the strongest part in the book for me personally was the first half and the struggles Ganga went through.

The author's note at the end explained all the research she did for this book and what she decided to change, highly recommend you read the author's note at the end.

If you love a mythology retelling, if you love a fantasy book with war and royalty or you just want a good story between mother and son I recommend you pick up this book.

Readability 3 ⭐️
While this was beautifully written, and I enjoyed the prose. I found the pacing and plot difficult to follow. The number of characters, and bouncing around of timelines made this difficult to sink into.

Characters and plot 3.5 ⭐️
Certainly an interesting take, and I really did like the character of Ganga and her character development. However, I found myself not caring about anyone else.

A goddess of the river and her doomed son fated to change the world...

This story put such a fantastic feminist twist on a Hindu classic. I always love seeing how Patel reimagines these myths!

Because of the narrative style there were points that I had a hard time totally understanding what was happening but I was here for the ride!

I had to take a break from this after the first third because it was fairly heavy and the subject matter was upsetting, but I am so glad I picked it back up again after a week or two to process.

Vaishnavi Patel's writing is really beautiful, and I love how the story felt more like you were reading a myth itself than a retelling. There was a lot of weaving in and out of timelines, storylines, and seeing how everything fit together over several generations. Ultimately, for me, this is a book about motherhood. No matter how aloof the story remains from the various wars and conflicts of men, all of the deeply emotional parts are showing the joy and pain of mothers, losing children young and old, trying to mediate between siblings, and learning to leave them to make their own mistakes. The non-linear format fits well with the subject--like the River Ganga, this story ebbs and flows, twisting around from goddess to mortals and back again. Like the Ganga, we are kept both at arms length from the various turmoils of the mortal world and yet constantly drawn back into them in moments of high emotion or conflict, particularly when it comes to a relationship between a child and its mother.

This is a pretty direct retelling of the story of Ganga, I would liken it to Circe by Madeleine Miller. It was a fine read, I think the first quarter is not one for westerners to read before bed but otherwise is a fun mythology retelling

This is a retelling of the Mahabharata from the point of view of Ganga, a river goddess, and her son. 

Having never read the Mahabharata from beginning to end, I can’t comment on how successful it is as a re-telling or how closely it adheres to the original. What I can tell you is that it is an outstanding book.

With a beautiful and poetic narrative style and a strong sense of place, this story is absolutely engrossing. It has a strong intersectional feminist perspective that is organically incorporated into the writing. It’s emotionally evocative. A stunning piece of literature.

I loved it from the beginning, but by the time I finished chapter 5, I didn’t want to put it down. 

I am very much looking forward to reading other works by this author.

My thanks to NetGalley for the complimentary eARC which I received in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautifully written and powerful epic about gods, goddesses, and men, and the mistakes they all make.
I was unfamiliar with the Mahabharata, so I'm coming at this story completely fresh. Ganga's journey through time and mortal lives was the most powerful and moving part of the story to me. I love that Patel made her story the focus, because she says in the author's note at the end that Ganga's part in the original text was relatively small.

Where I struggled was the middle of the book when the timeline was not linear. The beginning and end of the book has a linear timeline told through Ganga's POV and was easy to follow. But about 30% in, we add a POV (with a name that's new) and the timeline starts going back and forth. I did reference Patel's Mahabharata family tree on her site, but it is SO complex and confusing. Plus we are introduced to characters and storylines, but not really given their backstory until several chapters later.

Besides Ganga, I didn't really connect to the characters. The men are all frustrating at a minimum or kind of evil at worst. I will say there is a really well done thread throughout exploring the push and pull between duty and righteousness. Is staying true to an oath the right thing to do when it leads you to unjust actions or following a corrupt man? I found the themes extremely well written.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the preview. All opinions are my own.

One of my goals this year has to been to diversify my reading, and this includes reading more mythology books that are not just Greek or Roman. So, when I received an ARC of this book, I was beyond happy (thanks netgalley!).

This book was a great introduction to Indian mythology from a feminist perspective. I loved the tug between human emotions and absolute power. I also liked how the main male god is portrayed as arrogant and annoying. The mother and son relationship and dual POV was perfect, and I felt like I could really understand these characters better.

If you like Song of the Huntress or Lore I think you will like this book too! Super excited to purchase a physical copy when it releases.

I absolutely loved Kaikeyi when I read it last year, and was so excited to jump into this book. This book was just about everything I could have wanted.

This book is definitely more of a slow burner, but the pacing didn’t bother me at all. I loved being fully immersed in this world.

This is a condensed retelling of the Mahabharata, which is a story that I was not familiar with. This is a sprawling epic that is told mainly through the lens of a mother's love. Ganga is cursed to become the mother of the seven Vasus. Along with this curse, she must now become mortal. What follows is her attempting to make the best choices that she can in order to benefit those she cares for the most.
Patel's writing is poignant and moving as she shapes the world and the characters. Ganga is constantly placed in positions where others try to control her, be they gods or men, and she does her best to work around these expectations and provide care for her son. It becomes easy to root for her throughout the journey that she goes on. If you were a fan of Kaikeyi, this is definitely a worthy follow up.

This was a unique book retelling a myth of India. I liked the goddess or river spirit aspect and the way it made me think about the nature of divinity. While it was an interesting story, the characters were not as relatable as truly human characters can be. It did make me want to know more about Indian gods and goddesses. It was refreshing to read something different than the more common books of recent years based on Greek mythology. I would recommend it to anyone interested in this topic.

It is an incredibly daunting task to attempt to retell the Mahabharata in this short amount of pages, and ultimately, I do not think this book was successful in its goal. If you are unfamiliar with the original text, I think you will find this to be largely unsatisfying and incoherent. The titular character becomes mostly irrelevant as the story continues, making me question the decision to place such a large focus on Ganga, who is often the least interesting character in any scene. Not a win for me.

I read this book early through NetGalley.

“Goddess of the River” opened my eyes to the vibrant folklore of modern day India. Having no previous exposure to Hindu myths, the beginning was a lot of world building, but I got the hang of it before too long. I hope to read more by this author.

wow I binged this one in a single day because I’m such a mythology girlie it’s unreal 🥹 and as much as I love greek and norse mythology the most, I absolutely crave learning about new cultures and lore!!

and THE GODDESS OF THE RIVER was no exception!

rooted in hinduism, this retelling was a retelling of birth, death, and life in between. for a mystical being, ganga is the realest and purest soul in this story, willing to do anything to protect herself and those she loves - and while the author’s writing style is so beautiful and prose-like, I found myself going glassy-eyed at some parts… as much as I love going into books blind, I was wildly unprepared for the in depth storytelling

I also feel like mothers who read this story will take away far more than I could ever imagine - as the story revolves around ganga and her love for her son devavrata, I definitely appreciated the timeless classic but wanted more out of the relationship rather than just obligation

TLDR: go into this one with a tolkien like POV and you’ll enjoy it a lot more 😅😅

thank you to netgalley and redhook for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

rating: 3 stars
wine pairing: australian sauvignon blanc

Read if you like:
🐉 Fantasy
📚 Retellings
🪷 Indian Culture
💁🏼‍♀️ Feminism

This book was unlike anything I've read before. I am unfamiliar with the original story( Mahabharata), so I cannot comment on the retelling aspects of the story telling, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one!

Although it took me a few chapters before I was comfortable enough with the abundance of characters and the rhythm of the story, I grew to love this story immensely.

Ganga, as the main female protagonist, was a compelling voice in the story. Her chapters were my favourite.

Thank you Redhook Books for my ARC in exchange for my review.

I LOVE learning about mythology from other cultures. I grew up learning about Greek mythology and ever since I've started branching out, I've been obsessed. This was an amazing exploration of Indian mythology! Also, if you haven't read her debut novel, Kaikeyi, you absolutely should! I requested this ARC simply because I saw this author's name on the cover and it did not disappoint.

My only issue with this book was the vast amount of characters and getting familiar with them so quickly so I could keep the storylines straight. But honestly, as I was unfamiliar with the original myth, that's partly on me as well.

I would greatly encourage people to read the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book before reading as there is quite a heavy plot line that is definitely not for everyone.

But also, shout out to whoever made the cover art because it's gorgeous. 😍

Thanks @netgalley and @orbitbooks_us for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!