I received a free copy from Saga Press via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Release date May 12th, 2026.

I've consistently enjoyed Patel's work, and I was excited to read her modern-day fantasy novel latest. In We Dance Upon Demons, depressed twenty-something Nisha is the volunteer coordinator at an understaffed and beleaguered abortion clinic. After a strange encounter with an Indian statue in the museum, Nisha is plunged into a strange world of demons and monsters--but in the end, the supernatural may not be as dangerous as the very human threats to her clinic...

We Dance Upon Demons is a very pointed novel, and Patel obviously incorporated her time as a clinic volunteer with Planned Parenthood into her writing. The demon-hunting elements are almost incidental to the plot in comparison to Nisha's crushing depression and the reality of her everyday life. While the individual scenes are brutal, like a raped twelve-year -old being called a murderer by protesters as she tries to get into the clinic, it's the sheer relentlessness of it all that stood out to me. Every day, Nisha's job is to escort patients trying to access basic health care through a mob screaming abuse, and it never stops. Combined with the understaffing typical for a small nonprofit, it's no wonder she's disillusioned. The tone did occasionally swing into informative abortion brochure, but righteous anger permeating the novel was more than enough to animate it.

This book strays a little farther from Hindu mythology than Patel's previous novels. The supernatural appears mostly in brief interludes where Nisha relives the memories of her ancestors who also bore demon powers. But I loved her intense and fraught relationship with her culture, from her passionate love of traditional dance to arguing with conservative uncles, to her very close but difficult bond with her mother. While she doesn't always like her community, this is a book about how it's ultimately people who have the power to save or destroy everything she's worked for, not the supernatural.

Short, snappy, and with an absolute fierceness of purpose on abortion rights. As a fantasy enjoyer, I would have liked to see a little more focus on the rather neglected demons, but the vividness of the scenes set in the clinic more than made up for it. Recommended.

This is the right book for the right time, and I'm grateful I got to read it early. I did find I had to take a few breaks because it just felt so relevant and intense given what's going on in the US, but I think that's proof this book is really well done, well-written, and well-researched. Emotional, rightfully rage-filled, and full of heart, empathy, and urgency - I haven't stopped thinking about it since I finished it. I applaud the author for writing this now, and I will read any future book they write. THANK YOU.

We Dance Upon Demons by Vaishnavi Patel is a timely, necessary triumph of modern-day literature. Set in a Chicago abortion clinic struggling to survive the continuous onslaught of threats they receive, this story melds ancient demons of the past to the current evils that women are facing when exercising their right to choose.

Nisha, our main character, is a burnt-out reproductive healthcare worker. She fights every single day - to get out of bed, to go to her workplace, to break out of her depression and apathy, to protect her patients from protesters, and to guard the clinic from its multiplying threats. Nisha, like so many others, had grand ideas about changing the world when she was young but her hopes and dreams have been crushed by the reality of the current administration’s curtailment of women’s rights.

When Nisha accidentally obtains demonic powers from an ancient Lord Nataraja statue at the Art Institute, her life gains a new level of complexity. One of her newfound powers enables her to connect with other women who have historically been gifted the same abilities. Nisha accesses their memories by performing Indian classical dances.

Here, Nisha witnesses the stories of women from different time periods in India - their unique circumstances and difficulties, the choices they made, and the manner in which they utilized their powers. We see glimpses of the lives of the common folk during the Mauryan empire, the Gupta empire, and even the foreign occupation of India.

It is clear that a lot of research went into this book - from the logical arguments supporting women and their right to choose, to the current state of funding and threats to clinics that provide abortions, to the Indian history and mythology.

Early reviewers, run to request this book on Netgalley! Everyone else, please run to pre-order this incredible book so you can read it the moment it comes out on May 12th!

Thank you Saga Press for a copy of this title!

This story is a fantastic blend of Indian folklore and the very present fight for reproductive healthcare access. We follow Nisha who works at an abortion clinic in Chicago that is constantly harassed by pro-life cultish protesters on a near daily basis. Her life takes a bit of a turn when she pricks her finger on an ancient statue in a musuem displaying Indian sculptures and she unlocks a demon that has a special connection to her lineage and gives her powers that make her a target.

Her life is stressful enough when this happens, since she and the staff at the clinic are doing their best to keep the place going despite the challenges they face from these privileged, mainly white, protesters, as well as the lack of assistance they get from law enforcement or the courts for that matter when things escalate. Its an often thankless job and Nisha knows her Indian American extended community absolutely judges her for not becoming a proper doctor, but she is passionate and also extremely depressed.

Thiis demon's presence really changes the way Nisha views everything as she tries to reconnect with one of her passions (dance) to understand herself & her newfound abilities. The story does a really great job showing our main character struggle through her real life stressor at work while also showing how much she internally struggles to have any passionate feelings when the world is so overwhelmingly stacked against her. The plot itself is really engaging, and the characters are all endearing from her family to her coworkers and old acquaintance, to the demonstrations characters she meets along the way.

I highly recommend this and any other book by this author !