Breeana Shields
3/5 stars
projected publication date: January 2017
Marinda is a visha kanya, a girl so full of venom that she can kill with simply a kiss, and is an executioner for the Raja. When she is ordered to kill a boy she knows, she questions her orders, then her entire life. Her little brother, Mani, becomes a pawn in the game and Marinda must make difficult choices to save him.
As a character, Marinda was well-developed, with believable conflicting emotions and hard decisions. Her back story was nicely told, as well. However, the insta-love that occurs was not just annoying, but was also out of character based on what had been told of Marinda's past and personality.
Sundari, the world of this fantasy, is similar to India and with similar mythology. While Shields' world building skills are not excellent, it was enjoyable to learn about Sundari, finding the "real" in the fiction.
The plot was good--not great, but good. The premise was interesting, and the twists and turns that it took were nicely surprising. Despite this, the book lagged for me; it was as though it had been padded out to make it into more than one book. I truly felt like it could have all been wrapped up with the dramatic scene near the end, and been a solid stand-alone. As it is, it's an okay book, but it didn't draw me or stay with me, and I'm not interested enough in Marinda and her story to read the next book.
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