Q U I C K S T A T S
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Setting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Writing style: ⭐⭐⭐
Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
T H E B O O K
// Content Warning: Animal Cruelty / Blood / Chronically Ill Parent / Classism / Discrimination / Murdered parents / Name-Calling/Slurs / Sexual Assault / Violence//
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Age rating: 14+
Genre(s): Fantasy
Pub date: 23/06/2020
P R E M I S E
Gul has spent her life running. She has a star-shaped birthmark on her arm, and in the kingdom of Ambar, girls with such birthmarks have been disappearing for years. Gul's mark is what caused her parents' murder at the hand of King Lohar's ruthless soldiers and forced her into hiding to protect her own life. So when a group of rebel women called the Sisters of the Golden Lotus rescue her, take her in, and train her in warrior magic, Gul wants only one thing: revenge.
Cavas lives in the tenements, and he's just about ready to sign his life over to the king's army. His father is terminally ill, and Cavas will do anything to save him. But sparks fly when he meets a mysterious girl--Gul--in the capital's bazaar, and as the chemistry between them undeniably grows, he becomes entangled in a mission of vengeance--and discovers a magic he never expected to find.
Dangerous circumstances have brought Gul and Cavas together at the king's domain in Ambar Fort . . . a world with secrets deadlier than their own. Exploring identity, class struggles, and high-stakes romance, Hunted by the Sky is a gripping adventure set in a world inspired by medieval India
M Y R E V I E W
↬ PRE-THOUGHTS
The girl on the cover looks absolutely gorgeous and I thought it was sapphic until I read the book rip.
↬ PLOT
Hunted by the Sky has quite the simple plot: follows Gul and Cavas as they are forced to work together, despite literally hating the thought of each other, to overthrow the current monarchy.
↬ WRITING AND SETTING
After hitting like chapter 20, the book sped up to the point where my eyes could not keep up with the speed. Blood, deaths, massacres, murders; this book really said 'violence'
↬ CHARACTERS
Authors are really spoiling us with badass women. Gul was abso-fucking-lutely the baddest bitch to grace the... fictional world? I can't find the perfect adjective to describe the aura she gives off because she's just superior.
I'm not really sure about how I'm supposed to pronounce this guy's name so I'm presuming it's pronounced as /KAH-VUS/ ('KAH' as in Carter and 'VUS' as in Vesuvius). From the mild descriptions we are given of him, picture him as Nasir from We Hunt the Flame or Elias from An Ember in the Ashes or even Khalid from The Wrath and the Dawn. I have unfortunately not been able to find fanart of Jin from Rebel of the Sands to confirm my theories otherwise I would've included that guy as well.
The 'I hate their fucking guts but I can't stop thinking about them' <3
↬ CONCLUSION
Pros: South Asian fantasy supremacy
Cons: The beginning feels slow
Overall rating: 4/5
T R O P E S
Chosen one
Enemies to lovers (<3)
R E P R E S E N T A T I O N
Indian main and side characters
Medieval India inspired setting
B O O K S M E N T I O N E D
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
A D D I T I O N A L R E S O U R C E S
F I N D M E
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