Markswoman (Asiana, #1)

by Rati Mehrotra

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I think I expected a little too much from this book than what I got out of it. At the moment, the only way I think I can think of describing it is unfortunately “Fun, but predictable.”
 
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This book took a while to get through, not because it was difficult to read. Au contraire, the writing flowed smoothly and there weren’t that many vocabulary issues to hinder the enjoyment since Rati spends enough time mentioning the new words that the meanings can be deduced from the context, but even then, the minute I’ll stop reading and go do something else, I found it be insanely difficult to want to go back. It’s was such a weird feeling. That being said, the second half of the book was way much more entertaining than the first half and I found myself returning easier, so maybe it was a slow-ish liking process? Maybe.
 
One of the main things I liked about the book was the world building and the lore, I know close to nothing about Indian Mythology but I do know the name Kali. Regardless, the book isn’t so much about hard mythology and its application here, but more so about its sprinkles in this world in particular. I enjoyed learning about the existence of different orders and how bits of pieces I got about them before we explored some of them in much bigger detail, being the greedy individual I am when it comes to details, I obviously wanted more about the rest. Small stories here and there about different beliefs were really interesting to read about alongside the skills and what that enabled them to see or enter as well. I really enjoyed the small trip Kyra took and what every time had her seeing.
 
Another thing I enjoyed were some of the characters, Kyra and the main villain were really interesting to read about for me. The villain even more so, although I wish they were explored a little bit more so I can know about the full extent of their abilities and more importantly to have a better background of their actions than a simple “I’m evil because I can be.” Mentality. Now Kyra was a little bit better in that regard, she did a very dumb thing for sure but more often than not she brought in her worth into the story. Her development in a certain area to her character was a bit too abrupt for my taste but overall, she was a pretty solid character. Her romantic adventures though were unneeded, has one of my most hated tropes ever and took focus for a much bigger part of the plot line than what I expected from the author’s words about it. Really wish that it wasn’t as largely focused on as it was, the book had so many other things going on for it that this just takes away from it. Even more so when the attraction comes off as an animalistic instinct in nature‫ ‬more so than anything else, had me insanely pissed off in more than one occasion too.
 
One thing I really disliked about this book is how very obvious Rati Mehrotra is with her foreshadowing, for example I was warned against reading the synopsis by multiple people, online and offline, but honestly, even when I didn’t, the route to take + the villain was so easy to tell that it was weird. Not only that, in a point in the book there is a very obvious hint about a seemingly huge secret that was unsurprisingly later revealed in chapter 30, thing is I already guessed it after reading that hint so there was no surprise at all on my part. When she’s not trying to subtle, it’s engaging and fun like Kyra’s past but when she tries, it’s a little too easy (not bad, but way too easy)… at least it was to me.
 
One more thing I disliked in the book was the attitude towards the villain, almost everyone seemingly had a thing to say about said villain but no reason was provided whatsoever for why that is a thing. “Overly Ambitious” and “Ruthlessly Powerful” are seemingly the traits that seemingly rubbed most of them the wrong way but there really isn’t a concrete reason for any of that. Which ultimately comes down to the small focus this villain got when discussing their background, which leaves me pretty disappointed. The blade or Katari they had with them also seemingly were there for decorations most of the time, they mention telepathy and how there is a bond between Markswoman and blade but I felt like unless we’re accessing portals, exhibiting a small instance of telepathy or having a couple of very basic functions, it didn’t really give me a big image of why they love their blades so much. Really wished that something that emphasizes that bond was brought on board, other than how someone feels without it.

I may come off as a bit too critical with my thoughts but the world and some other elements feel so fresh that I just can’t help myself and I’m not done; there are a couple of spoiler filled comments that I want to mention but I’ll leave them for the comments below so I can hide them. Finally, this is apparently a debut novel of a duology series and if this is a first full work then I‘m definitely looking forward to what follows.

Final rating: 3/5