Book Review – Rea and the Blood of Nectar by Payal Doshi
Rea and the Blood of Nectar by Payal Doshi (The Chronicles of Astranthia #1)
Fantasy | Middle Grade | 350 pages
Published on 15th June 2021 by Mango and Marigold Press
Synopsis
A middle-grade fantasy about twelve-year-old Rea Chettri, who portals into an otherworldly realm to go on a secret quest to find her missing twin brother Rohan. The clock is ticking in this fast-paced, thrilling, and exciting adventure rife with evil creatures, a ruthless villain, and unforgettable friendships.
It all begins on the night Rea turns twelve. After a big fight with her twin brother Rohan on their birthday, Rea’s life in the small village of Darjeeling, India, gets turned on its head. It’s four in the morning and Rohan is nowhere to be found.
It hasn’t even been a day and Amma acts like Rohan’s gone forever. Her grandmother, too, is behaving strangely. Unwilling to give up on her brother, Rea and her friend Leela meet Mishti Daadi, a wrinkly old fortune-teller whose powers of divination set them off on a thrilling and secret quest. In the shade of night, they portal into an otherworldly realm and travel to Astranthia, a land full of magic and whimsy. There with the help of Xeranther, an Astranthian barrow boy, and Flula, a pari, Rea battles serpent-lilies and blood-sucking banshees, encounters a butterfly-faced woman and blue lizard-men, and learns that Rohan has been captured. Rea also discovers that she is a princess with magic. Only she has no idea how to use it.
Struggling with the truth her Amma has kept hidden from her, Rea must solve clues that lead to Rohan, find a way to rescue him and save Astranthia from a potentially deadly fate. But the clock is ticking. Can she rescue Rohan, save Astranthia, and live to see it all?
Rea and the Blood of the Nectar is Payal Doshi’s stunning #ownvoices middle-grade fantasy debut about understanding complex family dynamics, fighting for what is right, discovering oneself, and learning to make friends.
My rating:
Review
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I am so excited and pleased that this not only has an Indian protagonist, but it’s set there too! We need more middle-grade books not set in the UK and US coming to the mainstream. This does an utterly fantastic job of making you feel like you are there, and to understand what Rea’s life is like.
Rea starts out fairly sympathetic – she is frustrated with her brother and feeling a little lonely because she doesn’t really have any friends. But as the book progresses it gets more nuanced – we see that she is pushing people away without really realising it, and that she has more positives in her life than she realises. I love this because it felt so real – I suspect we have all felt sorry for ourselves at some point when there was actually more depth to the situation. I especially felt that her actions were something I may have done at Rea’s age.
I loved the friendships in this book – especially Rea and Leela, but all of them. Leela is so lovely and supportive, even though she seems to know that Rea maybe didn’t see her as a friend at the start.
Astranthia has a Narnia-esque feel (possibly due to the portal there and evil queen!) but also stands completely alone. I would have loved to get a little more time to explore there, but that’s why there will be more books. I found the people of Astranthia interesting, and so I definitely hope we see more of them.
There are parts that feel a little rushed – Rohan’s disappearance could have used a little more emotion to it, and some of the adventuring in Astranthia could possibly have been a little longer, but overall I felt it was a really solid and enjoyable book. I like that we get a decent amount of conclusion while still being wide open for book 2. I will definitely be picking that up when it comes out, as I need more of this fab world. 4 stars.
Buy Rea and the Blood of Nectar by Payal Doshi from Blackwells.
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