Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove by Rati Mehrotra – Review

Published: October 18, 2022

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Series: N/A

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Pages: 352 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 4.0/5.0

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
To learn what she can become, she must first discover who she is.

Katyani’s role in the kingdom of Chandela has always been clear: becoming an advisor and protector of the crown prince, Ayan, when he ascends to the throne. Bound to the Queen of Chandela through a forbidden soul bond that saved her when she was a child, Katyani has grown up in the royal family and become the best guardswoman the Garuda has ever seen. But when a series of assassination attempts threatens the royals, Katyani is shipped off to the gurukul of the famous Acharya Mahavir as an escort to Ayan and his cousin, Bhairav, to protect them as they hone the skills needed to be the next leaders of the kingdom. Nothing could annoy Katyani more than being stuck in a monastic school in the middle of a forest, except her run-ins with Daksh, the Acharya’s son, who can’t stop going on about the rules and whose gaze makes her feel like he can see into her soul.

But when Katyani and the princes are hurriedly summoned back to Chandela before their training is complete, tragedy strikes and Katyani is torn from the only life she has ever known. Alone and betrayed in a land infested by monsters, Katyani must find answers from her past to save all she loves and forge her own destiny. Bonds can be broken, but debts must be repaid.

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Set in a world inspired by medieval India, Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove follows Katyani, a guard soul-bonded to the Queen of Chandela. Katyani loves her adopted family, and the queen especially because she saved Katyani’s life when she was just a child and that formed the soul bond between them. Or at least, that’s what she’s always been told and she has no memories of the time before the bond to refute this. When Katyani is sent off to a famed gurukul (a type of school) of Acharya Mahavir with prince Ayan and his cousin Bhairav to study statecraft and weaponry, she is initially resentful because she doesn’t wish to leave the remaining royal family unprotected from the assassination attempts that have plagued them for months. 

This portion of the book provides important set up for what happens when the trio are called back early from their studies. Behind the scenes there have been numerous events that lead to conflict with a neighboring kingdom, which is largely unknown to the reader aside from very brief mentions of threats and troop movement. Tragedy strikes and Katyani is set upon a path of retribution and the truly surprising part is the target of her fury. I hesitate to give any spoilers because this story has several dramatic twists that I certainly didn’t anticipate! 

Let’s back up a bit to Katyani’s time at the gurukul. Here she first meets the infuriating, yet handsome Daksh, son of the Acharya. Katyani’s constant needling of him is amusing, particularly because it’s almost entirely innuendo or the implication that he fancies her. This was somewhat unexpected and I think that’s why I appreciated it so much – honestly, young adult fantasy doesn’t go for that type of humor often but it’s so appropriate for the age group! It wasn’t overly crude, just the kinds of things people say to each other all the time amongst friends (especially if they might have a crush on one of those friends).

This story was a great blend of myth and monsters, political intrigue, revenge, and a slow-burn teen romance. For the most part, I felt it was a mature book in its approach to most situations, with dashes of juvenile behaviors that make sense for the age of the characters. The ending was bittersweet and wrapped up the story very nicely. I appreciate the increase of solid fantasy standalones because it’s wonderful to have a whole story in your hand without knowing you’ll have to wait years for the whole thing to conclude!