A Spark of White Fire

Retellings are hugely popular in young adult books these days. I love them, but I’m getting tired of the same fairytale being redone over and over. So thank goodness I finally picked up this one! This is a retelling of the longest epic poem ever, the Indian poem called The Mahabharata. I don’t know much about the original, except what I read on Wikipedia. Knowing that it’s a non-Western retelling kinda makes me love it already without reading it haha.

Another thing that intrigued me right away was that the gods and goddesses were a part of the story. I loooove that so much. It also means that since this is set in space, it is a space fantasy! Aka my favorite genre! And in my opinion, a genre we need a lot more of.

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The World Building!! *chef’s kiss*

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Listen. Space kingdoms are my jam. Different kingdoms on different planets, hell yeah. But kingdoms on space stations?? EVEN MORE HELL YEAH. What a cool concept ahhh I love it. And the places sound so beautiful! I want to visit haha.

As I mentioned, the gods and goddesses are a big part of this story. They can choose favorites, and help guide the ones they choose to good lives/outcomes. I love reading about the mythos of the gods and how in this book, the mythos really actually happened because the gods are RIGHT THERE and REAL. It also brings in the fantasy element to the scifi story, since the gods have powers, and can give magical items/weapons to people. Ugh so COOL.

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The Characters

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This book has quite the large cast of characters. Normally I’m not a huge fan, as it’s hard to keep track of everyone and I feel it’s harder to develop interesting characters. However it really worked here! I think it was because we got to see a lot of different dynamics of relationships. My favorites were Esmae (the main character), Rama (her best friend), and Amba (the goddess who favors Esmae). They were all interesting and I loved reading about their interactions with each other.

I think the big cast also is also directly inspired by the Mahabharata, since the poem is about a war/struggle between two groups of cousins. So naturally there would be a lot of players in the story. I also thought it was really cool to see which characters lined up with those from the poem – as much as I could tell from my Wikipedia overview of the Mahabharata anyway haha.

OMG I almost forgot to mention Titania!!! You know I love my sentient ship and AI characters! Titania is a sentient warship made by the gods to be undefeatable in battle. She’s so sweet and honestly, I needed a LOT more of her in the book haha. I hope she features more in the next two books!

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The Complications of Family

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The core of this story is the struggles of family. Esmae is trying to reunite with her brothers and mother, but also spends a lot of time getting to know her uncle – the usurper king she is trying to unseat. Of course people are not wholly good or evil, but way more complicated. I loved that all the relationships in this book were about family and how one navigates ones loyalties to family versus loyalties to the kingdom versus loyalties to yourself. Also!! Esmae and Rama’s friendship was so good and pure – definitely wanted more from that! I liked that their relationship showed that family is also not just blood relatives, but can be a chosen or found family.

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Engaging Plot

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The plot is perfectly paced to keep you engaged and reading. I never wanted to stop! There are also a lot of twists and turns and betrayals!! Some of them I saw coming, but some of them I didn’t – which is always the best. I love being surprised. One thing that really enhances the twists is the fact that gods are involved. With humans, people generally have a more predictable moral code or at least an understandable motivation. With gods though, everything is off the table because they can do whatever they want. This makes for a much more compelling story and plot.

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So to summarize – awesome mythology in a space fantasy setting – need I say more?