Dance of Shadows

The Raag of Rta #2

by Gourav Mohanty

A season of peace is the finest time to plant the seeds of war.

A pirate-queen discovers the only gold around is in the bars of her cage.

A temple-courtesan's heart dances for the archer she was tasked to destroy.

A librarian learns how to steal to save the world from an ancient plague.

As the Conclave of Peace dawns in the Tree Cities of the East to decide the future of the realm, deaf swordswomen and exiled snakelings, spoilt heroes and lovesick princes, immortal assassins and their apprentices will find no sun to light their path.

For the Son of Darkness rises, boiling over with a wrath that all the oracles in the world cannot hope to stop. After all, seeing the future is one thing, changing it is quite another…Unless it is through a heist.

Genres: Fantasy, Mythology, Adult, High Fantasy, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Epic Fantasy

832 pages, Hardcover

First published February 25, 2025

About the author

Author, Lawyer, Stand Up Comedian, Papercut Survivor, Pretend Swordfighter, Recovering Burgers Addict. As evident, his life has many tabs open.

Though he was doing well as a lawyer in Mumbai, he is now pursuing the infinitely more unattainable dream of being the first 'epic fantasy novelist' of India. A connoisseur of mythologies and momos, he enjoys channeling 'The Rock' and writing author bios in third person.

Sons of Darkness is Gourav’s first novel. Give it a shot for the poor author owes considerable gold to goblins.

Reviews

[Gourav Mohanty]

My condolences :)

[lookmairead · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first review of 2025 and it’s a five star.
A solid-omg-wtf-I-need-therapy-over-fictional-characters kinda ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It would be encouraging to start off year with an articulate review, but Mohanty has rendered me stunned. After that last 25%, it felt like I just stepped outside of a tornado and I’m trying to comprehend the destruction.

I’ve been in this review game awhile, and my marketing background wants me to sell this book in a clever, charming way. But this book hangover prevents me to doing it with pizzazz.

So let me land on three semi-coherent reasons why.

1. You’ve read Sanderson. Or some other outrageous George R. R. Martin-level ish. Now you are ready for your next wordy Iron Man. Note, this series isn’t complete, but I still recommend joining the party now, because there is a lot to unpack in each book.

2. I’d argue Mohanty is one of the funniest high fantasy authors I’ve read. Which feels ironic for how dark this ish is. 😅

3. For people that think fantasy book series have “book slumps”- Even I sometimes dread reading book 2’s or 3’s because I hold a previous book on a pedestal. I think it’s safe to say Mohanty crushes this theory with no signs of slowing down.

I’m here for you after you read this series. You may need to talk to someone (or scream into an abyss). Better yet, highly recommend securing this series as your next fantasy book club read. (I loved the audio for book 1, too!)

Book 2 is due out 25 February 2025

TY NetGalley for this much anticipated ARC.

[Mair Alys · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a way to end the year

This book topped sons of darkness in the best way. Far more brutal but layered with humour that made this book shine.

Gourav’s writing excelled in this book. It felt more of a his book than sons of darkness did. There were phrases that flowed and felt magical, points where I was glued to the page and forgot the world around me. I was IMMERSED

The characters were well rounded and I loved each and every one of them. Even those I wasn’t meant to like. With such a short amount of time I fell in love with these characters.

I was horrified.
I laughed
I loved

A book of the year for sure.

This series may not be for everyone but I urge you to try. Even if you weren’t a fan of SOD this deserves a try. What an epic book

WHERE IS BOOK 3?!!

[Mark Lawrence]

I have a copy!







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[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC of this book. I absolutely loved Sons of Darkness especially on a reread. I had reread Sons of Darkness before reading Dance of Shadows since there are a lot of characters and places to remember.

I was surprised that Dance of Shadows is not necessarily a book 2 to the series but rather it is more of a side quest book. This book follows the time line from Sons of Darkness (mainly the last few months leading to the battle of Manthura). At first I was not too excited about this since the characters being followed were not my favorites from Sons of Darkness, but I grew to enjoy their stories and I grew to appreciate their contribution to the overall storyline.

This book really shows that there is a much bigger picture to this series. Sons of Darkness focuses your attention on the Battle of Manthura, but this book focuses on the chaos and destruction that the Son of Darkness can bring if awakened. Dance of Shadows started off very slow and I will not lie, I was tempted to dnf since I was not interested in the characters, the story is different, I could not tell where the stories were going, and I felt things were overly described or explained. But as the story progressed, it grew more and more intense and I became invested with the characters. I really enjoyed Mati’s storyline and Nala’s became more interesting towards the end as well. I tend to forget this is grimdark since not much happens in the beginning but then certain scenes come up towards the end and it definitely meets its quota for being grimdark. I personally enjoy it even though I do want everyone to have their happy endings, but I also respect authors that are not afraid to be realistic with their characters.

I do think I would enjoy this even more on a reread (as I did was Sons of Darkness) since I now know the direction of the story and I can focus more on the details. I do think this will be quite the epic series and I am super excited for the series to be complete. I will be reading the next books as well!

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come when I stop animal-screaming and my buddy read finishes. 🤯

(FINAL REVIEW:)

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! 🤯😳🥲😍

Okay, I got that out of my system so now for some coherent thoughts. This book exceeded and completely ANNIHILATED my expectations for a sequel. The action, the characters, the gore, THE PLOT?? Mohanty, you are a wicked genius for what you did here because my heart is deceased with something like depressed giddiness. 🤪

This plot runs parallel to the events of Sons of Darkness. There are new characters who join the already known cast of Duryodhan, Karna, and Mati. As with the first book, I loved all the characters in all their wickedly flawed glory, but the ones that stood out to me the most were the librarian princess, Vahura; the immature knight, Dantavarka; and again, poor Karna. 🏹

Karna is DRAGGED through the mud in this book and man I just wanted him to be happy for just one blissful second (and even that was viciously ripped from him). Vahura is a wonderfully naive but incredibly booksmart princess that I was cheering for the entire plot only to be cruelly reminded that this is a grim dark fantasy and happiness doesn’t exist. And Dantavarka. . . Oh you sweet summer child. His progression towards maturity was not only very well done in my opinion, but what he got at the end of the book? I’m gonna need a few days to just process it all. 😮‍💨

But seriously though, the last 35% of the book had me in a chokehold and I think I was repeatedly and distressingly saying “no” and “ah, what the hell man?!” the entire time I was reading and for five minutes after I finished the epilogue. As much as I would to recommend this to ALL readers out there, this is not for faint of heart or for people out there looking for a bit of “light/cozy reading.” If you’re looking for wonderfully flawed individuals, gore-core and an epic fantasy inspired by Hindu belief and the Mahabharata, then go pick this up NOW! 🗡️

Bowing at the feet of Head of Zeus and NetGalley for accepting my request to be traumatized with this INCREDIBLE sequel. And to Mohanty: WHEN IS BOOK 3 COMING?! 🥺

Shout out also goes to @lookmairead and @ladymairreads for being amazing buddies to scream with on StoryGraph. Here’s to trying to chase this high in another book. 🥂

Publication date: February 25!!

Overall: EASILY 5/5 ⭐️

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I NEED WINE! FLAGONS OF WINE TO DROWN MY SORROWS!

It amazes me how a book could affect me so much.

Since Sons of Darkness spiraled down into tight claustrophobic tragedy, I’ve been waiting, like an ember for air, to read this book and see how things will play out with the antiheroes left behind in Book 1. Suffice it to say, it was like bracing yourself for a punch to the throat only to get struck in the eyes instead.

Scars were nothing but a memory of how she had been hurt. It was little use explaining this to Masha for she took scars as a memory of how she had healed.

I don’t want to spoil this book right at the start. So for those (un?)lucky folks who have not yet been initiated into this series, please avert your eyes when you reach a big heading called SPOILERS AHEAD. But do so knowing that there’s never a bad time to get started. And even if you dont like Sons of Darkness, just trudge on because Dance of Shadows is a masterpiece.

‘The memory haunts me, Princess, but it is a nightmare I have grown familiar with. Familiarity dulls the poison but…’
‘… but it still corrodes,’ Vahura said, knowing how it was to want to go back to a time before it was too late. After all, she had seen her own mother claw her eyes out. Some things you can’t be cheered out of.

STRUCTURE
The structure is similar to Book 1. Four timelines run in parallel:
One: Queen Mati of Magadh finds herself trapped by her own scheme of vengeance. She finds herself saddled with Dantavakra, the brother of Shishupal, a dashing trident-wielder wanting a shortcut promotion through the ranks of paladins (my favourite).

But Dantavakra of Chedi was nothing if not a charmer. He knew the tricks. To win them he would cook them savoury compliments and pretend to take interest in their lives. When one is, however, the only civilized person in a group, one begins to look like a barbarian. All his compliments earned him was a nickname. Flower, they called him, and the worst of it was, it had taken him quite a while to understand that it was an insult.

Two: Marzana, a temple dancer/spy, has fallen in love with the most dangerous man in the world, and incidentally, also her target.

Three: Taksha, a Naga, enters this realm only to be trapped for half a decade, being skinned alive every day for his scales till he is rescued by a priest and a deaf swordswoman for his own reasons. Nala, Masha and Parshuram from Book 1 are journeying 50,000 leagues under the earth.

Four: Librarian Princess Vahura is trying to figure out a way to stop an ancient plague in the Avatar-like Tree Cities of the East.

Inevitability is often the mother of surrender but with the right dosage of circumstances and will, can be the step-mother of defiance.

And ofcourse, all their storylines converge in epic convergence chapters-something which Mohanty is becoming a specialist at.

REVIEW

A mind busy can be a pillar of power, but it is what a mind does when it is idle that builds a roof over the pillars.

Worldbuilding : The Garden of Broken Things in it is my favourite fantastical venue in the world. The Avatarish tree Cities, the Earthships, the Drowned City of Iyran Machil, the Arenas- the worldbuilding has been fantastic especially with new races of Nagas and Rakshasas being introduced into the series. The magic system of Chakras and Elementals hinted at in Book 1 has been explored more fully in Book 2.

Action Scenes : Mohanty succeeds admirably on all fronts. The action especially in the convergence chapters is ferocious, bloody, and unquittable. The violence is rendered extremely well, its physical and psychological effects convincing and lasting. And by lasting I mean, hate DMs to the author.

Humor : Has the funniest scenes I have ever read. That park scene with Dantavakra getting some action while being petrified because a priest is beside him and a corpse is rotting infront of him had me rolling. As other reviewers have said, you will end up laughing out loud. The humor is TOP NOTCH.

‘If only you knew how to whisper to a woman’s ears, you would not need to stalk her husband’s home.’

Indian-ness : The mythologies of this novel are eerily familiar: the series, after all, contains a bright shard of India's living past. For example, the ancient Manusmriti (which is an actual Indian grandfather of Hammurabi’s Code) has a fantasy counterpart here in Manu-sruti (What Manu Heard)- and this was my favourite twist of Mohanty’s imagination the way he takes existing nuggets from Indian lore and comes up with sparkling gems on the side. There is so much more wonder in this book than in Book 1 with exploration of these gorgeous Avatarseque Tree Cities that I badly wanted to visit or the underground hidden city of Iyran Machil.

Turns out when the holy leaders of a city do not interfere with the life of a city to create order, chaos finds a way to behave splendidly.

Characters : But even more than all of that, for me the novel's driving force was its rich cast of characters—driven by passion, desire, and terrifying flaws, they are rendered as fully realized as ever.

1. Vahura (the librarian princess-dauntless and full of hope) :

‘A girl needs to keep busy with the fantastical to bear the fanatical.’

2. Marzana (the temple dancer-an aftermath of tragedy) :

Darkness never lured. It is the stars they need to fear.

3. Dantavakra (Boisterous out-of-turn promoted knight)

There are those who might not be afraid if the priest of a murderous cult walked in on them while their lady friend was inspecting the flute inside their pants. They might tell the priest to bugger off with a stiff upper lip, immune to the whims of fate. But Dantavakra was not one of them. He felt the proverbial snake of ice climb up his leg. He did try to shake the snake away, but it was rather difficult to do so with his pants unlaced in a public park.

4. Bhagadatt (the Rhysand of this series)

I don’t like it when prejudice doesn’t realize that what it treats as weeds to be removed are instead wildflowers that help trees make fruit.

5. Taksha (the immigrant)

He was an outsider in this world. He might know their language but he wished he had their accent.

6. Karna (the archer who grew up with a blade in his heart)

So he set out as he always had with a steely gaze that is a hallmark of men who were about to commit desperate follies in the name of love.

7. Mati (Furiosa Incarnate)

Wind-tousled short hair that once just about tickled her jaw lay combed to her shoulders, perfumed, and neatly parted, with a slash of vermillion marking the centre line like a stripe on a sacrificial lamb. Collarbones once free to frolic with the breeze were now buried under golden chains, and wrists that wore rope bands now jingled under the weight of golden bangles as heavy as shackles. She caught sight of her wedding gift in the reflection of the mirror, a tapestry of a monstrous swan locked in a skirmish with a majestic shark, and wondered, not for the first time, how in this fairy tale had the bloody Black Swan transformed into the Bedecked Duck?

8. Masha (Oracle)

She did not care if wanting to be pretty was petty, for only the truly blind would favour feeling important over feeling nice.

Ending : The ending, too, is an absolute knock-out, and by that I mean, I was knocked out. I cried. Mohanty is *so good* at breaking your heart. Like a thunderstroke, Dance of Shadows's conclusion is electric, sizzling, and minutely delivered, and I felt its rattle for days after turning the last page.

Dance of Shadows is a dance of fireworks from an enormously talented writer. Mohanty proved himself capable of orchestrating walloping storylines in Sons of Darkness, but Dance of Shadows is even a bigger display of his talents. The author digs into shadows with dark glee into this sequel, and from page one, he doesn’t let up. The result is a sprawling and constantly engaging novel that twists South Asian history, geography, mythology, and fantasy into an epic tale that paints an unforgettable portrait of just how unhinged our own realities can be during even during periods of peace between wars, and an aching reminder that to be a hero alone is such a fool’s quest. Rage and grief, guilt and shame: these were emotions Mohanty knows too well.

All in all, Dance of Shadows is a sequel that makes Sons of Darkness look terrible, and I'm already looking forward to the next installment (with a large sense of dread).

SPOILERS
That Scene with V on the Earthship, and that scene with M in Iyran Machil and that scene in the arena, and that scene with M in the last- SCREAMMMMM

The three sat there for a long time watching the city crumble. Iyran Machil, the cradle and now the grave of a civilization, was the evidence of the lie in the immortality of a world. Worlds, it seemed, could be slain

Thank you, HoZ and Netgalley for the ARC!

[Saif Shaikh | Distorted Visions · Rating 3 out of 5]

Advanced Review Copy provided in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Bloomsbury USA and NetGalley.

Score: 3.25/5 (rounded to 3/5)

Since this is an ARC, the review aims to be as Spoiler-free as possible.

Read this review and more on my Medium Blog: Distorted Visions

The GrimDark retelling of the Mahabharata continues in Dance of Shadows, Gourav Mohanty’s newest entry in his Raag of Rta series. If you thought, that what the Indian Epic needed was MORE venomous scheming, wanton violence, dark magic, and abject suffering for all the characters involved, look no further.


“In chaos lies the cosmos.”

Dance of Shadows continues the story in Gourav Mohanty’s first novel in the Raag of Rta series, Son of Darkness. Son of Darkness follows the events of the Indian mega-epic Mahabharata more closely, with characters from the Hindu epic cycle like the avatar Krishna, Arjuna and the other Pandavas, Duryodhana, Karna, and the other Kauravas, with other notable characters like Draupadi and Satyabhama, leading up to the fabled Kurukshetra war, which forms the epicenter of the grand tale. Mohanty chose to delve into the world laid out by the traditional epic cycle but gave the narrative a grimdark spin. Stepping away from the classic sequel cycle, Mohanty regales us with events parallel to those during the lead-up to the events in Son of Darkness, in Dance of Shadows. In this regard, Dance of Shadows is neither a prequel nor a sequel, but straddles the thin line between both, and is a concurrent book, although it does refer to events, characters, and plotlines in Son of Darkness.

“Is suffering the only thing that lends victory its value?”

For those who read Son of Darkness and thought it ramped up the violence, showed us the morally grey sides of well-known and beloved characters, and spared no expense in putting its extravagant suffering on full display…

… Dance of Shadows makes that book look tame.

Oh boy, this is easily among the grimmest and darkest books I have ever read, clawing at the heels of Michael Fletcher’s Manifest Delusions series, often touted as the most GrimDark series so far. The bleak setting, the bloody ultraviolence at every turn, and the cycles of torment that the characters are put through with little respite are in stark contrast to the kid-gloves with which the Mahabharata is usually disseminated.

“Beware the fury of a patient man”

The story of Dance of Shadows mainly deals with the power struggle in the Kaurava Camp leading up to the conclave and the Mathruan war with the Pandavas. It also deals with the more fantastical elements, as various factions plot in the shadows, nudging characters and tailoring world events to either bring about the successful emergence of the prophesied Son of Darkness or thwart his attempts to bring about the world-ending apocalypse. Dance of Shadows is more a character and arc-driven book than a big-picture plot-driven book, and therein lies Mohanty’s genius. The large-scale plot feels like a nasty itch at the back of the reader’s mind, as in-your-face capers and disasters absorb your attention.

Since Dance of Shadows diverts from the classic events of the Mahabharata that are well-known to people versed in that culture, Mohanty brought in characters only tangentially alluded to in the epic cycle, and added new characters to the world, making The Raag of Rta less of a retelling, and more of a grey-area thing, between retelling, and fanfic. Princess Bhanumati is a minor character in the traditional epic, but plays a central role in the Dance of Shadows. New to the character roster are the dancer-priestess Devadasi Marzana/Meenakshi, the runaway rogue princess Vahura and her baby sister Vauri, the assassin-trainee Nala and her oracle sister, and more fantastical characters of non-human races. Returning characters (or characters known in the classic epic cycle) like the errant prince Dantavakra, the immortal hunter Parshurama, the poet Narad Muni, the sage Vyas (who is credited to be the author of the original Mahabharata) complete the wide roster of this new entry in the series.

“The world was always destined to burn. At least now she will make a fortune from the flames.”

Dance of Shadows is a very female character-driven book, with many of the chapters and POV characters being influential women who move plotlines forward for better or worse. In particular, the conniving yet blase Bhanumati was a stellar addition to the series and was the highlight of the book. Her internal monologue, morally grey outlook on life, and constantly wavering motivations are the cornerstones of the grimdark genre. Mohanty absolutely knocked it out of the park with her character. In contrast, Vahura and the assassin-apprentice Nala take on a more traditional heroic and anti-heroic fantasy role, and were much more predictable but Vahura’s character forms another great counterpoint to Mati’s scene-chewing presence.

“Men with morals only make for good martyrs.”

In the male character camp, Dantavakra’s arc was also rewarding, and mirrored Jezal’s arc (First Law by Joe Abercrombie) in many ways. In contrast, Duryodhana and Karna’s arcs were almost background fodder, which is refreshing since both of these characters are central to this series and the original Mahabharata. I have a feeling their role in this series was, in large part, to position themselves to face the events in the next book in the series.

“When men of God seized power, men of Scrolls were the first to be thrown to the pyre”

Mohanty vehemently digs into the rigid caste-structure in this series, casting a severe light on cultural norms outlined in the Mahabharata, and persist to this day in various Indian and South Asian cultures. Being of Indian descent himself, and as a fellow Westernized Indian, these elements are important as social commentary on the evils of the caste system and the disastrous effects the system had on the emergent nation’s history and future.

As much as I enjoyed many elements of Dance of Shadows, several other facets will hold this novel, and this series from attaining its due celebration in Dark Fantasy circles, even in the underbelly of the deviant GrimDark fandom. This book is just a little too much! Definitely on the longer side of modern fantasy novels, the lengthy chapters, the many POV characters, and several concurrent plotlines that take a long time in the readers’ mind to converge, led to a fatiguing journey.

Mohanty tried to hit nearly every dark fantasy trope in this novel. Palace intrigue, pirate adventures, assassin-y shenanigans, a rescue mission, a heist mission, gladiatorial games, otherworldly arcane-elrtich-y elements, and even a gosh darn dragon just for good measure. He throws everything at us including the kitchen sink, to diminishing returns. Additionally, the uneven pacing, and over-the-top action scenes ramping up in the final third of the book, caused many of the events to blur together in the “red mist” of blood and guts, leaving the reader without much respite to digest and enjoy the culmination of the author’s plotting.

The biggest gripe many readers will have is the graphic nature of this book. Dance of Shadows does not shy away from large passages of meticulously described ultraviolence (that even veteran GrimDark writers are shying away from owing to market pressures). With implied and expressed sexual violence, and graphic violence to many of the central female characters in particular (though many central male characters also suffer tremendously), this book will need to have a very long list of trigger warnings and will push away many readers who are sensitive to these elements.

My final gripe is that Dance of Shadows is just too damn bleak. By the end of this tale, without spoiling plot points, nothing goes well, for anyone. The crushing sense of despondency, while another trademark part of the grimdark genre, lies like a heavy weight on even the most jaded and genre-veteran soul.

There are NO happy endings here.

“Only the dead have seen the end of war.”

My deepest condolences to those (many) characters who did not make it through the events in Dance of Shadows, and to those who are too squeamish to carry on with this series. For the rest of us, the gristle remains within our teeth, the taste of blood remains in our mouths, and our thirst for vengeance against fate lies sated for now, till Gourav Mohanty unleashes his next installment in the series.

[C.M. Debell · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most entertaining fantasy books I've read, and one of the most traumatising. I hope book 3 comes soon!

[Sookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a month to read, and I finally made it.

The incidents in this book are taking place few months before the war, which was primary plot of Sons of Darkness. While I appreciate there is a much bigger picture, as is the case in any myth, its way too bigger picture with many chapters doing nothing for character or plot but fills pages with banality.

Mati steals the show, as does Meenakshi and Nala. (I have come to put my brain to rest when reading these names and finding them totally different from their actual namesakes, was a hard thing to do and thus delayed my reading)

To be honest, this book has left me exhausted of reading fantasy.

[Rebecca Nicole]

A Librarian and a Pirate Queen?! I'm sold.

[LambchoP]

Love this cover, February cannot come soon enough!

[Jitesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am writing this almost an hour after finishing the book. This book was one of my most anticipated book that was to release in this year or I was looking forward to it’s release and reading it since it announcement.

The book is DARK very dark, one of the darkest I have read. Not that I have read many grimdark novels. But, This book should have come with a trigger warnings, like Substance abuse, Rape, self harm, addiction, etc. These things are only that are bad, but the gore and violence and brutality as also very high in this.

As for my thoughts, I have really really liked this book, I was actually scared when I read the Author’s note, because I thought this book will pick up after the events of the Sons of Darkness, but rather it moves parallelly after the events of the swayamvar, not that I was not interested in their parts but it was just not what I expected from the second book of series usually. But then I remembered what A.P. Canavan has said that you should enjoy the book for what it offers. And thus heeding that thought in mind, I read this book and My God This was so Good. Just awesome.

The book goes extra hard on politics and betrayals and also religion. I loved how he has played with the religion, the fact that now the emperor is nothing more than a sort of puppet for the religious leaders and how no one question anything that religious leaders says. This book surely defines its title as Dance of Shadows as everything is happening in the shadows till the light is shade on the area the damage is severe.

A very good 2nd book in the series, not the sequel you wanted but needed nonetheless. The stage is set for things to go full throttle in the next book. Let's see how things unfold now.

[Lanie Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dance of Shadows essentially picks up right where Sons of Darkness ended, and it goes a hundred miles a minute from there. It is relentless in not just action but atrocities, and when I say I genuinely tried to figure out how I could cover my eyes and still read something, I mean that with every fiber of my being. And I can promise you in what thirty-ish years of a reading a scene has never been so devastating, so violent, so just fucking messed up that I instinctively attempted to cover my eyes. And yet through all of the blood, gore, and political machinations it still ended up laughing through much of it.

This all means that it was absolutely amazing. I'm not sure how many books this is going to end up being but this was almost the perfect middle book if it's going to be a trilogy. Mohanty doesn't get bogged down in anything unnecessary here and while this is absolutely brutal that's absolutely the point. He could have drug this out so much longer and genuinely never even gained or completely lost the momentum that the violence of this book builds, there is something very wrong happening in this world and this volume drove home a desperate need to see that violence ended. Which is the perfect way to ensure that humans want to read book three!

Just a heads up I think given everything I've said here this is painfully violent and the scene that I referenced earlier will be especially difficult for women, mothers especially to read, so there's your trigger warning. This is definitely not a series for the faint of heart.

Overall, I highly recommend this one, especially if you read book one. It certainly ends many threads and then throws us right back into the fire.

As always thanks to NetGalley and Head Of Zeus/Bloomsbury USA for the eArc!

[Deeptiman Mishra · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Kingship knows no kinship."

The first book of the series lets you peer into the darkness with a mammoth war sequence in the end whereas the second twirls you through shadows cast by a dancing flame, lit before venturing into the abyss. The events run parallel to the first book, but this time, the story burns with high-octane intensity—a grimdark hell forged from the remnants of a long-lost paradise.

Political dynamics of Kingdoms.
Religious sects.
Meddling priests.
Social commentary and caste undertones.
Time dilation.
Yoga, magic and martial arts.
Divine weapons.
Plague.
Immortal assassins.
Oracles.
Yoginis.
A librarian princess with total recall.
A princess of chaos.
An overeager knight hungry to prove himself.
A heist.

You name it, this book has it. I've deliberately left out many aspects from the list above to preserve the element of surprise.

The references to time dilation and the space-time construct are exceptional, surpassed only by the author's inventive terminology, epithets and titles. I anticipate more such creative expressions in the upcoming books.

Besides, just when I thought it couldn't get any darker, the epilogue had me digging my nails into my face.

Steel your hearts before diving into this book/series. Your imagination will be shaken by a cocktail of surprises, heartbreaks, gut-wrenching imagery, eccentric world-building, and a storyline that progressively grows darker. It will make your heart pound in sync with this Raag of Rta.

P.S. This has never happened to me before, but as I read, it felt like the author himself was lending his voice to the words in my head!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, what the f—

[Jackie Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Kingship knows no kinship."

Mhm yep, one of my favorite series of last year has officially been caught up on and I'm in Awe. I love this long epic tale set in ancient India and I cannot get enough! I'll try not to Gush.

I wanted to write a thorough review and highlight each character but I gave up because So. Much. HAPPENS. Where would I even begin? Read the Sons of Darkness, then Dance of Shadows and tell me who your favorite character is because I cannot chose. All of them are a little bit dark and flawed and funny and really fleshed out people that I sometimes want to high five and then immediately shove off a bridge.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a theory that whoever is on the cover, dies. (I am writing this at 12% in). Update: Nailed it.

This book was a chore to get through. Some of it was interesting and I was invested in the going ons, but most of it felt like an overly convuluted jumble. This supernatural storyline in parallel to the plot leading up to the battle in the first book feels tiresome, confusing, and unnecessary.

Again, I know nothing about the Mahabharata, so all of these events may have some type of meaning but from a general readers perspective in the story, it's a struggle.

This book is more brutal than the first - in the sense that some of the things that are happening are upsetting and sickening to think about I.e: chastity belts forceably made from skin, rape, torture - of so many kinds - dismemberment, murder, suicide, forceful baby removal, stoning to death, drugs, etc, oh and let's throw a wyvern in for good measure, because why not.

It felt like these were after thoughts added only for their shock value and *most* genuinely added no sustenance to the plot. IMO the entire boat trip plot line with Sham Dev was unnecessary.

I definitely got lost somewhere along the way with Nala, Masha and co. Why are they going to this underground city again? Why was it full of murderous dark mist, mangled blind terrors, black eels - that we literally never learn anything about? And who was all in this party? There were a lot of people but I don't think it was clear who was in attendance or who their chatacters were, and more and more names kept getting dropped during their adventure.

They spent all this time and effort to track down the city and man from the prologue only to find him and abandon him 30 seconds later. What was the point of that? At which part of this adventure did they find Karna - (spoiler!) was still alive so i assumed before they went underground??

The story lines coverage eventually but boy does it take a long time. I'm not sure most of that was needed and the aggressive shock and awe in the last 200 pages was over the top.

The fact that Mati & Duryodhan didn't get their reunion, didnt get their chance with their baby (he doesn't even KNOW), even after he tried to save her (but she was already gone) even after she betrayed him and tried to murder him....there is something deeply poetic and tragic about their missed connection and endings.

Baggy & Dantavakra were the only redeeming qualities in this book. And I am furious over what they did to Baggy - and how Dantavakra's story ended - how they treated him, how they betrayed him. If she just would have been honest and told him, NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.

How the actual fuck did Nala and Parshuram get out of the mirror underground being chase by what I assume are zombies?? And the flying ship wreck cave in that murdered an entire class of people ??Ugghhhh.

I do love Karna & Duryodhan 's friendship though.

There are NO happy endings in this tale. I assume another book will eventually come, and I will carry on, but I do hope we can make it a bit more succinct and under 800 pages. And maybe leave some survivors ...

[Sidney Martins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy crap on a cracker that was a damn good book. I loved this one where I liked the first book sons of darkness.

We’re focused on different characters and I became so attached to them. I feared for their lives in this book. I absolutely adored his use of dialogue, just like the last book. I love the witty humor thrown in such an intense story.

If you love the morally grey characters where you find yourself rooting for “unlikeable” characters this is for you. If you like pirates, heists, nerdy book worms, and surprising heroes this is for you. Be warned this series is “grim dark” so there are definitely aspects of it that are gruesome.

I don’t know what else needs to be said, I cannot wait for book 3 and will be a loyal reader of Gourav Mohanty from now on.

Thank you Bloomsbury and Netgalley for this ARC!

[Jyotsna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exhilarating.

That’s all I can say.

If you love Game of Thrones, or stories of deceit, greed, kingdoms and love - this is the book to read.

[Ojo · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF at 70%

[debchan · Rating 4 out of 5]

we wouldn't even be in this mess if i were in this world bc as soon as i met karna it would be ON SIGHT. either that or i'd pull an unni ehtral and see how much torture he could possibly humanly withstand.

i could fill up this character limit talking about how much i hate karna but suffice to say i will hold myself back. now i had no idea picking up this book that it was not in fact a sequel. in fact, only like the last 30 pages really occurs after book 1. the events occur simultaneously alongside the events in book 1 as we build up to the battle of mathura. and although i was disappointed at first, actually getting these events with new characters was not just fun but also give us so much more background on how things unfolded in sons of darkness.

i will explain the reason i could not justifiably give this the 5 stars i wanted to give it at the end of this review. and yeah, it's pretty much the same reason as why i couldn't do the same for book 1.

worldbuilding
after just finishing The Ragpicker King i am over the moon. it's so detailed, so realistic, almost magical even how there are so many nations and cultures and little tidbits that aren't even that important but that mohanty adds in to lend some realism to this world. we leave wellknown hastina and mathura and magadh and head into new places like the tree cities which were so vividly described.

prose
mohanty is a man after joe abercrombie's own heart the way he can get me to laugh (in my head ofc). i have noted that he seems to take a lot of modern references into the dialogue which for sure unnerved me and dragged me out of my reading state to be like huh? but you could also say that is the literal vibe of the book, similar to the tumblr references in Gideon the Ninth and the selfies in The Atlas Paradox. he makes it work somehow?

plot
this is further than galaxy brain. there's so many strings we have to follow, so many characters doing their own things and making small decisions that decide the fate of the world. and it all flows together like a puzzle when you fit the last piece in and it is insanely satisfying. i know the series isn't over yet and i do wonder how many more books are in this series but lowkey i don't ever want it to end. i like being flabbergasted at plot twists and even overwhelmed as mohanty packs in every single fantasy trope and plot device under the sun.

characters
of course. i was so so so looking forward to getting back in the heads of my 3 favorite people from book 1, positively giddy that i could spend more time with them. imagine my shock and dismay that we do NOT get a single pov from them, but we DID get chapter after chapter after chapter of my LEAST fav character from sons of darkness. give me back shishupal, shakuni, and krishna but nah we get karna instead.

bhanumati
a menace in book 1, it really seemed like her entire goal was to make things 100000x worse and be mohanty's "evil female girlboss" checked box. she was so much better here and yeah it's probably bc we're in her head. she's now daughter of the empire and has many duties she is not remotely interested in fulfilling. all she really wants to do is wreck havoc on hastina and revenge herself on duryodhan's betrayal. but then she gets charged with a mission, she meets some people, and wow she's not a demonic evil after all. but ofc she's best when she's on the sea and i liked watching her order her crew around and be the captain she loves being. the damn baby giving her mood swings and cramps rip girl. also she did stab herself at the end but uh did she really die as well...

dantavakra
you are loved jezal dan luthar. i've waxed on and on about how mohanty has taken scenes almost exactly from abercrombie's series and now he's taken jezal's character arc. ofc this is not a bad thing per se. if it's inspiration i get it i was mindblown by the first law books as well and if he's gonna copy abercrombie at least he's doing it well. a spoiled self-interested soldier who only ever wants to chase his own pleasure is suddenly thrust into the spotlight and must now take a journey far far away out of his comfort zone and comes back a changed man. not to mention the absolute hilarious training sessions he had with dimvak. i liked that he provided comic relief and was stupid at times but maybe he became a bit too noble and aspirational too fast. i could've maybe forgiven karna for being a tortured angsty bitch but i ain't never gonna forvgive him for killing danta in that way. like how could you even ugh. and probably my fav scene with him is with his brother shishupal and their minor bickering.

vahura
a librarain princess who's on a mission to save her sister and thereby the world. i gotta admit she was hilarious. the way she floundered around out of her depth but then pulled up random moments of competency was wonderful to read. the scene at the conclave where she absolutely dunked on everyone was amazing, like not only are you giving me the reader more insight into the world and background info but you're also showing how incredibly big ur brain is. how tf do you survive yeeting yourself out of a "plane".

karna
honestly fuck this guy i hope he burns and dies and is never happy. i hate him more than leo dan brock can you imagine that? bc, with karna, you can tell exactly how mohanty wants you to feel, he wants you to feel bad for him and he loves him bc he literally compares him and his own best friend to karna and duryodhan. at least with leo, abercrombie never told you how to feel either way and let his fate play out according to the needs of the plot. here not only does he have the stupid armor stuck to him, he has his own plot armor that won't ever go away. oh he's so pretty, he's so sad, he's so noble, he's so tortured, he's such a good warrior no one can touch him. he kills everyone but don't worry! that's not his fault! that's just the monster living inside you! he's undefeatable! how the fuck is that likable at all? go kill yourself karna.

marzana
girl have some self respect. her own turmoil? yeah the politics of that were fascinating, especially the situation with her daughter. but it's really only like a couple chapters before we focus on karna's plot itself. and here's something i'll touch on later which is my major complaint about this book. she's not like any other woman bc she talks back to duryodhan even tho he's a prince. ha! bet you'd never considered a woman could be feisty and sassy and #notlikeothergirls. he's literally not even done anything and u immediately treat him with contempt and rudeness bc what? a woman who talks back to a man in a high position of power is original? and when she does embark on the mission with them, it doesn't get better. maybe what i can respect about her is that she really does want to place her own interests first. she died but why was there a stone in her brain. um what. was that. will she come back...

duryodhan
you would think wouldn't you that karna's best friend would be my enemy? the friend of my enemy is also my enemy or smtg along that line? and yet i love him. everything he tries to do is to be good and it just always blows up in his face. did i hate his love for mati and that he had this grand ideals of "saving her?" absolutely but we hardly got any chapters harping on that. and what kind of friendship is there between him and karna. where is the affection between them (save for that last chapter which i did enjoy their idk bickering?). it feels uniquely toxic and not rly in the good way. lmaybe they'll get their own section later bc despite karna, i rly do love the duryodhan side of this relationship.

nala
my favorite character in this entire book bc she's not only the most relatable but nothing she ever did was unreasonable to me. every action she took i was like, yeah, i'd do the same girl! i'm sorry for thinking she was boring in book 1 but here her quest really takes off. what i love about her is her fondness for pashuram my other fav character. idk it's rare in this world to get someone with true devotion here (not watever karna/duryodhan is). she looks up to him, sees he can do no wrong, would go along with any plan even if suspect, just for him to be proud of her. she's go me so convinced in fact that i find myself being also like hell yeah let's go pashuram! pls notice ur pupil she is very smart and she tries her hardest! hope she gets her revenge.

masha
this friendship between nala and masha had so much potential ugh. her enthusiasm and innocence was actually refreshing and not as grating as i thought it could've been. maybe we needed her light and cheerfulness amidst this grimmest of grimdarks. i was horrified she'd died in that way. and then i was even more horrified at her ending. like ik ur mad ur friends abandoned u but they were considering the fate of the world and thought you as good as dead!

pashuram
yeah he gets his own section bc i want to talk about one of my fav scenes in the book. firstly when he was draining that boy and nala found out he was doing those horrible things for the masters he doesn't even know if they're alive or not? that was epic. esp bc nala was just all "dang that's creepy but imma help him anyway so he's proud of me." he's so cool. but esp when nar ad tells him "world or soldier?" and he picks up nala and fights his way thru the stone soldiers. and he does try to go back for nar ad but once again "world or soldier?" prevails and he saves nala. perfection. there's just something about an immortal who knows the world is shit and the ppl are shit and still is tasked to save it anyway and do his best.

taksha
our own view into the naga people who are some reptilian variant. honestly was just another pov i could access nala thru so i didn't hate him. i was annoyed he was so obsessed with the son of darkness being his messiah bc i was like ugh ofc karna again. but then the ending happened and i was pleasantly surprised. i want to know his plans with what he took from iyran machil

ajath
sometimes we all need a massive woman with a sword and bulging muscles to save us. i'm all for the representation here, with her signing and not being able to speak. i'm not remembering if that's a choice after the horrible things that happened to her family or she was born mute/made so? either way it was kinda sweet how she took taksha under her protection. and how she always got up even after being swatted away by a freakin dragon. i think my jaw dropped when she say my father to the emperor. like HUH? that's the secret daughter we were talking about? i rly should've guessed that but it was a surprise i absolutely loved. ofc she's the emperor's daughter with how formidable she is.

bhagadatt
i rly felt neither good nor bad about it. he was meh. useful at times. too charismatic at other times. no i don't rly care how sexy u are. i liked the nickname tho baggy. i should've guessed that was him he made it so obvious but alas.

jarasandh
never in my life did i think i would ever talk about the emperor but here we are. thank you to those last pages in which he went from dodgy old man who would crumble if sunlight touched him to insane warrior who's now shot up in my estimation and fav character list. it sucks to love both krishna and him at the same time. like wdym he was absolutely dunking on karna, not underestimating him like pashuram did. that moment when pashuram called him jara was actually really cute and now i want the backstory. ig he's called jarasandh the conqueror for a reason lol.

now for my 2 thoughts/complaints
1, the less serious: karna and duryodhan
i think we all know my hatred of karna by now. but their relationship however mohanty wants to push this on us? it has its moments. ik i said above that i don't feel the affection and i rarely do. it's just there's little phrases and lines tossed here and there that make me go oh! so why did they do that! i think it's just the case of sometimes mohanty missing the mark and then absolutely hitting the nail on their relationship. it's literally just like conor and kel (again from The Ragpicker King) and i keep bringing that book up but i literally read it yesterday. but here's some examples, spoilers below
marza: how do you know he is in malengar?
duryodhan: spies. where is he?
that's nothing u might say but it's everything to me. bc duryodhan has a conclave to attend, hastina to run that's falling into civil war. and he's spending his time sending spies to look for karna and is traipsing around the land looking for him.
and then on the other hand i rly can’t tell the love or like they have for each other or is it just obligation to keep the friendship going bc the author needs more ways to torture karna and remind us duryodhan is high born and the friction there.
and the pendulum swings back bc at the end there, duryodhan literally breaks the law for karna his boy best friend <3. and karna unleashes the evil within him to save duryodhan his boy best friend <3. and if that wasn't enough, duryodhan pulls a "it's me! this isn't u karna!" where literally only his voice is enough to drag karna back to reality and stop him from going on a murderous rampage.. like ok. ik there's such things as deep platonic friendships but this is taking teeny tiny steps towards that line separating it from homoeroticism.

and my 2nd more serious complaint
the women. huh you question? there were so many badass cool women in this book? nearly every pov was a woman, an improvement from book 1. i agree. it's like abercrombie flipping a switch from the first law to the age of madness where we are finally free from the clutches of the 2000s and the 2010s steering way too far away from damsel in distress to frigid bitch or big mouthed not like other girls. and so yeah i even like mati and vahura and nala and masha and marzana. the number of women and their roles have improved and yet it still feels like something from the 2010s. it feels like a man writing women based on what he's read in ye olde fantasy classics. and i'm talking in 2 ways. first, the attitude. not every woman has to be outspoken and a smart aleck. being rude to a man is not really a personality it's giving tryhard energy. the 2nd is the goddamn boobs. which i was already on a sore note with cassandra clare. but here. every. single. woman's. boobs. are. mentioned. and not even the minor or irrelevant characters are spared (except old ella i think?). at any possible chance we get, mohanty is talking about her boobs even if it is completely unnecessary to the task at hand. like really? i get we can talk about it every so often but for EVERY FEMALE CHARACTER?
we got a pretty good scene with mati and sokarro and then they fight, further inflamed by a MAN. and when something terrible happens the women die awfully but not the MAN who survives impossibly. reminds me of The Fires of Vengeance where the women routinely got burned to a crisp by their own dragons but the men can survive getting impaled and stabbed and god knows what. like isn't that peachy.
and i know we're trying to be sex positive and i don't mind if women are sleeping with the guys. i just think that once again it was written in such a man's pov in such a masculine way of thinking. even masha having thoughts about wanting companionship and thinking of taksha when NALA is right there and has been by her side this entire time?? and i think that was my issue with baghadatt. he was too charming. i hate to keep bringing him up but abercrombie really hit his scenes perfectly. he made the men awkward and fumbling and the women as dominant and then dusting her hands and moving on once it was finished. it's a personal problem yeah but it took away my enjoyment from this book anytime it was brought up.
and another thing about that? the sideplot where danta gets his character development bc he kills saham dev for rape? i'm all for killing him, but it really did feel forced. like mohanty needed us to side with danta if we hadn't already and root for his change of heart. we had just gotten some backstory to the prince as well so strange an interesting character was tossed out (lol) and written away with rape bc murder u can excuse but rape u literally cannot. it was like mohanty was in an echo chamber getting us to nod our heads and mati to like danta a bit more and the audience to stand and clap danta for his actions. could we not develop his character without a woman suffering? is that impossible? could we have complicated villains in saham dev? nah. it's the easy route out.
and my final thing. i'm not saying this is mohanty's view but mati immediately loving her child? not every woman naturally has materal instincts the second they get pregnant. but ok. did we need that incredibly gruesome pregnancy scene? are we just totaling up how much a woman can suffer in these books? it's grimdark u say! yeah but there's dark and then there's gratuitous. this kinda leeched into the latter. also the priest literally ate her baby that was so unexpected.

anyawy, the ending was life changing bc omg now what??
wdym vahura survived and has plans to help the enemy. wdym masha is now sister marigold and wants to hurt her friends for a misunderstanding? wdym storm wants to kill krishna? wdym muchuk und didn't burn to a crisp? wdym nar ad is just along for the ride?

some last thoughts
- "i think if i gave you my secrets you would treat them tenderly" i have googled this and it's word for word (bar "heart" instead of secrets) from Kings Rising. yeah laurent and damen. i need to know if mohanty just saw this trending everywhere and was like cool! or he's read captive prince and in that case... WHAT
- "manners maketh murderers" it was at this point i attribute the references as a sorta campy make fun of itself thing
- the scene where duryodhan sings and gets tomatoes thrown at him is TAKEN from jeeves and wooster i’m not even lying
- west in The Heroesalso kills a prince bc of attempted assault just like danta did to saham dev.

i am desperately awaiting the next book. i NEED more krishna and shakuni. and for all hell to explode with that craziness of an ending. more nala and pashuram too. and mabybe karna will get to die terribly. :D

[madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

why would you make me read all my favorite characters dying one right after another

[Rahul Vishnoi · Rating 5 out of 5]

-Mahabharata on Red Bull-

The Mahabharata, a sprawling epic written in more than two million words has served as a fertile fodder for authors, especially in the last decade. Short stories gleaned from this epic have been hitting the stands on a regular frequency. Reimagining the war and its effects through the eyes of primary or secondary male or female characters too has become the flavour of the season. In his second book, Gaurav Mohanty expands his grimdark universe he began with Sons of Darkness.
In the content warning for ‘The Goddess of the River’, Vaishnavi Patel writes that Mahabharata has every terrible act ever imagined. In ‘Dance of The Shadows’, the second part in ‘The Raag of RTA’ series, Gourav Mohanty lays it threadbare. This, of course, is not a faithful rendition of the events that happened in the epic. Mohanty has picked the characters, tinkered just a little with their names and then he throws them into a hot cauldron roiling with blood, war, revenge, plotting, murders, coercion, sex and you-name-it-you-get-it. He leaves a disclaimer at the beginning. He warns his readers that this is not Mahabharata. It is not, indeed and how fun is that!
Divided into 18 books, Mahabharata (the original one) has more than 75,000 verses, all written in Sanskrit. The first eleven of these books are about the royal clan of Kuru. The twelfth and thirteenth books elaborate views on religion, morality, duty and so on. This is the part where Bhishma, on his deathbed, shares stories with Yudhishthira. It also serves as a go-to handbook for kings and how they should rule, providing views on political and economic success. When Yudhishthira asks Bhishma a particularly tricky ethical or political question, he often replies in this vein: ‘Actually, there is an old story about this very point,' and goes on to tell the story. Mohanty perhaps took inspiration from that and wove a story of his own.
Dance of Shadows abounds a darkness that subsumes all: deity or demon. An extensive retelling of Mahabharata, the story hardly carries a character that’s not hiding something or is completely ethical. Mohanty has tossed the characters of Mahabharata into an unknown world where everyone is out for everyone’s blood. The powers that puppet the characters of this series into a grotesque dance can be broadly clubbed into either revenge or ambition. If character A is not baying for B’s blood, B is ready to chop off A’s head and toss it down to turn it into a rung of a ladder that will take them to the moon of their want. This is what everyone hungers for in this blood-soaked universe of Mahabharata: either a gleaming moon or the head of their enemy (this enemy could be a minor, teeny-weeny opponent standing in the path to progress.) The author has reworked a lot of tropes into his work.
In Dance of Shadows, the story doesn’t move forward as much as it moves parallel to the events that happened in the first book ‘Sons of Darkness’. So the characters you had only heard about in the first book have a more fleshed out role here. I must say the prologue about Manu had me almost falling off from the chair, only because of what is being done to Manu in the very scene he is being introduced. And, voila, we have a deadly pandemic here too. Guess its name? Marigold!
While reading, you can tell the author has had a grand time dipping his quill in blood. The book has violence and is not at all apologetic about it. Mohanty writes with glee and unfettered resolution. Some parts could be edited out though as it seems he falls prey to shocking readers more than making them invested. Boring them is not a crime he commits though.
In her Mahabharata-based short story collection ‘The Dharma of Unfaithful Wives and Faithful Jackals’ Wendy Doniger writes: “A strange portion in Mahabharata suggests violent punishments for both men and women who have been promiscuous. Among these are the young student who sleeps with his old guru's young wife and this has been taken very seriously in the stories. He should be killed by having him embrace a red-hot hollow metal column. Or he may cut off his own penis and his testicles and holding them in his hand, walk southwest until he drops dead. When a woman does this, she must suffer from the similar punishments. Many of these ideas are carried verbatim into Manusmriti.
In these stories, it is the women who are primarily blamed for the sexual transgressions of both sexes. Some of them, however, revere women but only when they do their duty. Bhishma says: 'All women, always, are of two sorts, good and evil. The good women are fortunate, honoured, the mothers of the world, and they uphold this earth, with its forests and groves. The ones who are not good have evil intentions; they behave badly and destroy their families. They can be recognized by the evil marks that arise spontaneously on their limbs.'”
As if to hang this notion upside down from its ears, Mohanty makes the women of his story do all kind of heavy lifting, right from poisoning their princes to crossing continents. They are warriors, librarians, scribes, adventurers, killers, revenge-seekers and what not. He celebrates his characters and makes them do everything that the age-old epic forbids them too. I am especially a fan of Mati (Bhanumati), the pirate princess of Kalinga (Mohanty is her compatriot, not in time but in location) who is hell-bent on dropping her husband right into the lap of heavenly baikunth. Then there is Vahura, a bookdragon kind of princess ready to go to any length to save her sister. Once you read Mohanty’s book, you realize BR Chopra’s Mahabharata is a toddler bandying about in diapers.
My favourite quote: ‘Inevitability is often the mother of surrender but with the right dosage of circumstances and will, can be the step-mother of defiance.’
Read this book with a huge bar of sweet chocolate to swallow down the bitterness of the ages.

[Gangadharan Nadar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am literally stunned after finishing Dance of Shadows.
This book left me stunned, amazed, and emotionally wrecked in the best possible way. It is brutal, beautiful, cleverly woven, and absolutely fearless.

Gourav Mohanty once again proves that he is one of the boldest storytellers in Indian fantasy genre today and definitely the pioneer of grimdark fantasy from India as I don’t think there is any grimdark books from India

⸻
🗡️ A mind-blowing, brutal masterpiece

This book is easily one of the most gripping and brutal grimdark fantasy novels I’ve ever read. The plot is mind-blowing, unpredictable, full of political intrigue, betrayals, prophecies, shocking deaths, and devastating character arcs.

Almost no character is safe.
Even beloved lead characters suffer brutal fates, horrifying twists, or complete moral destruction.
If you enjoy high-stakes grimdark, this book delivers it without mercy.

⸻

⚔️ A sidequel to Mahabharata meets Game of Thrones

Like Sons of Darkness, this is not a retelling of Mahabharata but a re-imagining that uses Mahabharata’s building blocks while constructing a completely new world and story structure.. This book is not exactly a sequel but a sidequel since the plot of the book happens almost simultaneously with the events of the first book .

It truly feels like Mahabharata meets Game of Thrones, especially in its politics, its character shades, and its willingness to tear down sacredness and comfort.

⚠️ A note for religious readers

If you hold the Mahabharata as a sacred scripture, and expect characters to remain divine, pure, or traditionally heroic —
you might find parts of this book blasphemous or uncomfortable.
The author is unapologetically grimdark, and he twists, subverts, and reinterprets epic figures with zero hesitation.

⸻

🌱 GRRM influence and the ‘gardener’ style

Gourav Mohanty has stated he has up to 4 books planned, and you can clearly see the GRRM influence — in the layered politics, in the moral greys, and in the way small or forgotten characters from the epic suddenly bloom into major players.

Characters like Dantavakra, Bhagadatt, and many minor names from mythology get surprisingly prominent, rich arcs here.
This is classic “gardener” storytelling, where characters grow organically and unpredictably.

⸻

📚 A huge book that reads surprisingly fast

This novel is massive, but the prose is incredibly smooth — I finished it far quicker than expected.
Every chapter feels alive and easy to follow, even with such a vast cast and high stakes.

India doesn’t have many grimdark fantasy authors, but these two books alone show that the genre can absolutely thrive here.

⸻

⚠️ A small personal complaint

Two of my favourite characters from Book 1 — Krishna and Shakuni — have almost no major role in this one.
Shakuni is mentioned once.
Krishna never appears directly, although his presence is woven into the background of the story.

I wish both had at least a brief cameo.
That’s my only real complaint.

⸻

🚨 SPOILER WARNING — stop reading if you haven’t finished the book

Several characters meet horrifying, tragic ends.
Characters like Marzana, Mati, and Dantavakra suffer some of the most brutal fates in the entire saga so far.

Mati’s climax scene is absolutely devastating.
I still don’t understand how she survives what happens, but I strongly feel she is not dead — at least not yet. Her storyline is clearly set up for a massive payoff.

Marzana’s fate destroyed me.
Dantavakra’s transformation is tragic and painful.

This book is merciless.
And that is exactly why it leaves such a lasting impact.

⸻

🔮 Final thoughts

With four planned books, I truly hope the author continues the best parts of GRRM’s influence — the rich storytelling, the layered conflicts — and avoids the one part every reader fears: the endless delay between books!

I am eagerly looking forward to the next installment.
If the first two books are any indication, this series may go down as the best grimdark sagas ever written in India.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

My jaw literally dropped. Multiple times.

Dance of Shadows is the sequel to Sons of Darkness, but it's a parallel story in that most of it takes place at the same time as the events of the first book, only we follow different characters. Before I go any further, I just want to acknowledge that a) I don't typically read adult epic fantasy, so any confusion on my part may be the result of that and b) I just started a semester at school, which may also play a role in my comprehension of certain parts of this book. I wanted to throw that out there so you can take this review with a grain of salt.
I think I preferred this book to the first, and the main reason is that it follows one of my favorite story structures: the characters are all split up at first but come together by the end. There are so many moving plotlines it can be hard to follow at times. Mati (yes, the same pirate princess) and her appointed knight, Dantavakra (yes, Shishupal's womanizing brother) are supposed to be traveling for diplomatic reasons. Karna finds Marzana, a dancer who may just save his life. Nala, Masha, and Parshuram embark on a journey to save the world. Vahura is simply a bookworm princess searching for a way to save her sister. I can't say much more without dropping spoilers, but the last 20% of the book was incredibly shocking in a variety of different ways and I don't know if I'll ever recover. My main issue was that the pacing dragged at some points, and yet at other times I was confused as to how characters had progressed from place to place so quickly.
I also enjoyed the characters from this book way more than the first. I also appreciated that they are all morally complex and there's not really any character who doesn't do things you'll disagree with at some point. I found Mati's chapters very enjoyable (they had a fair amount of action), but she's also just a fun narrator. I didn't like Dantavakra at first, but by the end, he was probably one of my top three characters (we love the noble knight types). I didn't care much for Karna and Marzana's sections, mostly because they were the most "romance" heavy. While Nala was my favorite in the first book, she kind of annoyed me in this one...mostly because her role of favorite was usurped by Taksha. Taksha was, hands down, my favorite character and I can't really explain why. I didn't care much for Masha again, especially with the dynamics between her, Nala, and Taksha that left me with mild secondhand embarrassment. I also didn't love Vahura, which was surprising because I usually love characters similar to her. I did love Vauri, though.
Fans of Sons of Darkness will not be disappointed by this stunning sequel, Dance of Shadows, and its epic scale, rich worldbuilding, and fascinating characters.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!

3.5/5

[Sid Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Sons of Darkness, which robbed me of my sleep, I braced myself again to sacrifice my forty winks to delve into Gourav Mohanty’s 800-page opus, his unique version of Mahabharata (not merely a retelling) and beyond.

Power is a lust that spares no one, not even those of your blood. When the young bard named Gourav picks up his pen, he bleeds our history through his imagination, blending our epic, the Mahabharata, with fantastical realms of The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones.

Mati has clear goals: she craves power because all irresponsible men seek is mayo with momos.

Duryodhan, wearing the shield men and warriors often use to hide their emotions, is a lover almost blind in his affection, despite his honourable intentions.

Vahura will do anything – literally anything. When it comes to her clan, she would even kill her own to save her replica in distress.

Loyalty courses through the reins of Karna—whether for a friend or his love. However, when anger ignites, he transforms into a beast in a second.

Parshuram needs no introduction; he bears a gigantic mission on his shoulders. Nala, his apprentice, carries a wound that worsens with a burning desire for revenge.

Meenakshi is well-established in the oldest profession known to the human race, but all she seeks is love. She does everything that one might do in her position.

Bhagadatt is powerful and in love, no less than a man blind in love. No power can endure longer if you love with eyes shut.

I feel nothing but proud when an Indian author crafts an epic grimdark fantasy with a compelling narrative that it spellbinds you for eternity.

To call the characters memorable would be an understatement; these are grey characters, each with hidden agendas.

The vocabulary is rich and challenging but aptly suited to the genre.

Remarkable dialogues and conversations serve as the icing on the cake!

Dance of Shadows transports you to a realm where the Mahabharata unites with Game of Thrones, brimming with epic battles, ruthless politics, moral dilemmas, and legendary clashes that will leave you spellbound throughout this 800-page tome.

As a sequel to Sons of Darkness, which is a masterpiece in itself, Dance of Shadows is a book you have to pick up this season for three reasons: first, for its extraordinary imagination; second, to support an Indian writer who has the potential to present our literature to global Diaspora; and third, to experience Indian fantasy-mythology read filled action, drama, politics, battles, magic, betrayal, revenge, emperors, warriors, adventurers, lovers, friends, foes, killers, priests, Saptarishis, and so much more.

[CypressFox · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Staying grows so very lonely when one stays all alone. But it is far, far lonelier when one has to stay with ghosts."

⭐⭐⭐/5

I can say with confidence that I enjoyed the first volume far more than this one.

I find the rest of my thoughts kind of muddled. Likely they will clear up in time. What I feel most strongly right now is disappointment that the first 75% of the book did not match the last 25%, and that is to say, I was quite bored / appalled / frustrated with this book for a LONG TIME.

One of the things I found disappointing was that I felt Mohanty's quirky writing style from Sons of Darkness did not come out as strongly throughout most of Dance of Shadows. I thought SoD was FUNNY, and I was easily entertained by characters such as Krishna. This means I thought Dance of Shadows felt dull in comparison; Mati, Dantavakra, and Vahura were making me laugh towards the end, but everything else felt stagnant to me. Now, this is a long book, and it doesn't have the most compelling characters to me, so this was a heavy blow.

The SECOND — and honestly more important — thing, had roots in the first book but felt especially damning in this one. That is, the treatment of women in this book is concerning at best and downright disturbing at worst. I don't want anyone thinking I am some kind of coward when it comes to gore (the scenes in this book were not worse than what I have read in the past), but it was a little frightening how many violent, DETAILED torture scene (including disembowelment, beheadings, rape, etc) were reserved for the women in this series. In this book alone, I would wager that, for every violent (described) male death, there were four women to accompany him. It felt, to an extent, that this was intentional. Following this, I have plenty of misgivings towards the way women are written in this series, but if I was to lay all of those out, this review would be far longer than I am willing to write. Just know, if you appreciate women who are written to be human beings, and you want these human beings to live, you probably shouldn't bother reading this series.

Still, to give this book series credit for something, it has got to be one of the ballsiest in terms of throwing characters out like it's nothing. I seriously cannot feel safe with anyone for any extended period of time, and I actually think that's a good thing. Keeps me on my toes!

I do intend on continuing this series once the next one comes out, but I urge anyone trying this out to approach it with caution.

[Prachi Pati · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dont even know where to begin reviewing this book. Let's just say, this prudish reader's sensibilities have been taken for the roller coaster ride of the Century!

Dance of Shadows isnt a sequel to Sons of Darkness, but takes place in parallel, leading up to the battle of Mathura, which takes place in Sons of Darkness. In this book, we get to meet some recurring characters from Sons of Darkness such as my favorite - the Princess Pirate Mati, the assassin Nala and the Oracle Masha, the tragic hero Karna and the anti hero Dhuryodhan, the immortal teacher Parshuram and Sage Vyas, Dantavakra. We also meet new characters - the librarian Princess - Vahura and her sister Vauri, the devdasi dancer - Marzana/Meenakshi, the Rose Coterie gang, to name a few.

The pace of the book is slow in the beginning, but it helps in building the plot and the character arcs better, since we have a couple of parallel threads going on in the story, which finally culminate in a sensational and horrific ending and a 'what the hell just happened' type of climax.

If I had thought the scenes in Sons of Darkness were brutal, now I realise that had been a cakewalk in comparison to this book. This book should come with a million trigger warnings - rape, rape of a minor, gore, violence, harm to animals, murders galore, and what not. But I guess that is what the Grimdark genre is all about..there is no hope here, there are no happy endings here. There are no heroes here and no villains here. Okay, maybe there are some villains, because I really hated some characters and was glad to see them end in a befitting way.

I didnt enjoy the crass dialogues and humour though, but again, thats a personal observation, since the setting probably required this. I did enjoy the world building and all the three plots. My favorite arc was definitely Vahura's quest and the under city quest that Nala/Masha/Parshuram go through in Iyran Machil...I was very heartbroken with what happens to my favorite character in the book, and for that I will probably not forgive the author. I needed to read The Hobbit to get over my gloom and nightmares after finishing DoS. I wonder what is in store for the next book and if I'll have the courage to read that!

[Anshika Mishra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sequels can either deepen a story or simply extend it — Dance of Shadows firmly does the former.

The second book in Gaurav Mohanty’s epic fantasy series, following The Son of Darkness, builds a world that feels richer, darker, and far more immersive. I’ll be honest: I enjoyed this part more than the first. The narrative has layers — of magic, politics, ancient history, and emotions — all unfolding at a more confident pace.

What truly stood out to me was the sense of adventure. The exploration of the lost city of Manu, especially through Nala and Parshuram’s journey, gave me strong vibes of a high-stakes treasure hunt. Reading those sections felt like stepping into a story where ancient secrets are waiting to be unearthed — the kind of tension and curiosity I associate with Dan Brown or Matthew Reilly novels. That blend of mythology and fast-moving discovery kept me completely hooked.

The book balances its elements beautifully. There’s magic woven into the worldbuilding, not overwhelming but deeply rooted. The romance simmers quietly in the background, adding emotional depth without overpowering the larger narrative. And then there are the dragons — majestic, powerful, and absolutely my favorite part. Their presence elevates the story, adding both awe and intensity whenever they appear.

What I appreciated most was how the story doesn’t rely on spectacle alone. The characters feel more grounded, their motivations clearer, and the stakes more personal. The writing feels sharper, and the plot more assured, as if the author truly settles into his world in this installment.

Dance of Shadows is the kind of sequel that expands its universe while keeping the reader emotionally invested. If you enjoy mythology-inspired fantasy with ancient cities, layered storytelling, and dragons that command attention, this book is a rewarding read.

A powerful continuation — one that proves the series is only getting stronger 🐉✨📖