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shadow_cat94's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Praise to Blue-Skinned Gods for its captivating imagery, and Sindu's ability to capture Kalki's voice as he ages from a child to a naïve young man exploring outside India.
The story occassionally flips forward in time very briefly and it feels uncalled for, but easy to ignore. The very last sentence of this story is why I dropped it by half a star. It does not fit with the tone of the scene nor the mindset of the character at that time. I agree with other reviewers, I feel like I need 50 more pages, because I need an explanation on why that sentence was put there.
Overall, this is a great read with some hard topics and deep questions buried within the pages.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Classism
Minor: Slavery, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Cultural appropriation
There are 2 attempted murders or murders of passion in this story. The victim does not end up dead though.20sidedbi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
- BLUE SKINNED GODS takes its time unraveling it's story, but my goodness, is it worth it. This book is beautiful, enraging, heartbreaking, joyful, and so much more.
- Even when I thought I knew exactly where Kalki's story was going, there's a major plot twist I did not see coming.
- The audiobook, narrated by Varun Sathi, is an immersive experience. I felt like I was right there in Kalki's head, trying to work everything out with him.
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Sexual content
miki_fourinterests's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
spinesinaline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was very, very good and I loved how the story just so slightly shifted and revealed where we were headed as we got further in. Even the subtle aspects of the book, like what each section title ultimately represents, are so important to the story and our ultimate understanding of it and I loved these little nods that we discover throughout! So many of my thoughts are related to the latter half of the book so I’ll refrain from sharing too much to avoid spoilers but if anyone’s read it and wants to chat, let me know!
I was definitely not prepared for the twist, though of course we have hints of ‘what the heck is going on’, but the power of this writing comes not only from the author’s surprise in this twist but the implications of what these new discoveries will mean for Kalki’s sense of the world. Ultimately the book moves from a curious and fantastical story of a child god, to exploring more worldly concepts with Kalki as our eyes and ears.
The book is told almost primarily chronologically but there are a few moments within chapters where we’re suddenly in the present day with Kalki as he reflects back on his story. While I do like having this additional context of his current knowledge and hints of where he ends up, the present day moments were so infrequently mixed in, and usually within a flashback chapter, that it felt an odd change of the flow of the story.
The ending is where I have more issues, which of course I’ll keep vague to avoid spoilers. I was prepared to leave the book with many unanswered questions, which felt very realistic in how people’s lives progress, but the ending then hints that there are even more hideous secrets being kept. Except that after all these hints, we just get more of the same so the scene felt rather pointless, and then the book ended very abruptly.
This is still a book I’ll be thinking about long after I’ve put it down but I wish it could’ve embraced being open-ended more. I also really appreciated that the author ends with a land acknowledgment and includes many recommendations on Indigenous authors to check out.
Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Vomit, Car accident, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment