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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
melshoo'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
3.75
This was a quick read. I agree with other reviewers that there was a tone shift in the last third of the book. I wish there had been more to the ending to clean up the family fallout but I guess real life doesn’t work that way. I didn’t find the key moments at the end of the book to be very cathartic.
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault
zed_dog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt
Moderate: Sexual content and Suicide
nu_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Despite the book claiming to span across many times, it is mostly linear safe for a couple of flashbacks and flash forwards in the earlier books. To me the book was more about Kalki and him trying to reconcile with the traumatizing family/father. He was lied to from a very young age, and being told that he had to bear the burden of his parents sacrifices. In a way this coincides with a lot of themes in South Asian culture where we have this fake reverence towards beings that are godlike, but not actually caring about them as individuals. Allowing our ability to put them on a pedestal of reference and divinity to essentially not let us treat them in a respectful and humane manner.
But his horrible person of a father was of course only thinking about himself and of the fortune that he could make. The main themes of this book like religion/seduction of belief is basically told through the trauma that Kalki goes through at the hands of a narcissistic parent who will do anything for power, including but not limited to, marketing a blue baby as a god too desperate worshipers and forcing his family to play along because he prefers to manipulate people into furthering his own agenda and his own plan (one that is very flimsy upon close inspection).
It's a disturbingly beautiful book, with the writing style so simple yet loud and incisive. It's essentially Kalki retelling his story, looking back at his time at the ashram with nostalgia and bringing us into the crux of his naivity during his childhood. It really forces you to think about how badly people want to believe in something (not necessarily just religion), and even after the "illusion" falls how there will still be people choosing to believe in the lie because it brings them comfort and is better than confronting their entire worldview falling apart.
It's a heavy book, especially in the child/domestic abuse area, so I encourage anyone who's not in the best place mentally to tread lightly. But if you're able to read the book I wholeheartedly reccomend it!
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Stalking, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Kidnapping and Cultural appropriation
sknappy1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse and Physical abuse
Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Animal death and Vomit
racheloddment's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, and Vomit
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
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
kylieqrada'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
3.0
Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent