#krithika h. rao

[triviareads]

ARC Review of The Legend of Meneka by Kritika H. Rao

Rating: 4/5 Heat Level: 3.5/5 Publication Date: January 21st

Premise:

Celestial nymph Meneka agrees to seduce Kaushika, a powerful sage, in order to appease the king of the gods and secure her own freedom.

My review:

This was a sensual, slow-burn romantasy retelling of an ancient Hindu myth; Krithika H. Rao did a wonderful job of melding that myth with her modern reinterpretation to give us a queer, feminist romance.

So, this is the version of the original myth I was told when I was younger: Meneka, an apsara (a celestial nymph and dancer), is sent by Indra to seduce renowned rishi Kaushika in order to distract him from his penance because Indira fears he's growing too powerful. Instead, Meneka she falls in love with Kaushika (Vishwamitra, as he is later known) and they have a daughter together. The story varies from here, but either Meneka leaves or she is banished by Kaushika, but ultimately she leaves him and their daughter behind.

In this story, apsaras aren't just seductresses; they're routinely weaponized by Indra and sent to Earth in order to seduce and ruin anyone he perceives as a threat. Meneka does so by weaving visions of what her targets desire the most, and yes, sometimes she has sex with them (the story starts with her having sex with one such queen). Is she a villain or a victim from birth? That's what a lot of Meneka's internal conflict hinges on as she begins to question her mission more and more.

Queerness is made explicit in a way that was only ever implicit or glossed over in Hindu mythology; Though not in the original, here Meneka is bisexual, and actually embarks on this mission to secure her freedom so she can be with the woman she loves, a fellow apsara— thus her being conflicted, but continuing her seduction nonetheless. We also get quite a few queer secondary and background characters.

And on a romance level, I loved the way the slow-burn was handled; Kaushika and Meneka are naturally suspicious of one another, though not quite enemies. They also stand for radically opposing ideals: Meneka is a seductress, something of a sybarite and a dancer, while Kaushika gave up his throne to perform severe tapas (penance), and embraces ascetism and yes, celibacy. He's something of a remote, austere figure, though obviously not unfeeling (but I wish we'd gotten his POV; we only get Meneka's). How Meneka gets through to him is a masterclass in not only seduction, but also a beautiful acknowledgement of shakti (directly translates to energy or power, it's personified in the feminine) and the divinity of sex and love, even if she twisted it for her own purposes in a way that had me ROLLING.

The sex:

Look, Kaushika was a king before he gave it all up to become a rishi, so what that means is..... the man wasn't always celibate, but it's been a HOT minute since he got any, so Meneka finally getting him to crack is EVERYTHING. There are only a couple sex scenes, but what we get is quite hot— ranging from barely-controlled to just downright feral

Overall:

I'm not a fantasy (romance or otherwise) reader at all, but I adored the romance between Meneka and Kaushika, as well as the way Krithika Rao built on this mythological world. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a more plotty romance, and of course to any romantasy reader, and I'm looking forward to book two in this duology!

Thank you to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.