3.75/5 stars! The cover of this book was stunning and the premise sounded interesting. This is a re-telling of the story of Ganga and has heavy themes. It was written in a way that pulled me in and kept me turning each page, even when some of the content was hard to get through.

I really enjoyed the author's debut work. Hence my expectation was high when i got into this book. There is only so much you can tweak from the original epic of Mahabharata. I would have to commend that it was a creative take from the original epic. However, i felt that some parts were unnecessary and can be confusing. Especially, if you have yet to understand what is the original epic about. Would reccomed to get a basic gist about Mahabaratha to better enhance the reading experience. Overall, I would still be interested in the author's subsequent works but this book keeps my expectations in check.

Just finished Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel, and, if I’m honest, it wasn’t my cup of tea. I usually enjoy a good mythological retelling, but this one felt overly complicated and far too long-winded for my liking.

The premise had promise—Ganga’s perspective as a goddess cursed to live as a mortal sounded intriguing, and there were some lovely moments in the writing. But the constant time jumps and the sheer number of characters made it a chore to keep up with. I often found myself flicking back through pages to figure out what was happening, which pulled me right out of the story.

On top of that, it felt unnecessarily drawn out. While I appreciate the effort to dive into big themes like duty and sacrifice, it just ended up feeling repetitive and, dare I say, a bit heavy-handed. I kept hoping it would pick up the pace, but it never really got there for me.

If you enjoy slow, detailed storytelling, you might get more out of it than I did. But for me, it felt like a slog. Sadly, not every book is a winner, and this one just wasn’t for me.

I am so disappointed, I think I just didn’t gel with the writing style which was so upsetting because I though this book cover was gorgeous.

I absolutely loved Kaikeyi, so I was very, VERY excited to read this one.
Unfortunately, this one did not work out for me. I tried the eARC and the audio, multiple times, and ended up DNFing around 50% I think. Ultimately, I think it just wasn't for me.
I got confused with all the different timelines and all the characters.
I did love the Ganga though, and the part of her journey I got to witness.

Thank you NetGalley, Orbit and the author for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Goddess of the River is set up to be a complex and beautifully written retelling of the Mahabharata, told from the perspective of the goddess Ganga. I was really taken in by the fact that this isn’t a usual fantasy story with the common love interest tropes between the main characters, and rather than this story comes from an established rich heritage, and centres around a mother-son relationship.

From what I have read so far, Goddess of the River seems a beautifully-crafted novel with a lot of depth, though a little disconnected, however I was interested enough to buy a physical copy, and will update this review once I have finished reading it. For now 4 stars for making me want to buy the book!

I haven't read any books based on Indian cultures and their beliefs before so learning about them while reading this was quite fascinating!

Ganga is a river goddess cursed to live a mortal life and give birth to the human forms of other spirits before returning to her true form. Throughout this she is caught up in power struggles for the throne and threats of war.

It is quite a tragic tale and while I didn't know much about this tale before, it was an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for the advance reader copy.

I enjoyed the first half of this book and enjoyed the writing but felt like it was a bit long in the second half. There are a lot of characters introduced in the second half which if you have a physical copy you can look back at the family tree but with a digital version is a little harder.

Overall I enjoyed the read and how it was inspired.

I love seeing South Indian mythology used in fantasy books and while I LOVED Kaikeyi, this one just didn't hit the same. The story was compelling and the writing beautiful but I don't believe that the son's POV added anything to the overall story. It was interesting to see my culture in fantasy in this way though and so I'm hopeful for whatever this author writes in the future.

Thank you for netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this.

This book got me at the description and it went down hill from there.

I was looking forward to the retelling of Ganga story but I felt this didnt really do it justice. I think the author did try but it wasn't something I enjoyed

DNF at about 55%. Usually I don’t give star ratings to unfinished books but I didn’t want to just not leave feedback/no explanation to why I didn’t finish this book and have to choose a rating so I’d still give it 2.5-3 stars because it wasn’t a bad book just not a book for me.

After loving Kaikeyi I had high hopes for this book but sadly it didn’t do it for me so I decided to put it down for now but maybe I’ll give it another shot in the future.

The premise sounded really interesting but the execution didn’t quite hit the mark. There were quite a few time jumps and perspective changes which -structurally- was a cool idea but it’s just not something I generally live in books. Additionally, I couldn’t connect to the characters at all, which again is probably just a me problem.

What I did like was the writing, Patel has a rather easy but still beautiful writing style which I enjoyed a lot and I especially love how she writes about other types of love instead of romantic love.

Overall, this book just wasn’t for me but that’s okay and I do still plan on reading more of Patel’s works in the future.

Vaishnavi Patel just has the most stunning writing style which is on show once again here. Sublime from start to finish.

So happy to have read this book! I'm a greek mythology nerd and have been trying to get into non-western mythology retellings in the hope of learning more. This one was a great pick, I thought the story was super compelling, the author's style depicted the vibe of the story so well and I'm a sucker for atmospheric novels! Great characters, great writing, great plot, please read this one and I'll definitely pick more by this author!

This book is unlike anything I have read before. I’m unfamiliar with the myth it is based on so I had nothing to go on, but I love it. The writing is haunting and it has made me interested in reading more of the authors works and more of the mythology

Unfortunately this book just wasn't my thing. Historical fiction is not a genre I tend to be able to get into and I struggled to maintain focus throughout. The writing style was beautiful, and I imagine for those that enjoy this genre this is a fantastic read, I'm just not the right audience

A beautifully written retelling of the god Ganga, and her son Bhishma.
This was a new story to me and I found it well written, easy to connect to the characters and find yourself in the world.

We start with just Ganga’s perspective, which I find to be the highlight of this book, Ganga goes through struggles such as being “imprisoned,” loosing her immortal companions, being cursed and struggling with being a god learning humanity amid brewing conflicts with her son in the centre of it all.

Overall it was a wonderful book, however the introduction of Bhishma and his chapters became a little overwhelming, we were thrown into the politics and struggling friendships leading to war with a whole new cast of characters that I found didn’t receive a proper introduction to be remembered.

The story has a beautiful pose and is told directly through characters perspective as well as memories. It’s a character driven story and you’ll find yourself rooting for Ganga through struggles and heartbreak.

4 ⭐️

I really loved this! Just as Kaikeyi, Goddess of the River is a transporting and inventive novel with emotive writing and excellent character dynamics. I was gripped almost the whole way through!

My only real issue was the son's chapters - I didn't find they added much to the story and I found it difficult to follow the storyline with all of the relatives, although I might have found this easier not in audio format. (I chose to listen with my Spotify subscription)

This book had a very strong narrative voice that I enjoyed, and reminded me of Circe. The first half was pretty interesting as Ganga got used to being human and was in danger more. The second half ends up being a lot of half baked politics and political machinations between gods that I think the author was less skilled at. Really good last few pages though, and I'm glad to have learned about this tale that I knew nothing about.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.
5 stars book from me. Loved the plot and the stories in this book. Loved every single second reading it.

Sadly, this wasn't the book for me. Might re-read later, but for now i'm dnf-ing at 55%.
I was very invested at the beginning with Ganga, the goddess cursed to become human. However, the plot shifts to focus on her son and i lost interest. Characters irked me and i couldn't bring myself to care about anyone.
The writing is very good, i enjoyed the descriptions and the pacing. But i guess i was really just in the mood for Ganga herself, so i'll abandon here for now.