Absolutely gorgeous retelling/reimagining of the goddess Ganga’s tale, the lead up to Mahābhārata War told from the perspective of Ganga and her son.

It plays very loose with the epic, so it’s easy for anyone not familiar with Hindu poetry epics to get into. A few familiar names may pop up, and at times there are a few difficult themes, but overall it was a very beautiful book. A gorgeous, sweeping story of a mother’s love, the responsibility of power, justice, and the greater good.

I highly recommend.

So many characters 😢 Whenever I thought ”This is it, this is everybody” someone new would be introduced again, and then again… It was a bit difficult for me to keep track of who did what, but I usually struggle with this so it’s not the book’s fault.

There were some very emotional scenes, and the writing was stunning. I wish the book was a bit more atmospheric though.

This isn't a book that I would usually choose however the cover caught my eye whilst browsing netgalley.

I am completely unfamiliar with the original story so cannot compare or comment on how well it has adapted that story BUT I was fascinated by the complete uniqueness.


Now, there IS a lot of characters and yes this IS a slow burn that may take you a few chapters to get into. However , I felt an instant attachment to Ganga and loved following the story alongside her. Other chapters... less so. But I do feel I generally prefer single POV books so this may not bother other people as much as me.

If you want a mythological tale that is most likely new to you (no small feat in a genre heavily saturated with tales of Greek Gods and Asian Legends) then do please give this a read.

DNF @ 42%

I really tried with this one, I put it down and picked it up again so many times but I think it's time to admit defeat.
The beginning of the book really drew me in and I read the first section SO fast. The writing was lush and the world was so vivid. As someone who is unfamiliar with the Mahabharata I was really excited to see how the story unfolded. Unfortunately after the first section I felt the story became uninteresting and I found myself reaching for other books. I didn't care for the politics and the life of the humans as much as the magical story of Ganga at the start. I'm sure this is entirely a me problem rather than a book problem as I can't fault the author's writing at all. The only criticism I have of the book itself is that the timeline was a little confusing and jumping around made the story feel a little disconnected at time. However, this could again be a me problem. I may pick this book up again in the future if I feel more in the mood for it.

Rating 4⭐️ for the part I did read and taking into account my own lack of focus.

Thankyou to NetGalley and the publisher for the eArc

This book made me want to do two things: read more of Vaishnavi Patel’s work and learn more about Hindu myths. Goddess of the river was my first taste of Hindu mythology, I cannot speak on how accurate the retelling is as I have no prior knowledge of this tale. There is a trigger warning for certain parts of this story, which Patel includes within the book's first few pages.

We follow Ganga as she descends from the heavens to earth, we watch as she learns of earth and its habitants, we see as she is changed by lessons flung upon her during her time as a mortal. We walk alongside her as she faces choices a mother shouldn't have to make, we feel her suffering and her rage at the world. In the end, I understood Ganga.

This was absolutely phenomenal, from the story to the world to the characters. I fell into this so easily, I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again, I’m a sucker for prose and Patel does it beautifully. It isn’t the main focus of the writing, it adds a nice poetic flair however the writing style really felt like I was being told the story by Ganga.

There was some slight confusion with a certain character, I've seen other people mention it in their reviews however I personally liked it. Was I confused? Yes. But it's a twist in the tale, and it works wonderfully because Ganga shares the confusion with us. The story does include other characters, I thought it might be somewhat overwhelming trying to keep track of them in my mind however it was easy. I think it's obvious Ganga is my favourite, the other characters are just as complex and interesting as she is. I was completely drawn in by Ganga's voice.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eArc in exchange for my honest review.

I have never read the Mahabharata, it has always seemed so unwieldy a story to dive into with no understanding of any of its moving parts. This is also the first retelling of any of the stories the Mahabharata contains, so I'm by no means able to reflect on whether this is true to the original.

However, I can say with certainty that this book made this story, one focused on the goddess Ganga, accessible to a non-own voices reader. The book is so well written, the characters so well depicted that a reader that hasn't got the cultural understanding of these stories from childhood was able to pick it up and thoroughly enjoy it, even want to read further retellings.

The story was brilliant in the way it was epic in scope but so very personal and individual in characterisation and plot lines.

The two main characters, Ganga and her mortal/gosling child Bhishma, are wonderful and their points of view serve to ask the reader to reflect on life, community and their impact on the world.

The only confusion I had was when the alternating points of view were very chronologically out of sync. There were moments where it was a bit much and then they would be similar timings again. I think it was to reflect on the status of the river as something apart from human time but as a human reader I struggled.

Beautiful book that has opened up a whole new area of myth and retelling to start reading ❤️

A gorgeous reimagining of the story of Ganga. I love Vaishnavi Patels writing, it literally flows like a river. The mix of fantasy and traditional Indian myth makes for rich storytelling. I especially loved the portrayal of humanity and the mother bond. There are dark themes explored and I felt these were dealt with masterfully. If you want a book that’s compelling and engaging then this is for you. Thank you to the author for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

I took my time with this one! I really enjoyed the book, and its narrative style was great. Once I got into the story, I was able to fly through it.

It took me a while to get into the style of Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel. It's a partial retelling of a part of the Mahabharata from the perspective mostly of Ganga, the river goddess. It's well executed but it definitely takes you a while to get the strange perspective of a river deity as a character. I did enjoy it when I was able to get a solid run on a couple of longer train journeys.

There are two main point of view characters in Goddess of the River. The first, and majority POV character, is Ganga, the devi of the river. The second is her son Devavrata, who also goes by a couple of other names in the story. The opener sets the scene for the main part of the story, with the classic origin story of Ganga, and the happy times before she was made into a mortal and cursed to bear the godlings that played on her banks children. I have to say that I found this section really hard going. The perspective of a river goddess tied to the flow was hard to get my head around, although I'm really glad I persevered with it because later on the story was epic.

Once she becomes a mortal, albeit still aware of her history, it gets easier to follow. That said the story is not for the squeamish. Ganga knows her children will be reincarnated back to being godlings. So although cursed to bear them into the world, she doesn't let them live in it. Only when her last child is born the king she'd married intervenes to stop her killing him. That child is the other POV character.

The other main character in Goddess of the River is  Devavrata, the son of Ganga. He strives hard to hold himself to a higher standard and keep his vows. This strict adherence to duty drives a lot of the conflict in the story, and is a moral warning straight out of the Mahabharata. Devavrata, later known as Bhishma (terrible oath), is so close to duty (dharma)  that he does unrighteous things knowingly because of his duty to Hastinapur and it's line of kings.

Each chapter is clearly labelled in reference to distance from the war, and we move back and forth through his life. Sometimes from his point of view, and sometimes from Ganga's. We see the threads of develop, and then weave into consequences. Every decision, even the small ones, seems to set up the war or the downfall of Bhishma. The decisions lead to complexities, and his attempts to avoid conflict inevitably lead to more conflict further downstream. There's a large cast, all with their own enmities, jealousies, and motivations. You can see how it ties into an even more epic story.

Conclusions
I enjoyed Goddess of the River. It's not light reading, even as a simplified version of a side story of the epic Mahabharata there are a lot of characters to track. The Goddess of the River also jumps around with time and covers a long period. That multi-generational aspect makes it a bit harder to keep everything in your head when you dip in and out a chapter at a time. That said it left me feeling that I want to read even more. I've realised how little I've had the south Asian stories in my reading, and how amazing they are.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - this book was so beautiful and flowed so well… like a river maybe!🤔

Mythological and historical retelling fantasy!

This was such a fun read and I really enjoyed reading it. It really dictated everything it is to be human in such a magical way!

“But did his intentions matter. When they did not stop calamity?” - this line was poetic and a great indication on the books amazing words and flow!

Amazing world building. I was able to vividly imagine the world that Vaishnavi built and described extremely well! The plot also flowed so well around the world building making it not seem overwhelming and heavy like some reads!

Ganga is introduced in the book as the river goddess and the mother of other gods within her shores. Ganga has been forced into a human form and forced to defend godlings. This story depicts love of beauty, torn apart relationships, and need for protection above all else.

I loved this story it was so unlike anything I had read previously and I am absolutely grateful to get to experience this book thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and of course Vaishnavi 🫶

This is a It’s me, not you situation. I sadly didn’t like this and it put me in a reading slump for all of April. I can see the potential in the story and understand why people will love it but I couldn’t connect to the story or characters at all. At one point the author introduced so many new characters that I just felt lost.
I didn’t grow up with the stories this is based on which I feel is somewhat needed. So overall this didn’t work for me but might work very well for a lot of different people.

GODDESS OF THE RIVER is a centuries-spanning tale of a mother's love for her son in a relationship fraught with fundamental differences in world view.

This is a retelling of myths that make up part of the sprawling epic, the Mahabharata. Like with KAIKEYI, it focuses on a character often overlooked. Instead, GODDESS OF THE RIVER places her squarely at the centre of it, an immortal observer who slowly comes to realise she cannot remain remote from the mortal world as it tears itself apart.

The book weaves together a past and present timeline to bring this epic tale of a great way caused by the many ways families failed one another. The second perspective (and timeline) come in from the second (of four) acts. It did take me a while to get into Bhisma's chapters as they bring with them a sudden influx of new characters who, as someone unfamiliar with the myths, it took some time to get to grips with who they all were (the family tree at the front was invaluable for this.)

I enjoyed how this book exposed the fundamental flaws in inflexibility for the sake of honour. Lots of fiction and myths hold up keeping your word no matter what as this great and noble thing. Here, that rigidity in how oaths are interpreted causes so many problems as Bhishma keeps his oaths absolutely to a cruel, foolish, weak king rather than standing up to him to, objectively, do the "right" thing.

In all, this was an engaging, epic tale of broken families and a goddess bringing compassion to those hurt by the actions of others.

Rounded up from 4.5 stars.
This was another fantastic tale from Vaishnavi Patel. It is a retelling of the Mahabharata with a focus in the goddess Ganga and her son Devavrata.

This was one of my most anticipated reads for the year and it did not disappoint. I adore this book. The writing truly transports you into the story. I find Patel's writing has incredibly strong visuals and I often feel like I'm watching the story rather than reading it.

I also loved the development of Ganga. There is so much to her, more than just her being a powerful entity. She learns and grows constantly and I felt so connected to her throughout the book.

I really liked the interwoven timelines which gave you history and character development while moving the plot on at a good pace. However it did mean sometimes I got lost as to who a character was and how they fit into the two timelines. There is a family tree that would probably have helped but it wasn't easy to access on the eARC version I had.

I think the only other downside was that I didn't feel that same connection to some of the other characters. A lot of that is to do with them not having a lot of time dedicated to them. However, I believe that this is inevitable when trying to condense a tale such as the Mahabharata into a smaller story.

Deity Ganga’s story crisply retold.
This feminist take of Ganga is timely and engaging. The narrative structure is a bit uneven, but besides that, this is a great read. I will read it again to absorb all the details (especially the ones prior to the time jump).

Avis Lecture 🧐📖 "Goddess of the River", par Vaishnavi Patel, réécriture de mythologie indienne 🇮🇳🌊
@vaishnawrites
Je remercie @netgalley pour l'envoi de ce service presse ✨

Après une malheureuse rencontre avec Shiva, Ganga, la déesse du fleuve, perd sa divinité, Shiva l'emprisonnant sous une forme humaine. Là, elle fera la rencontre du roi Shantanu qu'elle va épouser et avec qui elle enfantera Devavrata, aussi connu sous le nom de Bhishma, personnage majeur de l'épopée du Mahabarrata.
Remontez aux origines de la légende... 🤩

Je retrouve l'autrice quasiment deux ans après l'excellentissime "Kaikeyi".
Après le Ramayana, Vaishnavi Patel revisite un des plus grands textes de la mythologie indienne : le Mahabarrata, et là encore l'autrice en profite pour nous offrir un point de vue rafraîchissant et engagé en la personne de Ganga, déesse qui donne son nom au Gange, la déesse du fleuve.
Encore une réécriture avec une figure féminine et ça fonctionne tellement bien 🤩💗.
Alors, pour être tout à fait exact, nous avons également un autre point de vue dans ce texte en la personne de Devavrata, le fils de Ganga donc, dont les choix et le destin vont pousser à la plus grande épopée jamais écrite : le Mahabarrata cité plus haut.

Dans ce nouveau roman à paraître dans quelques jours, l'autrice explore la relation mère-fils ainsi que le sacrifice et les rapports entre le divin et l'humanité. Elle explore aussi la quête de liberté de Ganga et son désir de retrouver sa divinité et couvre également la guerre et le début de l'ère des ténèbres. D'ailleurs j'ai beaucoup aimé la manière dont Patel nous présente Ganga en tant que fleuve. On a aucun mal à ressentir et faire corps avec l'élément aquatique et s'imaginer la forme première de la déesse avant sa chute.
C'était assez bluffant ! 🤩
C'est une réussite pour moi, une nouvelle réécriture avec deux points de vue très bien menés et très émouvants et une bonne entrée pour ceux qui souhaitent plonger dans le Mahabarrata 🥰

Et vous? Avez-vous déjà découvert quelques titres de Fantasy Indienne ? 🇮🇳💗

This was written like a Classic Greek Mythology retelling. Really in-depth character exploration and a visceral telling of a story I didn’t know too much about. Some parts felt a little slow to read through and the pace was up and down but overall, enjoyable.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This is a very different kind of fantasy novel, focusing on the character of a goddess rather than the humans and looking at humanity and its foibles from that perspective. Ganga is an engaging and interesting character, though there is a slight disconnect in the narrative due to her perspective being removed from a lot of the 'action' in the plot. I can imagine if you know the mythology Patel is using, this would be a fascinating take on it. However, because I didn't, it did sometimes push me out of the novel. The depiction of motherhood is raw, and Patel certainly doesn't shy away from showing the failures of humanity, but I could have done with a bit more joy and light.

Interesting retelling of the Goddess Ganga, this was my first time reading anything about Hindu mythology! I did enjoy the 1st part of the book the most, and I really liked the writing, but sadly I fell into a reading slump after a while. The time jumping was not my cup of tea and I found myself confused at times with all the new characters inserted from part 2. Granted, I know nothing about Hindu mythology and maybe I was not the right audience for this book, but I am sure someone who has at least some knowledge about it may enjoy it more!

impressed yet again with Vaishnavi Patel!

i sometimes stay away from novels that depict deities and gods because authors can rarely capture the vastness and entirety of their beings but Patel has obviously put much thought and skill in writing Ganga. Patel deserves praise for this reimagining of Mahabharata and her interpretation and depiction of Ganga's relationship with her son Bhishma. their characters were pretty solid and the worldbuilding was great. i may have been confused with the many characters at first but i trusted the author to offer me the necessary information in due time, which Patel did. i am not familiar with the original myth but i still enjoyed the story and felt that the narrative and themes were cohesive. i liked the themes on duty, justice, and responsibility and how the characters embody these. the plot can be a bit hard to follow at some point because it jumped several years back and forth but i got used to it eventually and even thought that the parallels drawn between past and present were clever and offered insight into the characters and the world they inhabit. the writing was truly remarkable because this story would not have worked with any other style.

so how faithful it is to the original, i cannot say, but i can say that this is a well-written novel. i'd recommend this to people who enjoy myth retellings and atmospheric novels. i look forward to Patel's future work!

This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2024 and did not disappoint. I love mythological retellings and finding one on based on Hindu mythology in mainstream publishing is rare. Growing up in an Indian household, I've watched the serials based on the Mahabharat, and Ramayana and these have always focused on the males as these tend to. I loved how this delves into the Goddess Ganga and her growth as she experiences her penance as a mortal, as well as the depth of emotions that her son experiences trying to balance righteousness against his vow to his stepmother, and his responsibility towards his kingdom. The description of Ganga as a river, flowing and feeling, is a thing of beauty and you feel her plight of being constrained to a mortal body, so much more thereafter. And then the pure joy that emerges after being freed, despite her emotions still being entwined in her mortal life gives rise to the her strife in staying above the matters of mortals.

I love that just this little part of the Mahabharata, makes me want to pick up the larger text and read it, to delve into more details relating to the story. Vaishnavi covers this with such eloquence and beauty, that you can picture Shiva's garden, Krishna's grace and Surya's light. My only complaint is that with the dual time line, I was confused by Bhishma until I covered the explanation later in the story, and I worry that this would throw readers off and disrupt the flow even more for those not familiar with Hindu mythology. I understand completely why it was done the way it was, and loved it in the greater scheme of the plot but perhaps a footnote would add to ease of reading.

I eagerly look forward to any book written by Vaishnavi and recommend this to everyone with an interest in fantasy and mythology. you will absolutely not regret it.

Thank you to Little Brown Book Group UK for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review