I was born on the full moon under an auspicious constellation, the holiest of positions—much good it did me. So begins Kaikeyi’s story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on tales of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear. Desperate for some measure of independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With this power, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat, and most favored queen, determined to carve a better world for herself and the women around her.But as the evil from her childhood stories threatens the cosmic order, the path she has forged clashes with the destiny the gods have chosen for her family. And Kaikeyi must decide if resistance is worth the destruction it will wreak—and what legacy she intends to leave behind.
Vaishnavi Patel’s debut novel Kaikeyi is a reimagining of the tale of the queen who exiled the hero Rama in the Indian epic Ramayana. In the author's note at the beginning of the novel she mentions that she wanted to give Kaikeyi a chance to explain her actions and explore what might have caused a celebrated warrior and beloved queen to tear her family apart.
In this standalone novel a first-person account of Kaikeyi’s story covering her life from childhood through the immediate aftermath of her choice to exile one of her adult sons is detailed. It describes how she learned at a young age the unfairness towards women and girls in her world. The banishment of her mother at a young age and the differences between how she and her twin brother were treated showed her the unfair treatment towards women.
In the novel Kaikeyi is described as one whose prayers always went unanswered. She turns to the scrolls in the library for knowledge and discovers a forgotten magical art: the Binding Plane, which allows her to see her bonds with people and influence them. She uses it to her advantage, convincing her twin to teach her to fight so she can better protect herself, and then learning to wield a weapon and drive a war chariot. These early experiences shaped her into the woman she became.
Kaikeyi’s a sympathetic protagonist with her all-too-palpable rising anger at the patriarchy. She is shown as a character that is remarkable and persistent, who does her best and tries to make the world a better place. She isn't depicted as perfect and is shown to have flaws, make mistakes and have regrets.
The story of Kaikeyi is compelling and shows a different perspective of the character who is depicted as one of the villains in the original epic. Kaikeyi is a well written debut novel with a flawed heroine determined to carve a place for herself in a society that didn’t want her to be her true self: a queen and a warrior, a mother and a political adviser as well as an advocate for other women.