Hunted by the Sky (The Wrath of Ambar, 1) Hardcover – June 23, 2020

FINALLY!! Thank you!I have been in a moody reading slump and every book I read just wasn’t doing anything for me, I would have to push myself to finish them and that’s never fun. But then...**ENTERS HUNTED BY THE SKY**GOODBYE READING SLUMP!!I was SO sad when this book ended, it was THAT good! This book has everything I love in a book; enemies-to-lovers, fated mates, political intrigue, royal secrets, plot twists, morally gray characters that you can’t help but love, many different types of magic, great world building, amazing character development and I could go on and on.I am eagerly looking forward to the next book! I needed it like five minutes ago... let the waiting begin. 😩😩

A beautiful blend of Indian and Persian mythology this book will take you to a world inspired by medieval India. Everything is described in such detail you feel more like a bystander than a reader.Gul and Cavas have both had pretty hard lives, completely different lives led by extremely different people but they're about to find out they need each other more than they want to admit.With magic, secrets, prophecies, and a twist or two this book was such a joy to read.

Once you pick up the book, its hard to place it down! A thrilling story with mystery, magic, love, revenge and much much more! Lots of unexpected twists and turns that keep you enthralled. Or simply put a story of a fierce girl with determination and strong women guiding women. Very often in stories, although the protagonist is female, the supporting characters and the role model is often a man, unintentionally portraying the females inferior to men. This book does justice showcasing women with variety of different characteristics.

This book is fantastic. I stayed up reading it way longer than I should. It is set in a world inspired by medieval India. There are kingdoms, prophecy, and magical creatures. It is a story about love, hope, and sisterhood. Please give it a try and you will not be disappointed.

Well-written. Takes a while to get into the flow of the story, but once it takes off, you won’t be able to put the book down.

5 stars

A Girl...After her parents were killed, Gul Is taken in and trained in battle magic by a group of women devoted to overthrowing tyranny. Born with a star shaped birthmark, Gul must hide herself from the Raja’s Sky Warriors as a well as discover What power she has hiding inside.A Boy...Cavas lives in the tenements outside of the capital. These slums house thousands and thousands of people born without magic. These second-class citizens Are looked down upon by those with magic. Called dirt liquors. Prevented from holding jobs or even living outside of the slums. Cavas Longs to escape. But his world is rocked on the night of the blue moon... the night of lovers...A Prophecy...And a chance to save the world.—Oh my! What do I say about this novel? The world is incredibly fascinating and well woven. Based on Indian and Persian mythology and culture the world leaps off the page to the point where you can smell the curried lentils and hear the jingling of anklets. I loved the richness of the world. And loved that it wasn’t based on Western European fantasy tropes.Gul and Cavas are well-realized characters. Their voices are clear. Their motivations understandable. I was invested in their storylines. And I found that the people surrounding them were interesting and three dimensional. It was lovely seeing a Brown girl taking center stage. And I had absolutely no trouble relating to the characters motivations in their story whatsoever. I have to admit, Prince Amar, His little sister, and Gul’s horse are my favorite characters.Since this is young adult fantasy with romantic elements, you pretty much can guess that there are going to be a lot of standard tropes in play. There is the chosen one. A Prophecy. The mentor with a secret past. The charismatic animal companion. Hidden powers. And mysterious parentage. Two competing love interests. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these troops being present. This book is intended for young adult readers. This is the kind of story that high schoolers will love. Especially those looking for ownvoices fantasy featuring South Asian characters.There are a few missteps that take it down a star. The first is that there is a minor pacing problem especially in the beginning of the story. It’s a bit slow, and some readers might find that off-putting. It Could’ve used some tightening up. Especially since there was a lot of exposition that really felt like info dump. And while there was a lot of the world that needed to be broken down and convey to the readers I think there were some better ways to of done it then how it was handled.However, once you got through the sort of clunky expedition the story really took off. There are some fairly tough themes throughout the story including classism and sexism. Refreshingly, different sexualities are handled very well. And there’s both good and bad examples of consent that are made very clear that what is the good and what is the bad. Seriously I loved Prince Amar.And all I really enjoyed this book. I look forward to reading the sequel.Four Stars.

I really loved this story, it's everything I want in a historically-inspired fantasy novel: adventure, a heroine out to right injustices, romance and a solid cast of characters

Trigger warnings : animal cruelty, murder, death, sexual slavery, classismSet in the period of medieval India, this book narrates the story of Gul, a girl with a star shaped birth mark on her arm. And in Ambar, girls with such birth marks are hunted down. It all comes down to an age old prophecy that promises a girl with a star shaped birthmark to overthrow the tyrannical ruler of Ambar. When Gul’s parents recognises the birthmark on their daughter, they flee. Alas that they met their death while trying to save their daughter from the sky warriors.Gul lived. But her birthmark is a secret she needed to hide from the rest of the world – until she takes her revenge from King Lohar. The sisterhood found her and took her under their protection. She trained to control her magic with the sisterhood, learnt to wield weapons and made her plans to infiltrate the palace and kill the king.At the palace works Cavas – just a stable boy trying to make ends meet. He lives in the tenements with his father who is terminally ill and Cavas would do anything to save him. Circumstances brought Gul and Cavas together and before he knew it, he finds himself entangled in her mission and vengeance. Destiny has brought them together, so should they stay. For destiny has plans for them and things would get deadlier thereafter.My desi heart got elated at the mention of all the delicacies like kachori, samosa, the authentic outfits like ghagra choli, the greetings like shubsaver, anandpranam. The world building here is commendable. Svapnalok (world of dreams) is divided into four kingdoms inspired by the four elements of nature – Ambar (sky), Prithvi (Earth), Jwala (fire) and Samudra (water). This book is culturally rich in diversity. There are different classes, people of varying religious beliefs and skin colour. Even though it’s a fantasy world, Tanaz has built it in such a way that you get a glimpse of the culture, the food, the outfilts and also the class and caste discrimination which has prevailed in India since the beginning of times.The book had a very slow start though. It gets better as you progress. The side characters were developed so well and I loved them, especially Amirah. Her sarcasm screams at your face and I am here for it. I loved the unique magic system here. The storyline is majorly based on the prophecy of the girl born with a star mark. However, there weren’t many twists or turns along the way. It did live up to the hype though. Looking forward to read the sequel.

Gul has a star-shaped mark on her arm. This mark is linked to a prophecy. For several years girls with similar marks are hunted down and taken away and drained of their magic. Gul lost her parents because of this, she saw a sky warriors brutally killing her parents in search of her. Since then she only has one purpose- to take revenge. King Lohar who is behind all this is one of the most powerful magus and the task of killing him won't be that simple.Gul met the Sisters of the Golden Lotus who took her with them and trained her to discover her magic. She met Cavas (a non-magus) in a festival and there was an instant spark between them. Cavas helps her to get into the castle and make her way into the palace. Getting to the king is not so easy and there are a lot of things that they have to find out about themselves.The story is set in a medieval Indian setting with a lot of references to the culture.I enjoyed this book and I do not know why it took me so many days to complete it. This book has everything that takes for a good fantasy. The characters are amazing but I wished to know more about them and most of the action was in the later chapters but it was understandable as there will be a sequel.If you wish to dive into a fantasy this season which is rich in Indian culture, I'd suggest you read this one.

✨Gul, with her star shaped birthmark, keeps running from Lohar's soldiers.✨In an attempt to save Gul from the soldiers, her parents get killed and Gul's mother hides her using magical powers.✨Later, she gets rescued by the 'Sisters of the Golden Lotus' and gets trained with using magic.°°✨Cavas, plays a spy, desperate to earn coins which could save his sick father.✨Gul and Cavas tend to cross path which is said to be destined.✨Cavas helps Gul with her mission to fight the king Lohar, who was the sole reason for her parents murder.✨Gul who initially appears to be weak and powerless, later gets to discover her true strength and her ability to fight hard.°°✨Gul and Cavas's innocent and unclear love has got all of my heart!!💖✨Will Gul be able to succeed her mission without any loss?✨What happens to Gul and Cavas's love story?✨Are there any witchy fight scenes?******✨I really wish this fiction novel would be filmed.✨An interesting young adult read in recent times and eager to start with it's sequel sooner.

This was my first time ever reading a book that was inspired by both Indian and Persian mythology! Absolutely loved it!! Can't wait to read the next installment!!