Love, Pride, Virtue and Fate Review // ft. an entire ownvoices collection of Hindu mythology

Hi friends! I’m crazy excited because Percy Jackson was my everything back in the day. And the Kane Chronicles. As well as this Norse mythology series.

moral of my childhood: i freaking loved mythology.

But when you read books based off of mythology, it’s usually Greek or Roman, possibly Norse, occasionally Egyptian. I’ve never read a collection of stories based off of Hindu mythology and I regret all my former life choices.

A huge thank you to the author for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

It’s kind of crazy how little I actually knew about Hindu mythology before starting Love, Pride, Virtue, and Fate by Bharat Krishnan. All of the stories were brand-new to me! The writing was very professional, it felt exactly as a story of myths should be. If you’ve read D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, the writing is very reminiscent of that.

The author added little notes at the end of each story, comparing it to other myths and even how it’s connected to other religions. I found it so interesting to read these brand-new stories and then be able to recognize the similarities and differences between that and the Greek myths. There’s just something about reading a familiar story in a different setting, with subtle discrepancies that makes me so excited!

The author IS OwnVoices as he is Hindu! One of the things he said that struck me in the heart was that he fell in love with mythology around ages 10-12, but found nothing about Hindu mythology targeted towards those ages then. It’s simply another reason we need to start writing and focusing on more cultures!

A LOT of excitement! There’s an excellent balance between vague descriptions and loose plot threads, because from my experience that’s what makes a mythological collection good.

There were also illustrations scattered throughout which made my five-year old brain ooh and ahh!

I personally didn’t dislike anything, but I will say that these are a collection of myths. They aren’t short stories and the writing style reflects that. So if that’s not your speed, you might want to think about picking it up!

Any recs?

That book of Greek myths that I was talking about earlier is very similar to this!

In conclusion, this was really enjoyable. I’ve actually decided not to rate this because it’s really hard to rate a book of myths, as it all depends on your mood and tastes, but this was definitely worth the time! You can pre-order here or on the day of release, buy it on Amazon! And don’t forget to add to Goodreads! Tell me: do you have a favorite book of mythology?