DNF at 10%

I love Greek mythology and the story of Medea, so the idea of telling this story through the lens of an Indian woman who falls for a white man in the 18th century at the height of British colonialism was immensely appealing to me. However, after reading the first two chapters, I found the writing immensely repetitive and the male protagonist is a red flag from the first moment that we see him. While I'm sure that the ideas in this novel are valuable, the disconnect for me with the writing is enough to make me DNF.

I think Rani Selvarajah’s debut novel “Savage Beasts” is a clever retelling of the myth of Medea set in the time of colonial Britain invading India. I was swept along as Meena (Medea) and James (Jason) flee torture and imprisonment in search of freedom and adventure. But betrayal and death are never far behind when you’re willing to do anything for love and gain, as Meena will soon find out that she doesn’t know James as well as she thought. I liked this book although I’ll admit its darkness could be off-putting at times. “Savage Beasts” hews very closely to the original Greek myth (with all the bloodiness, passion, and revenge you’d expect); so while I would say there are no surprises for the mythological buff, the telling of this tale is still compelling.

DNF after 35%

This is mostly because of Meena, our main character, which I could barely stand.
First, she has zero agenda on her own in the first third. She gets pushed around by other people and the only reasons why she chooses to do something is because people told her she should. Great exception: her first encounter with James, which just makes zero sense why she was there in the first place, and also, why she interrupted.
Second, she immediately falls in deep deep "love" with the first guy that's not a bitch to her. They meet twice from what I can tell before he gets his ass arrested, followed by two other discussions, and then they're proclaiming their undying love to each other. She steals money from her family and plans to run away with him. They've only talked a handful of times beforehand.

The setting was cool, I guess. It didn't fit the way the characters interacted and just from that, it wouldn't have made much of a differene if this hadn't been set in the time and place that it was, aside of the brewing war with the East India Company. Meena mentions in the first chapter that she shouldn't be caught without a chaperone, but she never has a chaperone with her in the first place, so that didn't mean anything I guess.


Well, I'm sad but not surprised. YA-Greek-Mythology-Retellings are apparently just not my genre. I should just stop reading them, honestly.


@NetGalley and Harper Collins: Thank you guys for this ARC!

Debut novelist, Rani Selvarajah has brilliantly reimagined the Greek myth of Medea! Not only has she crafted her tale in a different historical time frame, but she’s also set it in a different culture.

Do you remember Medea, the central figure in the quest of the Golden Fleece and the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts? Well, Selvarajah has reinterpreted her as Meena, the daughter of the powerful Nawab of Bengal and set her adventures against the backdrop of the rise of the East India Company in 1757 Calcutta.

I’ll admit to starting this one with trepidation. I wasn’t sure about (1) a retelling of such a powerful classic and (2) the fate and undertaking of it in the hands of a debut author. My fears were debunked within the first chapter. In fact, I’m still in awe of Rani Selvarajah’s writing; such talent in a debut. If you have any doubts about the twists put on this tale, be rest assured that it’s done exceptionally well.

I was quickly transported to Calcutta, Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope through the author’s attention to fine detail and her implementation of the five senses in her writing. Meena is a fascinating and fearless woman who is determined to stand her ground regardless of personal cost. Selvarajah’s examination of an Indian woman, a princess, nonetheless, who is also a foreigner was captivating. I loved this fearless woman’s portrayal and the fresh appeal of a reworked journey to freedom as much as I enjoyed thinking about what happens when we are no longer useful to those who at one time depended upon our help. A thought-provoking read, for sure.

Readers familiar with the Medea myths will see the parallels in the doomed love affair narratives and will appreciate how well Rani Selvarajah translated it. Yes, there are some niggling parts with falling in love too quickly, repetitive adjectives and scenes where I could see through the actions, but on the whole, it was a spectacular reimagining.

This tale, with a focus on what we are willing to sacrifice in the name of love, is definitely one you’ll want to add to your reading list ASAP.

I was gifted this copy by Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Book review: Savage Beasts by Rani Selvarajah

I recently read Atalanta by Jennifer Saint; in the book, Medea makes a quick but memorable appearance, so when I saw the synopsis of Savage Beasts - a retelling of Medea in 18th century India - I instantly wanted to read it. I was, admittedly, skeptical about how it would look like to transport Medea’s tale into colonial times. But it actually made complete sense: in the original story, Jason and the Argonauts travel to a foreign land to steal the Golden Fleece. That sentence alone screams colonialism to me (waging wars on foreign countries to steal their wealth).

In Savage Beasts, Medea is Meena, the daughter of the Nawab in Calcutta, abused and bullied by both her father and her brother. So when James (Jason) arrives in a Calcutta that is on the brink of war, Meena quickly falls for the charming Englishman - who is the nephew of Sir Peter Chilcott, leader of the East India Company and responsible for the suffering of Meena’s people. James claims he wants to betray his uncle; and Meena sees not only a possibility to save her people but also herself, leaving behind everything she has ever known for the man she loves. Years later, however, she realizes that James’ promises were false and empty, that love can quickly turn into hate, and that she needs to take fate into her own hands - in order to survive, and to get revenge.

I loved the references to the original story throughout the book, the banished Circe/Kiran living on a deserted/remote island in particular. At first, I was a little frustrated with Meena because I couldn’t for the love of me understand what she saw in James, but after finishing the book, I do feel a lot of empathy for her. She saw the chance at a better life and took it. She believed in him, his promises, his love - she was young and naive, after all, and who could blame her for wanting to escape from a family that had treated her so badly her whole life?

I despised James with every fiber of my being, for being such a coward, for betraying his wife and son, for being such an arrogant, smug bastard (sorry). Of course, I don’t agree with Meena’s drastic measures but I understood her rage and anger. To be used, to be discriminated, to be belittled, to be exploited for such a long time - that will definitely result in fury and desire for vengeance. This book had me fuming most of the time on Meena’s behalf. And I must admit: I did have a devilish grin on my face when I was done.

Thank you for the ARC @netgalley, @harpercollinsuk, @onemorechapterhc and @rani_selvajarah in exchange for an honest review. Savage Beasts will be published on May 25. You can pre-order your copy now.

I enjoyed this book, the story of Meena, an Indian princess of Calcutta, and the man she falls in love with, James, an English nephew of their enemy, Peter Chilton. She meets him while out by the docks, after sneaking out from the palace without permission. He seems so amiable, she is taken in by his charms.
The story plodded along, telling how she finds out from James the reason he wants to talk with her father. He will betray his uncle for gold. He can only get an audience with the Nawab with the help of Meena. So she helps him to get to talk to her father. Oh my goodness, there are lots of good and exciting parts to this story and to be honest, it gets better the further you get in the story!. I found at the end that it was over and I wasn't ready for the end!!. I do hope there is more to this story as I'm intrigued to know how Meena's life develops.
I received this free ARC book for an honest review.
#Netgalley, # HarperCollins, #rani_selvarajah.

The author did a great job of infusing elements from the original Medea myth all while driving a new story set in colonial India. There was a little disconnect between the setting and the characters, but if you can overlook this fact, its a good story that keeps you on edge till its conclusion.

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Savage Beasts
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Rani Selvarajah
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Historical Fiction/Mythology Retellinf
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 25th May 2023
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: 24th April 2023
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 3.75/5

”Don’t let him take and take, because if he ever leaves, you need to be happy with what you have left.”

Savage Beasts is a cutting title for a wonderful book. This is a Medea retelling set in 1754 India, just as the British are colonizing India. I love the Greek heroine Medea, and I loved Meena, our main character in Savage Beasts.

The mythology of Medea surprisingly translates extremely well into the British colonization of India. The manipulation, the betrayals, and the cutthroat nature it takes to steal a kingdom. Honestly, as a British woman, I felt sick at the way Meena was treated, the racism and utter misplaced superiority of the British characters in Savage Beasts had my heart bleeding for Meena. This is a tale of such sharp sorrow.

And yet, as Meena’s maid said’ ”she is no helpless wretch”. I admired Meena’s determination to stand up for herself even as I cringed at the potential trouble it would bring down on her head.

I guess this is where my trouble stems from
Meena was so smart, headstrong, stubborn, brave and fearless, and James’ manipulations at the very beginning were so transparent, yet they were making love declarations within chapters of meeting.
Alternatively I did really like the pacing of the novel so it does all balance out.

Overall, this book successfully translates Medea’s story into Meena’s, and explores the British colonization of India in a brutal and heartbreaking manner.

—Kayleigh🤍
@ Welsh Book Fairy🧚‍♀️✨

A good retelling of Medea with an original setting, XVIII century, and a fleshed out and vivid heroine.
Medea is a strong character, a magical and passionate woman. She's the myth and more than the myth.
The author did a very good job in adapting the story to a different era and culture.
Meena is a strong characters and I liked her and her being on the grey spectrum, neither a white lily nor a heartless killer.
A good story that kept me reading.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I liked this book, I enjoyed all of the nods to Medea and the original myth, I thought the writing was great and the characters were enjoyable to read. I wasn’t fully engaged but I did really like it and I will be recommending it to my audience. My only complaint was that there seemed to be a mismatch with the time and setting, I loved the Indian setting and the colonization being a very interesting plot line, but some parts felt really modern for what the time line was supposed to be,

A unique retelling of Medea. It was richly descriptive and beautifully written. I was an invisible bystander witnessing first hand the tale that I was unfolding. I chose this book on the off chance and I am so glad I did. A beautiful read and so highly recommended!!!!!!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

Wow. So Medea is one of my all time favorite characters in Greek mythology. And I have been dying for someone to write a book worthy of her. And ladies and gentlemen, I think we’ve got it. The setting of the British imperial takeover of India and having “Jason” be part of the East India Company was a surprisingly perfect twist. Meena is such a strong character, even as all the men around her underestimate her and abuse her. The plotline follows the myth fairly closely while still being fresh. I loved all the allusions to the myths with Kiran and her wild boars, the names of the ships, and so many other small details.
But the heart of this story is both a woman being betrayed, but also the evils of colonialism. These intertwine so seamlessly. Because ultimately, Medea was otherized by Jason, and Meena is absolutely otherized by James and every other white person she meets. I love how fiesty she is, even while that fire has her being called hysterical. The absolute rage she feels and that I felt on her behalf was consuming. And knowing how the story traditionally ends had me on edge the entire second half of the book. I won’t give anything away, but the narrative choices were perfect. I raged, I cried, and I promise the journey was worth it.
Highly recommend this one!

4.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a requested copy to review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital advanced copy of this book.

I have long loved the character of Medea from the first time I heard about her nearly 10 years ago. Savage Beasts takes the tale of a wronged woman who sacrificed so much of her life for the love of a man, leading to her slowly losing herself with time. This book takes so much of the character and fleshes it out to give strong motives for each action and fills in gaps, adapting it to a time that doesn’t get the coverage in media that it deserves.

I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s writing style, the way they wrote Meena’s thoughts made her feel so real and I found myself empathising with her from the start. I look forward to seeing what’s in store next from Rani Selvarajah.

I really enjoyed this unique retelling of Medea. The author did a great job making it her own by weaving the original tale into an 1800’s India setting. The descriptions were beautifully written, leaving the settings easy to picture as I read. I look forward to reading more from this author of the future!

This book is nothing short of spectacular. A mesmerizing tale that is both original, yet clearly the story of Medea retold through a different, yet achingly familiar setting.

It’s unbelievably amazing how the author has managed to weave an intimate knowledge of the stories surrounding Medea with the history of British colonization in India, and ending it with a twist, just as Euripides did in his iconic play.

The story is raw and real and utterly mesmerizing, both for the people who haven’t read the plays and epics this builds upon and those who have. I believe this is Selvarajah’s debut, yet she already displays such phenomenal abilities in the craft one cannot help but admire her. All from the craftsmanship that is the writing itself, to the blend of Greek text and colonial history— both of which the author clearly has studied thoroughly and has the deep understanding of that is needed in order to write this masterpiece— to the vivid characters and raw anger and friend of Meena.

I cannot recommend this book enough and devoured it in one single sitting. I eagerly await what's next for this author, because if she continues with this kind of incredibly stories, she’s well on her way to become a favorite author of mine.

This was a unique and interesting take on the classic story of Medea. I loved the setting of India and enjoyed getting to learn more about Indian culture in this retelling. The setting is beautifully described and really helped to create an immersive story. However I did find it a little hard to connect with the characters and it took me a while to get through this one.
Overall this an enjoyable retelling with a unique setting.

Wonderfully woven and achingly real. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book because it's out of my usual genre comfort zone, but I did!

*Thank you Netgalley and One More Chapter for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!*
Posted to: NetGalley, Goodreads, and The StoryGraph
Posted on: 7 April 2023

3.8 (rounded up to 4) out of 5 stars.

Like Rani Selvarajah, I read ‘Medea’ in one of my classics class in university. I loved the story of her righting the wrongs done to her and throwing desperation back into the face of the people who tried to ruin her.

With this retelling, a lot of those same traits from the original work were featured. It has the same structure of ‘Medea’ so it made it, for the most part, predictable in what would happen or in who was supposed to represent who. I especially enjoyed the references to the original work- the Argo, the Helios, etc. It was like little Easter eggs being able to spot and figure out the translations of Euripides’ original to Selvarajah’s work.
That change in setting, focusing on colonialism by the East India Company and the VOC, definitely added some more new-ness to the take of the story.

The characters weren’t so very likable in my opinion. I mean, obviously there’s some characters you are *made* to hate, but even the ones you’re supposed to like or lean more in favor of tended to teeter a line between like and dislike.
A lot of other reviews bring up the slight modernness in the characters’s tone and voice despite the rest of the dated setting as well. Honestly, I didn’t notice this too much during my reading of it. I suppose it’s just a preference thing, but I personally didn’t feel it take away too much from the overall story. There were a few places where, briefly, the writing did feel weak or awkward though.

What I do wish would’ve been played more on was the building anger and that feeling of betrayal. Maybe it’s because I read ‘Medea’ already and knew what to expect, but I feel like those building tensions and breaking points were hit and then backed away from too suddenly.
I was totally on the edge of my seat by the end (around the 80% mark, I didn’t want to put the book down), but it also felt like the burning fire of Meena just rushed forward. I, personally, would have loved to have seen it play more into the story somehow, or constantly felt rather than just lightly mentioned when it was needed and then moving on from it. When it did finally hit at the climax of the book, it felt a bit sudden or rushed to show why Meena was doing what she was.

All in all though, ‘Savage Beasts’ was a good read. I think Rani Selvarajah delivered an *amazing* take on the classic ‘Medea’ with a touch of history that made the tale a lot heavier and hit just a tad bit harder.

*a side note: the term ‘savage’ is used based on a direct quote from one of the translations of Euripides’ play. The usage of it is limited in the actual story itself, but it’s still an uncomfortable word to see based on many opinions from the actual marginalized group it was/is still used against. This was one of the only reasons I was a bit reluctant to read this story for the usage of that word and the history behind it.
I think the way Selvarajah uses it was to also show the racism Meena saw and felt against herself as a minority in this westernized and white world, but I am not the one to excuse the use of it as I am not part of the group this would affect. I do think it’s something to not ignore, however, and I respect the viewpoints of the people who do deserve the platform to speak on this!*

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book in exchange of an honest review.
Rating:3.5/5
'Savage beasts' is a historical fiction retelling of Medea, one the most complex and fascinating figures from Greek mythology. The setting of 18th century India was particularly interesting. As an extensive reader of Greek mythology, I could easily understand the parallels between this story and the Greek myth of Medea. Meena and James represent Medea and Jason respectively, Meena's aunt Kiran represents circe. The liked the story, but the writing was not so good. I understand this is a debut novel, but the word 'smirk' and the remark 'excuse me?' during dialogues were used wayyyy too often.
Although the book has some cons, I'd definitely recommend it to those who are interested in a fresh new take on an age-old myth!

Savage best is a retelling of a Medea myth, set in 18th-century India.

Meena, forgotten and trapped by her position falls for the nephew of the enemy. They escape together in search of a new life, but their escape came with a price and past trouble catches up with her.

My favourite part was the setting of the story, beautifully described and it made the story come to life. Even though I liked the storyline, I had the hardest time getting into the book.