Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

I adored The Spice Gate. I recommend it for fans of fantasy with rich worldbuilding and lore.

This book was just, not good. It wasn’t bad, but certainly not something I would recommend. I almost DNF’ed it at 40% and looking back I wish I would have. It does have an interesting premise, the writing is where it fails for me. That, and random plot holes that just didn’t make sense. It’s set in a world where different kingdoms are connected via Spice Gates and only someone with a spice mark can pass through without a drug. But the Carriers are seen as a low caste even though they are integral to the spice trade and economy (each kingdom specializes in a spice). We follow Amir as he slowly rebels against all the constructs that are in place, both from a religious and political standpoint.

A brilliantly crafted world! I absolutely love the unique elements of this book. The spice trade, the caste system, the portals, all of it!

If you read and liked Spin of Fate by A. A. Vora, you absolutely need this book in your life. The conflicts within society and within the main character are similar, though each book is truly unique.

Amir is young, naive, and sees everything though a limited view. However, he does grow as he understands more of the world around him. He champions against systemic injustice, and though he doubts himself often (and waffles when choosing a side), it is because he truly wants what is best for his world. He just doesn’t know what that is.

This book speaks heavily to societal indoctrination and division. How people at all class levels begin to believe the same rhetoric, whether it is damaging or beneficial to themselves.

I feel like there were a lot of loose ends and individual storylines that weren’t resolved. I’m kind of glad for it, as it allows the readers to shape the world for themselves. I also appreciate the lack of villain redemption arcs. That would have been unbelievable in context, and I’m glad the reader chose to show the villain still pursuing his own agenda.

Overall, this was unique, thought-provoking, and fun. I really enjoyed the read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy to read.

The Spice Gate was a colorful & creative standalone epic fantasy – while the world building wasn’t quite integrated smoothly and the dialogue was a bit awkward at times, I really appreciated the vision and journey.

In a land of eight distant kingdoms, spices are both power and balance. Each kingdom cultivates one critical spice, and each kingdom is connected to the others only through the magical Spice Gates, a gift from an ancient and powerful god.

Amir is a Carrier – the spicemark on his shoulder distinguishes him as a person who can travel through the Gates and transport spices from kingdom to kingdom. Though Carriers are critical to every aspect of society, they are a terribly oppressed group, essentially treated as slaves. Amir experiences extreme pain, both from moving through space in moments and from the sacks on his back, and he fears for the day his kid brother will enter the trade.

He dreams of escaping the kingdoms and their cruel royalty altogether, and all he needs is one vial of the Poison (which will help his spicemark-less pregnant mother travel through the gates alongside her sons to live among rebellious pirates). But as Amir searches for his freedom, he gets sucked into a deeper conspiracy – and perhaps a revolution against everything he thought was true about his world.

I think this book has a challenging start - there’s a lot of info & lore tossed at you all at once in a bit of a clumsy way - and I can see a lot of readers DNFing this one. However, if you’re comfortable diving into new fantasy worlds and open to being a bit confused throughout the first chunk, I think it’s worth it.

It’s a story about fighting back against oppression & the costs of revolution and reshaping, what it means to re-evaluate ancient traditions through a more just lens, and about what it means to be a good parent, child, and sibling.

The romance element here is between Amir and Harini, a young woman who is also a throne keeper. Harini very readily dismisses the way she has been raised to view the world (we see this briefly in a flashback) and is wholeheartedly there for Amir. In my opinion, the nature of Amir and Harini’s relationship is a little too fairytale-esque when paired with the more brutal elements of their hierarchical world. I just don’t buy that Harini is SUCH an inherently good soul that she is able to immediately see past everything she has been told.

As far as the writing goes, I generally found it quite compelling. The dialogue was the biggest issue (differentiating between character voices, leaning into cliches, mixing words so it felt partially fantastical and partially modern, and so on). But the descriptions of places and the inventiveness of the magic system really let the author’s creativity shine, and I thought the action scenes were well done.

My favorite elements were most definitely the mythological ones. The description of the ancient god was visceral and chilling. And the beasts who prowled the outer forests were just as good. The sensory elements (how the spices smelled - how they brought up emotions & memories - the tastes of food) were really beautiful, too.

CW: death (parent), classism, murder, gore, animal death, grief, abandonment, addiction, mental health, vomit, excrement

DNF.

The premise is great, but the prose is like nails on a chalkboard, arrhythmic and jerky and unable to decide on a vocabulary style. Odd phrasing, odd word choices… It just…grated, constantly. I forced myself to read the first 25%, hoping it would get better, but there was no sign it was going to improve.

<his back was on the verge of detaching from the rest of his body, and his throat ached for anything liquid.>

Anything liquid? Like gasoline, or urine, or mercury???

<The woman’s face emerged from shadow, revealing her in a stark violet gown and a pruned bottom>

tf is a pruned bottom?

<“They will also see to it that you do not expend our secret>

From context it’s clear that this is meant to mean ‘you do not share our secret’ but I don’t know what to do with that phrasing

<He could smell a heady scent of honeyed sweetness with a floating hint of pungency, as though the breeze were battling an old foe.>

This sounds good right up until I actually start thinking about it, and then it sounds really weird.

At first glance, the worldbuilding was very promising – I am loving the slow increase in Desi-inspired settings! – but it started to fall apart for me really quickly. The foundational premise – that the realms are obsessed with spices – was fine, until we started getting contradictory statements that ‘obsession’ actually meant ‘addiction’. It drove one nuts: are spices addictive in this world or not? One second it’s yes, the next it’s no. Which is it? Is describing it as addiction meant to be hyperbole? THIS IS PRETTY IMPORTANT, I NEED YOU TO BE CLEAR ABOUT THIS!

And then right around the 20% mark there was a HUGE REVEAL, at which point we’re hit will the most ridiculously convoluted reasoning trying to justify why a bunch of incredibly important, powerful people would put the responsibility for ALL THE REALMS in the (dramatically unwilling!) hands of a spice carrier – you know, a member of the caste considered the lowest of the low? Who has no resources, no wealth, no access, no freedom of travel, is only one step up from being property? Yes, this is ABSOLUTELY the person you should conscript into doing this top-secret, ultra-important mission for you!

NOT.

Don’t even get me started on how this guy somehow fell in love with a princess, who returns his feelings. HOW??? How did they even MEET, often enough and long enough to develop a relationship??? And why are you just telling telling telling me how he feels about her, instead of showing me???

The infodumping applied to everything, not just the alleged romance. Tell tell tell.

But the biggest problem was the prose. I could probably have put up with the rest of it – unless the plot got even stupider; seriously, you needed an INFINITELY better reason to put this poor man in the position of [total spoiler] – but the writing style was just…I hated it. And from glancing at other reviews, it looks like the worldbuilding goes down the drain, so really, there just wasn’t anything worth sticking around for, unfortunately. Alas!

What I read of the book was good, but very complex. I actually did not finish, I tried twice to read it but I kept finding myself confused and needing to reread several chapters.

Thank you for the chance to read the book NetGalley! I do plan to try again after pub date.

An amazing scifi book! I was lucky enough to find out about this book a little early and it reminds me of like an indian dune. The use of the caste system and spices as a mode of transportation was brilliant.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the arc!
I was super excited about this story. The premise sounded unbelievable and I was so excited for such a unique world. The world is one of the coolest things about this book. There are kingdoms all based on the spice they grow and import with magic gates connecting them. The world operates on a caste system with Amir, a carrier of spices, on the bottom.
I struggled with understanding the why and becoming fully immersed in the story. There was so much world building in this story which did help set up this world nicely. however I feel like there where areas that needed more detail such as the God of the gates and the ‘why’ of the story. Also the dialogue was a bit of a struggle. I wish there was a bit more continuity with the speech of characters as well as the general type of speech (modern vs. fantasy).
There was so much potential in this story and world. Generally I think there needed to a bit more reworking or edits to make this story really flow and shine! I would love to see more by this author as I think there is so much potential for a really amazing story.

I enjoyed this book once I got about half way through. It took me awhile to understand what was happening and really grasp the conflict of the story. I found some of the character relationships a bit underwhelming, particularly the relationship between Amir and Harini. It just didn’t really do anything to the story for me. The plot was super fun and unique once I got into the book and I enjoyed the story! It was a fun read!

This book is a bit of a paradox for me because I was enamored with the way the different worlds were depicted and the importance of the spices to their respective kingdoms, but was so annoyed with the protagonist and how he flipped flopped on his stance so often that it left me confused as to how he came to his final decision. 🤨

The story follows Amir, a Carrier from the kingdom of the spice saffron, Raluha. He’s from the gatecaste, the people who can traverse the gates for the highly sough after spices of other kingdoms, but at the great cost of pain. As a westerner, I probably will never understand the caste system, but as a POC reader, I can see how the prejudices have taken a toll on Amir and have shaped his view of the “abovefolk.” He’s tired of being seen beneath others simply because of the mark that ousts him as a Carrier. The doctrine that the world’s religion he’s grown up with believes he deserves his status in life, while he and some other Carriers believe there’s more to life than simply one’s position in the order of things. The book deals a lot with this theme to the point it starts feeling a bit preachy, but other than this, my other main issue with the book is that Amir is CONSISTENTLY changing his mind and stance on the rebellion he accidentally finds himself a reluctant participant in. It was so much flipping back and forth that I honestly couldn’t keep track of his reasonings and how he came to his final conclusion. 🫨

The side characters were good, but there wasn’t really a whole lot to them in the first place. Kalay is the abovefolk assassin he lectures to the majority of the book that acts like a contrast to his personal view; his love interest in the princess, Harini, of another kingdom is too fairytale-like for my liking; Hasmin is just the stereotypical a-hole who just refused to see a different perspective no matter how much it literally gets punched into him; and Karim bhai just acts more like his moral compass than anything. The latter I honestly found myself more interested in because of his complex beliefs and background. 😐

All in all, the beauty of the world, its wonderful world building, and use of the different spices just felt horribly juxtaposed to characters that I found myself not really caring for. I’m honestly sad that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I was hoping to. But regardless, thank you to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for accepting my request to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review. 🫶🏼

Publication date: June 25!

Overall: 3/5 ⭐️

This was harder to get into than I thought it would be.

I liked the world lore here. It’s a twist on the spice game. It is very heavy handed, especially in the beginning, but it’s interesting to learn about the gages and the worlds. I love being thrown into fantasy worlds and learning names and place son the go, but here I found myself having to reread certain sentences more than once just to try and piece together what was what.

Amir, our MC, is called a Carrier, someone capable of traveling through the Spice Gates to other realms. Despite this seeming like a rare gift, he’s treated poorly and lives a life where he is practically a slave. His whole life is centered around moving spices.

Throughout the book, we get to see Amir grow into a more capable character, survive brutal encounters, have heartfelt moments with family and find love. Also (spoilers) kill god?? He’s a very standard character and I do feel like this story was more plot driven than character driven—which isn’t always a bad thing. You have to have good characters to make a story fun, but the story being exciting and one entertaining enough to draw you in can sometimes make up for a simpler approach to a character.

I think the author has some good writing and a lot of potential. It’s a bit of a slog in some parts with the dense worldbuilding, but overall an interesting story. I am nothing if not a fantasy lover who enjoys some good world lore.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for this eARC. All opinions are my own.
The Spice Gate has an excellent premise with our main character born at the very bottom of the caste system, yet responsible for carrying spices, the be all end all for this universe, through the spice gates to the different kingdoms.

I love a book with an unlikely underdog fighting the system. The world was very unique with a religion that governed everything and everyone.

The pacing starts slow with a lot of world building but picks up about 1/3 into the story. Where this book didn’t work for me was in the characters. None of them made me care. Even our main character Amir was just kinda meh. I think I get what the author was trying to convey but it just fell a little flat for me.

Overall the story was too much tell and not enough show for me to really connect.

3.25 stars...first off thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC of this book. I've never read an Indian inspired fantasy book before and I enjoyed the story. For me I thought it was a little too long and some of the names were hard to pronounce but other than that the story concept was great, the characters were well developed and the world building was great. I liked the concept of being able to travel to different worlds through the spice gates if you had the mark to do so to be able to trade and whatnot. I would recommend this if you enjoy magic, politics/slight religious influence, a good adventure.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

2.5, rounded up

The Spice Gate has a really punchy premise that combines high fantasy worldbuilding with political critique. Amir is a “Carrier”; someone born with a mark identifying him as an individual who is capable of travelling through the Spice Gates, portals to other realms. Each realm cultivates a unique spice native to them, and trades it for a high price. Yet, the Carriers in The Spice Gate who make this lucrative trade possible are fated for a life of slavery and poverty. Amir is enraged by the injustice of his world and longs to escape it, with his mom and brother in tow. Basing a universe on the spice trade is very clever, and got me really excited about this book.

Unfortunately, for me this novel did not meet the big expectations it set for itself. The opening of this book is in a rush to get started, making it not as engaging as it could be. It contains a lot of info-dumping without a lot of explanation; it feels like it’s trying to get the worldbuilding out of the way so it can tell its story. For example, take this sentence from roughly page two: “Of course, Amir was not certain if Ilangovan was even in Vanasi — no one could ever really know where he’d be when he was not in the Black Coves; the renegade Carrier was as much a spirit as a pirate. But there was one thing Amir was certain was in Vanasi: the Jewelmaker’s Poison” (citation below). This is so much lore about the world to absorb so early in the novel. It does all get explained later, but as you’re beginning a book you need something (often characters) to ground you in the world.

This brings me to the other issue I had with this novel: I didn’t really care about the characters. I did find that as I kept reading I started to like Amir a bit more, but I still feel like he’s not super engaging. His initial argument with Hasmin felt really stilted. His dialogue in general felt stilted. The use of “ho” as an expletive (in the linguistic/grammatical sense) would have felt more natural had Amir’s style of speech been more fantasy-esque. As it is, Amir talks like a modern person, which made the interjections of “ho” feel really awkward. It took me out of the world instead of further immersing me.

This book did have some very good moments of tension. Amir being chased by Fylan and then not making it back to the Gate in time to return to Raluha with the Carriers was so well written. I really enjoyed that part. I think several more rounds of editing and/or beta reading could have made this a pretty good book.

Prashanth Srivatsa. The Spice Gate (Kindle Locations 99-101). Kindle Edition.

The Spice Gate’s premise of what sounds like a fantasy take on the Silk Road is what initially interested me in this story. It did not disappoint! The world building was immaculate and I love that there was a cost to the ‘magic’ and the people with the ability to travel through these gates weren’t idolized, but looked down upon. Each world was unique in not only what it could offer other worlds, but had a unique culture as well. The world building and character development were well done. I especially loved how much Amir grew as a character. The pacing of the story was exceptional with just enough revealed at a time to keep the plot moving forward and for me to want to continue reading. My one minor complaint was that some of the chapters felt overly long and I would have liked to see those broken down a bit more. Overall, I rated this 4.5 stars. It’s definitely something I will recommend to others and I will include a link to my TikTok review once I post it closer to its release date. Thank you for the e-arc!

I had first seen this book pop up on my social media feed, and it had caught my attention enough that I thought I'd see about getting a copy from Netgalley and give it a try. But, as I was reading it, I found that I just couldn't get into the story. Whether it was my attention span being weird or the story itself, I couldn't say. So, unfortunately, I've decided to put this book on my 'did not finish' pile for the moment and perhaps some time in the future I may come back around to it and give it another try.

Thank you for the opportunity to read The Spice Gate early. It was on my most looking forward to new releases for this year. The cover is stunning and is what intrigued me in the first place. The world building is just as intriguing, if not a bit info dumpy at times. It's a read that proves reading is political and it's important to be a reader with an inquisitive mindset.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyage for the e-ARC**

"The spice gate" is a original, well built fantasy novel, with an interesting exploration of power dynamics, addiction and freedom, novel worldbuilding and everything you might want in such a fantasy book. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get invested despite these qualities. I felt a bit too far away from the characters or what was happening, even though the narration should have done the trick. I can't pinpoint why I was not so interested, on paper it was a perfect novel for me. I hope it will work out better for other readers !

The intrigue of this book is insane. I was totally enthralled by all the magic and mystery of this book. The beautifully written characters and storyline were so incredible and I couldn’t believe the marvels I was reading about. The adventure of that these strong characters are embarking on is truly amazing, and I enjoyed learning about the mythical land they were apart of. Thank you Avon and Harper Voyage for sending me an ARC of this book.

I won't be finishing this book. I reached p57 of 421.

I loved the idea; the concept was intriguing. However, the actual worldbuilding was vague, and there was often insufficient context to follow what was happening. Even with the dramatis personae and table (which displayed incorrectly) at the back, I had trouble being sure who was who and what was happening. Why is each particular spice so important?

I found much of the action non-credible, and little attempt to provide foundation for it - how Amir and Karim (apparently members of the lowest caste) would respectively a) meet and befriend a member of the ruling family, and b) act as a spy for a top minister, but with little compensation and apparently well know. I'd have liked much more support for these items.

What made me throw in the towel, though, was the sheer number of typos and semantic errors (e.g., hurling for hurtling) - far too many for a book near release. This and the other factors above led me to give up, which is exceedingly rare for me. Usually, once I start a book, I'm committed until the end, good or bad. This one, I suppose, disappointed me more as having such a rich premise so poorly executed.