Hmm, yeah, this is an odd book. I suppose if you enjoy weird SFF novels this might be up your alley. Otherwise, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, as it`s A LOT.
Even as someone who loves weird books, this one pushed my limits. It meanders a lot, diving deep into backstories and small details about the main characters. That said, I did end up liking the characters, so I didn’t mind too much. The setting/context of Nepal is interesting, but overall it felt like a meandering character study to me.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in an exchange for an honest review!

An epic tale set in a dystopian reimagining of Nepal, blending love, political violence, and personal ambition. Against the backdrop of an earthquake-ravaged land, the novel follows Kranti, a revolutionary’s daughter entangled in a plutocratic dynasty, and Rozy, the dictator’s mistress who becomes a genderqueer power player.

DNF / 2 stars

I am sorry to say that I wasn't able to finish this book. I found it to be highly confusing and meandering, which, at nearly 800 pages, was really becoming a mental battle. The repressed society grappling with their political upheaval and class struggles, while the two women navigate horrible sexism, classism and homophobia, was an intriguing storyline, but the book was so overly detailed and unnecessarily excessive that it was very difficult for me to follow and stay engaged. I scanned quite a bit to see if I'd be able to draw myself in somehow, but felt even more disconnected when I came across some extremely spicy scenes. Rambling, random and way over my head, I feel like this book really needed a lot of additional editing to make the focus more clear. I put it down truly feeling unable to retell anything I had just read. Not my cup of tea, though, as always, I'm sure there is an audience out there for a book like this one.

3.5 stars.

This is such a strange novel that I'm not sure who I'd recommend it to.

If you like weird SFF novels like The Saint of Bright Doors, The Library at Mount Char, and Metal from Heaven, then you might like this. If not, then I definitely wouldn't recommend bothering with this book at all.

As a lover of weird books, this was even a little too weird for me. But I pushed through, and it ended up following the typical story beats, but with A LOT of meandering and diving into specific details and backstories for the main characters. I ended up liking the characters, so this didn't bother me too much at all.

Fortunately, I don't think you need to know anything about Nepal to read this book. If you're in any way familiar with the rise of fascism, then it's easy to understand the political backbone of this story. From there, this story follows two characters: Kranti, the daughter of a revolutionary, and Rozy, the dictator, PM Papa's, mistress. There are a couple of side characters which I also liked, Kranti's boyfriend and Kranti's mother.

I liked how this story subverted expectations, especially with Kranti and Rozy's roles as women living in a country with limited social mobility under a highly repressive government. I liked how each took highly different paths in their lives, which provided a great comparison and contrast as to how Darkmotherland society treated its women based on class (or perceived class), sexism, and homophobia and transphobia with Rozy.

I wish the novel was tightened up into something more coherent though. While I really liked reading about all of the characters and Darkmotherland's physical and political upheavals, I don't think a lot of readers would have the patience for this book.

There are subplots and subsubplots that were varying degrees of unimportant, very unnecessary sex scenes that took me out of the book because they were beyond silly, and in general this read like a rough draft written during an energy drink-fueled weekend. (Where the hell was the editor?)

Anyway, I'm not sure who I can recommend this book to. Connoisseurs of weird books, sure. But I don't know if anyone else will get the same kick out of this book. It's a lot less about (failed) revolutions and more about two specific characters and the two vastly different ways that they try to live within or break out of their prescribed roles.

Weirdly explicitly sex scenes aside, I had a good time.

Thank you to Soho Press and NetGalley for this arc.

Darkmotherland opens with the aftermath of the devastation of "The Big Two", an earthquake that decimated Nepal, more specifically, the namesake of this book. Throughout this book, we follow the stories of Kranti, the daughter of a revolutionary, as she struggles with that reality and the conflicts of her family life. We also follow the new dictator of Darkmotherland, as he does everything in his power to gain absolute power over the territory.

This novel is an epic and goes through many themes such as natural disasters, political upheaval, family pressures and dysfunctional families. This book is very well-thought out and expansive and I'd definitely recommend to those who like dystopian novels and politically violent novels.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This was very much a complex read for me. I don't say that in terms of the density of the material or the language or approach used- more so from a contextual point of view. It is a behemoth of a novel, with a lot of thought and consideration clearly put into this dystopian version of our modern world. I will confess that there were a number of countries that I believed the Darkmotherland could be, however, understood that a very particular satirical piece was being made in the construction of the events presented. Unfortunately, I think this book simply got too far ahead of itself and decided to tackle too many social, political, geographical, and other issues in one place.

There are many characters who I did not understand or connect with, and I did find that there was a weird focus on sex scenes as a whole, as though they were the chain links that held the story together. This is sometimes done well when these things have poignancy, but often they were oddly graphic with no real reason to be as such. I thought that the themes presented on the social issues were in good faith, if not a little haphazard at most times. I will profess that I very much enjoyed the ending of Rozy's story, but I also feel like it was left in midair as to where they were to go from here.

I also feel like the changing of some names but no significant alterations left issues with determining that this was, indeed, a dystopia. Sometimes it just felt like a diatribe on the reality that we live in. I completely understand that there is a place for this, but a few more metaphors would not have gone amiss in the world of this book.

There's definitely a lot of culture and issues that are held in this book, and I admire the tenacity of the author in attempting to tackle them. Unfortunately, I feel this book could have been edited down significantly to about a solid 300-400 pages, and it would have benefited from a little more sensitivity in portraying an alternate reality.

This novel is for those who enjoy vast narratives that brim with a village of characters, winking references, and playful plot turns. Upadhyay brings us to a nightmarish inversion of contemporary Nepal. The density and absurdity of the book recalls Pynchon, though updated for the modern age and a non-Western setting. I'll be sure to check out Upadhyay's other books now.

Darkmotherland by Samrat Upadhyay is a dystopian imagining of present-day Nepal following an enormous earthquake. This dense and complex novel follows the rise of the country’s nationalist leader, the daughter of his biggest detractor, his lover, and the wealthy industrialist family who supports him.
We see how a worn-out populace, concerned with trying to survive- either at a subsistence level or maintaining their previous wealth- will support lies, corruption, and disregard of human rights. These pressures exacerbate classism, racism, misogyny, sexual abuse, religious divides, and lack of empathy; this plays out over and over again in the text.
At almost 800 pages, there are only two characters that are fully realized: PM Papa, Darkmotherland’s leader, and his lover Rozy. The writing is rambling and packed full of random scenes, many of which do not seem to advance plot, world building or characters There is a lot of repetition, as well. A character’s clothing will be described and then half a page later will meet new people and their exact same clothing will be described again. Subplots are forgotten for hundreds of pages. Despite that, there is some very sharp political satire and social commentary. Certain scenes and people made me laugh out loud, and surprised me with their insight. A more concise and focused novel would have made that standout more.
While there are parts of this novel that I would give 5 stars, there are also parts that were just wordy and unnecessarily dense. I’ve not yet been able to decide if the payoff was worth it.
Thank you to NetGalley and SoHo Press for the advanced digital copy.

Darkmotherland by Samrat Upadhyay was my first novel by author Upadhyay.
And I was pleasantly surprised by how much I truly enjoyed reading this story.
I found the story to be unique, and the characters were compelling.

Darkmotherland by Samrat Upadhyay is a complex and challenging novel set in a dystopian Nepal. The author skillfully blends political intrigue, social commentary, and personal drama to create a haunting portrait of a society on the brink of collapse. The novel’s narrative is complex, intertwining the stories of various characters caught in the crossfire of a power struggle.

While this approach offers a rich tapestry of perspectives, it can also be overwhelming at times. The relentless pace and the dense political landscape may leave some readers feeling lost. The author’s exploration of themes such as corruption, oppression, and the erosion of human rights is thought-provoking. However, the graphic depictions of violence and the explicit sexual content may not be suitable for all readers.

While Darkmotherland is undoubtedly ambitious, it may not be the most accessible read. The dense prose and intricate plot can be challenging to follow, particularly for those unfamiliar with the specific cultural and political context of the novel. Despite its flaws, the book offers a powerful critique of contemporary society and a warning about the dangers of unchecked power. It is a bold and provocative work that demands careful consideration.

Dickensian in some ways to be sure-it's big, it's complicated, it's got a vast cast of characters-but unlike Dickens, this is hard to follow. I found myself down a rabbit hole of words and confused as it went in multiple directions. That's regrettable because I'd looked forward to it. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Those more patient than I should give this unique novel a try.

Thank you to Net Galley and Soho Press for the ARC. Unfortunately this was such a boring read. The politics was dry and the characters unmemorable.

Sexual and Political Exploits of Big PM Papa, and Little Daughter

“An epic tale of love and political violence set in earthquake-ravaged Darkmotherland, a dystopian reimagining of Nepal, from the Whiting Award–winning author of Arresting God in Kathmandu…” The Whiting Award is given to emerging writers to empower writers to give themselves time to write professionally. As I looked through the long list of the winners, I could not recognize any of the names. Apparently, these guys are unknown before and after this honor. Upadhyay won in 2001. Winning this award did propel Upadhyay on a uniquely successful career. He had moved from Nepal to the US in 1984 at 21. It’s pretty difficult to learn a new language at 21. This is relevant because he is advertised as being “the first Nepali-born fiction writer writing in English to be published in the West.” If this is such a difficult achievement, why did this guy make it instead of somebody who had become a professor back in Nepal before the move, or somebody who moved when they were under 14, and then completed a PhD here? Statistically, this is an improbable person to be this lucky. The mind tends to solidify in its language-learning capacity by around 14. There is no info on his completion of college etc. either back in Nepal or in the US. And yet, just by winning Whiting, he was hired as a professor that same year, and he is now tenured and teaching at Indiana University (having risen to being the Director of their Creative Writing Program). The award also apparently helped him sell books to mainstream publishers, which could promote them into NYT “notable” lists (which is not the same as “bestseller”, but sounds alike). I am being particularly judgmental in questioning the unlikelihood of this success story largely because the writing style in this novel seems to be better than most pop novels. If it had been written in a Bourne style; I would not be questioning the authenticity of this author’s capabilities. But perhaps the American education system is so bad that foreigners learn much better English abroad than if they had gone through the US school system?
“…A novel of infinite embrace—filled with lovers and widows, dictators and dissidents, paupers, fundamentalists, and a genderqueer power player with her eyes on the throne—in an earthquake-ravaged dystopian reimagining of Nepal.” This is a sober summary of a novel, in contrast with the previous blurbs. It does a good job drawing in readers into the fantastical-historical drama. However, this is an ambitious promise that might not have been realized. The opening chapter describes some kind of a disaster being faced by the Loyal Army Dais. But just what the disaster is? What is the time-period? Who is fighting who? These questions are initially left unexplained, as the readers are expected to anticipate these answers while reading patiently through this chaos. The first mention of “dictatorial politicians” occurs in a reflection of a character on a book about these he had read, instead of a character within this story who is a “dictator”. There is a more direct description of a dictator several pages later, but this time it’s a fantasy of a “Prime Minister” who has been made a lifetime dictator. This is shown from the perspective of a young son who is calling him “PM Papa”. This softens the idea of a dictator into a playful childhood fantasy, instead of delivering the fantastic scenario promised in the blurb. This little son is dreaming of having a dictatorship passed down to him… This is pretty much an anti-revolutionary utopia. There are many later mentions of stuff an “Aafrikan dictator” did. Just what this story is about is barely covered. There are general mentions of philosophizing about a dictator being feared or loved by the people. A clear plot regarding just who is doing what and why is avoided. It’s pretty much impossible to read a novel without a plot…
“At its heart are two intertwining narratives: one of Kranti, a revolutionary’s daughter who marries into a plutocratic dynasty and becomes ensnared in the family’s politics.” Kranti appears on page 7. The city is “in ruins”, but she is in a wealthy, orderly household, where for some reason “Beggars” are listening at the “feet of their leader, Professor Shrestha”. Absurdly, the personal tragedy that is central for Kranti is her “Dada’s death”: reasonably tragic, but not compared to the disaster then described that has befallen the rest of the population: “Half of the country was in utter ruins… Rice and dal, the two staples of… diet, were scarce. Bread had disappeared from the market. The price of eggs had quadrupled. The poorer residents scrounged for nettles and other grass for their greens.” This is well-written prose. However, it’s running along aimlessly without a coherent story structure. For example, the next sentence begins with: “Prostitution was rampant…” A good detail to know. But why not bring in a prostitute into the main story? Why just describe general prostitution? How is it relevant to what’s happening to Kranti, as she lives in luxury?
“And then there is the tale of Darkmotherland’s new dictator and his mistress, Rozy, who undergoes radical body changes and grows into a figure of immense power.” In the opening line of chapter 6, I learned that this “mistress Rozy” is a guy, whose member “PM Papa” enjoyed sucking. If homosexuality is celebrated in this novel; why is the female term “mistress” being applied to somebody who is hyper-masculine? The story finally becomes interesting when there is a mention of Papa buying Rozy “secretly… a large piece of land, sitting pretty on a hill, in a prime location in the City of Glory…” But apparently, this land didn’t have a house yet, which Papa offered to build in a couple of years, seemingly after Rozy had provided these couple of years of sexual service. The conversation then moves to Rozy wanting instead to live in Papa’s mention. This is a missed opportunity as it would have been more interesting to learn just how this corrupt politician was “secretly” using government funds to pay his lover…
“A romp through the vast space of a globalized universe where personal ambitions are inextricably tied to political fortunes, where individual identities are shaped by family pressures and social reins…” This note does explain a lot of this novel. The point is to jump between personal desires, and political events. This leaping is by-design, instead of being merely a flaw of a lack of a clear plot. Those who enjoy reading about “romps” would enjoy reading parts of this story. Maybe if I was on summer-break and had nothing else to do I could read through more of this.
—Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Fall 2024: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-fall-2024

This can be a very opaque read for someone not familiar with the historical contexts of the small nation of Nepal. Also, right off the bat, the writing style is extremely cold and infodumpy and assumes a lot of contextual understanding of Nepal on behalf of the reader. As someone who grew up in the subcontinent, I have the advantage of knowing about some of the recent political history of Nepal and also how the social landscape works in the global region even in India and in a similar small nation of Bangladesh, where my family's roots are. That said, even with all that, I quickly felt bored and alienated by the narrative that feels more suited to oral storytelling, because in print, it doesn't have the same subversive and socially excoriating power that similar works by Arundhati Roy or Megha Majumdar has had in recent times. This style would've worked better as an anthology of short fiction, perhaps, but as a full-length novel, it was quickly exhausting with little to no way to engage with the central cast, because they are incidental to the authorial voice. I might finish this if there's a good audiobook upon release, but as of now, it's too long and unengaging for me to struggle through.

I received a free copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I nearly DNFed this but I am a completionist. What I expected was a saga of cultural exploration and revolution and instead got a rambling confused story about hating a dictator dispersed with my boyfriend is too friendly with my mother so I did a poet on the side and here’s a violent rape of an LGBTQ character. I was confused about who was who and who was the bad guy and confused about why who hated who [and this author can’t write sex at all, why do they keep going on about how hairy everyone is!] disappointing overall.

I really don't want to do this, but I'm going to DNF this one. I feel like there's such potential for an amazing story, but there are certain elements that are distracting and problematic for me. I've read 200 pages, and at 768 pages, I'm just not willing to continue investing my time in this. 😪

I think this might be my first read from a Nepalese-American author and it was definitely one I was very intrigued by it. This novel is LONG and contains political satire. The satire is very nuanced and while it can apply to a lot of politics, I think some context was missing for me. Had this not been a dystopian, re-imagined country, I think there would have been space to give that context. As is, it was hard to identify for me where the reality and the dystopia differed from each other. I happened to read it on a day where a small part of its' dystopia revealed itself to be reality. I don't mind digging into histories of countries I'm familiar with to get more out of a read but I'm not sure I found enough context to make all the connections.
I did appreciate Upadhyay's tone and humor in this and I think overall the book still held appeal for the writing. Despite the length, it reads fast because there are a lot of conversations. I think the characters were interesting, but some of the phrasing used and there is a lot of -phobic commentary that is to me obviously there to paint the picture of the hypocrisies etc. but might be hard to read for some because it's a bit different than what we see in some US published novels.
Overall I'm not sure I can convince a lot of people to pick this one up, I'm not super sure who the broad target audience is. All I can say is while I did enjoy the time I read this, I'm not convinced it was worth the high page count.

I received this earc from netgalley. This is first time reading from this author.

Darkmotherland is an intense and challenging story about the rising and aggressively challenge political figures fighting to remain in power and those stepping into it.

I want to start off by saying this was my first time reading this author and much of the politics of Napel is unfamiliar to me. All I can do is base what I know and understand of western politics to those which were presented in this book.

And Darkmotherland made me question picking up other work but this author to be honest. Maybe this is a rough draft of the book, but even so the consistent themes of racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, classism, and sexism this book covers was just not for me. I understand that Darkmotherland is meant to present readers a story of political revolution and uprising from resistance groups. I also understand that the complexity of the mother-daughter relationship between Kranti and Professor Shrestha acts as the reader’s anchoring guide for the story. But the further we move away from that the more muddled and twisted the narrative becomes.


Was this meant to be a sardonic, satire version of the present political climate that we’ve been experiencing? To that, I have the option to say that it isn’t necessary to embellish the gross nature of situations. Especially since minorities and the oppressed groups are already familiar with it. Perhaps that’s why I was so triggered?

Likewise, because I found the dystopian line of the narrative so blurred it was not hard to imagine the world of Darkmotherlsnd as I said it is very close to our own. I did wonder if the text was also meant to be an examination of the human condition when forced into such a heavy political struggle?

I understood the Big Two was meant to be an event/time period that happened which was much bigger that then events/timeframe similar to that of WWII but beyond that I was struggling for a timeline reference. Particularly when it came to the homophobia, transphobia and racism

This was my first novel by author Samrat Upadhyay, so I was unclear what to anticipate with this initial introduction to his writing style. Thank you to NetGalley, publisher SoHo Press, Samrat Upadhyay, and Penguin Random House for the ARC. An incredibly intense dystopian novel set in earthquake ravaged Darkmotherland, there is so much going on in the plot it was difficult to follow anything, let alone the two intertwining narratives. I found the dystopian Darkmotherland by Samrat Upadhyay to be a very complicated read.