A Great Dive Into an Overlooked Part of History

SWORDSWOMAN introduces young readers into the life of Queen Lakshmibai during the 1850s Indian uprisings against the British. Rich with detail, Lakshmibai's cunning planning so remarkable, it seemed almost too fantastical to be real!

Rangachari does a wonderful job of making history accessible by humanizing each character and telling the story from their own perspective--even those perspectives that clearly came out on the wrong side of history. My one qualm with the story however was how the point of views changed so often and without markers that it could be difficult to follow at times, so I would have to go back and reread a few paragraphs to figure out who was talking. Definitely not enough to take away from a fascinating history!

Thank you to Pushkin Press/ Pushkin Children’s Books and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Queen Lakshmibai Rani of Jhansi is such a force to be reckoned with, so strong, brave and fearless. She confidently stands up against all the men surrounding her, she fights fir her sons right to the throne and to keep rule on Jhansi. She’s so strong willed a great leader for her country, she managed to rally up everyone within her area to go into battle, she brought hope to her people that they could and would win, even though it’s an impossible war. She was such an impressive woman and I was so blown away at her shear determination and strength, all while her son sat astride her as she taught.

This story is really sad and I cannot believe I didn’t l know of anything of this event in history before reading. A huge battle between the British and the citizens of Jhansi, over throwing one area after another so the British could rule everything. The rebellion started forming, war raging on, one kingdom disrespecting another it was such an insane piece of hidden history. It was brutal, it was relentless and horrific.

I’m so happy to have found a new piece of history, you never find stories like this, covering these milestone events in history that are practically hidden and forgotten. I’m so happy that a series is out there sharing these stories of strong women, women who lead others, who fought in the wars, who were important for that part of history.

This is an informative and adventurous story about a very interesting and inspiring woman! I had never heard of her before and found this so great to learn about her