This alternate version of history is incredibly well-crafted and shows the love that the author has for those who lived through real world events that inspired the book. The depth of the characters makes you feel for them in a way that makes you want to be fighting alongside them while also mourning the losses they go through. A grand, sweeping story in the way that Vaishnavi Patel always executes immaculately, while also being on what feels like a smaller scale, but with no less heart.

3.5 stars

This book was intricately well-researched, full of fantastic complex characters and intricate sociopolitical issues. Our main three characters represent a wide collection of different identities: demisexual Hindu woman, lesbian Muslim woman, and low caste woman. By having a main cast that spans across identities that include sexuality, religion, and caste (as well as gender, though mostly in the sense that they are not men), it allowed Patel to organically bring up issues specific to certain identities that often get overlooked in times of change.

Our three main characters also provide a really nice balance of temperaments and ideologies. Kalki is the stereotypical rebel: hotheaded and action-oriented with a strong sense of justice. Fauzia is an organizer, more forward-thinking and good at bringing people together. Yashu is the one who stands her ground on bringing justice and equality for all, but also most willing to get her hands dirty.

My major gripe with the book is honestly just the long chapters. When each chapter is 30-40 pages, it gets pretty agonizing. I understand why that specific format was used, but it dramatically hindered my reading experience.

I truly believe in the importance of the topics in this book and found myself flying through it to find out what happened. One of the more important things to me was the war of ideals that Kalki displayed when she defended why her resistance movement didn't seem as productive to those on the outside. Working to take a system down from within, when you know your actions have consequences, is a hard road to take. The women worked beautifully within their power of being written off and ignored and were able to enact change without resorting to violence every time. In fact, the times they did perform violent acts almost always resulted in untimely death or setbacks. Rebellion happens in many ways and over a very long time and this book definitely shows that.
I think the moral center of the book helps cover a lot of flaws for me. Most cons I have - unemotional or draft one tone to scenes as well as a tendency to fly past important moments, a bit of unclear pacing - are often easily ignored because the subject has its own value and importance.

Thank you Ballantine Books for the e-arc of Ten Incarnations of Rebellion! I was excited to read this alternate history of 1960s India in which the British still rule. Kalki’s father was a leader of the Kingston (Bombay) chapter of the Indian Liberation Movement & had to leave when she was young. Kalki is rightfully full of anger not only at this but because of British rule & their treatment & exploitation of Indians. She is part of a group of Indians chosen to advance in education & subsequently work a government job, a career she resents for being collaborative. But she & her two closest friends, a Muslim & a Dalit (the lowest caste in India), find a way to fight the sectarianism & unofficial caste system (as the British outlawed it) & undermine British rule in ways that help Indians.

I love that the book is constructed of 10 vignettes that begin with an I statement from Kalki on how she learned something & at what age & each end in a story from the Dashavatara, the story working as the chapter title. The 10 chapters reflect the title & the Dashavatara is about the incarnations of Vishnu, a double reference. The final chapter & incarnation of Vishnu is Kalki. This circularity made the book’s construction & story feel full of intent.

One of the most impactful parts of the plot was the cultural suppression by the British. The book opens with Kalki wanting to remember her father’s favorite song. The British had banned the song, but were consummate record keepers, & Kalki took the opportunity of a special gathering in a government building to find the song. What Kalki doesn’t realize is her small act of resistance is what sets her on her ultimate path. She decides to break curfew & the ban to plaster the song across her city. An act of love for the memory of her father sets a spark in her revolutionary soul.

This book also looks at acts of violence in resistance, which I felt was really important to address, neither condoning nor decrying but setting up various instances & their results, along with the feelings of those involved, giving us very human responses.

In the end, this women-led revolution is 5 stars & one of my favorite books of this year–coming June 3rd!

I was excited about this ever since I heard about it, as Goddess of the River was one of my favorite books last year. This is a very different kind of story, but I still think people who loved Patel's previous work would enjoy this.

This book is al alternate history set in the 1960, imagining India hasn't gained independence yet and the British are using even more extreme suppression tactics, similar to what they used in other countries before those gained independence.
Kalki is an Indian woman who grew up in Kingston, what was formerly Bombay. This city is completely isolated from the rest of India, and by the time Kalki is growing up, the previous rebellious movement is mostly dead or in hiding, including Kalki's father.

The book is divided into ten chapters, with some time skips between them, each highlighting different moments in Kalki's life and her own progression towards being a rebel leader. Kalki grow up idolizing her father, a rebel in his own time, and wants to be like him and set India free. In time, she manages to start a movement alongside her close friends Fauzia and Yashu.

I like how this book also examined the religious tensions in India, and how the British actively used pre existing prejudice against the population to divide and conquer. Kalki is Hindu and there's Hindu myths tying her story together, each relating to a different aspect of Vishnu. Her best friend Fauzia is muslim, and Yashu is from a lower caste, and the story really considers these aspects of their identities and what their place will be in a free India.

I loved the characters in this book, alongside the moral complexity they brought. Each have different views on rebellion. Yashu starts out hesitant about rebelling at all, as she fears liberation will mean little for lower caste people like her. And there's many ethical dilemmas, questioning how much violence is justified by the cause, and if they would condone much violence, what will that mean for the country they liberate? I love how this book explored that, and how Kalki has to make her choices on what she stands for.

I haven't seen this mentioned elsewhere, but it's also a very queer book. The MC's identity is not super explicit but I'd read her as bi and a-spec, and Fauzia is a lesbian. There's a sprinkle of romance that ultimately doesn't really go anywhere, but that fits the overall story well.

Would recommend this to fans of Patel's previous work and people who enjoy anti colonial stories

"From the New York Times bestselling author of Kaikeyi comes an epic and daring novel that imagines an alternate version of 1960s India that was never liberated from the British, and a young woman's struggle to change the tides of history.

Kalki Divekar grows up a daughter of Kingston - a city the British built on the ashes of Bombay. The older generation, including her father, have been lost to the brutal hunt for rebels. Young men are drafted to fight wars they will never return from. And the people of her city are more interested in fighting one another than facing their true oppressors.

When tragedy strikes close to home, Kalki begins to play a dangerous game with small acts of resistance, tempered by cautious, level-headed Yashu and fortified by Fauzia, whose dreams of the future awaken Kalki's heart. Together, they found Kingston's new independence movement, obtaining jobs working for the British while secretly planning to destroy the empire from the inside out. But one wrong move means certain death, and when facing threats from all quarters, Kalki must decide whether it's more important to be a hero or to survive.

Set over the course of a decade and told as ten moments from Kalki's life that mirror the Dashavatara, the ten avatars of Vishnu, Ten Incarnations of Rebellion is a sweeping, deeply felt speculative novel of empowerment, friendship, self-determination, and the true meaning of freedom."

And the importance for independence!

5⭐

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eARC.

This was such a compelling book and I read it all in one sitting. It's been a while since I've done that, which really speaks to how much I enjoyed this book.

I loved pretty much everything about it: focusing on a female-led resistance/rebellion group with an emphasis on mutual aid, interweaving of Hindu mythology that mirrors the protagonist's current struggles, and the close bonds and sisterhood between the characters.

The journey starts from when Kalki was nineteen but the vivid flashbacks we encounter make it seem we have been reading through her perspective for many years. The journey of strength, courage, rebellion, loss and sacrifice is explored from her perspective which made is gut-wrenching to read.

Overall, it was a rollercoaster of emotions from the sorrows, seeing Kalki adept into her life, the rebellion, the heartbreaks, the sacrifices and the freedom, was destroying me. I am grateful to have read this alternate history.

I don't think I can do justice to this book through a review. I can't wait for everyone to read the book!

4.5 ⭐️

This speculative historical novel follows an alternate history where the Indian Independence leaders were killed and Britain maintained control of India into the 60s. It explores a different path of liberation, and all of the obstacles and difficulties in organizing a movement.

Kalki is a compelling and flawed window into this new Indian Liberation Movement and all that it takes to fight for liberation under occupation. We see her dedicate herself to her cause, and at times lose herself in it. There are conversations on mutual aid, the role of labor organization, networks of information distribution, and all of these aspects of resistance beyond the military means we usually think of first. The discussion of violence as a tool of resistance versus nonviolence does at times feel muddled and confused, but this feels like an honest reflection of characters' conflicting feelings toward it—to participate in violence because you want peace, to know of its necessity and fear over-reliance on it, to see the toll takes on you to participate in it and still to be one of those who gets to survive it.

I think the structure of 10 chapters over 10 years is incredibly successful in letting the reader see the scope of the liberation movement and its development, while still allowing us an intimate window into Kalki's life. Much of the resistance takes place off-page, far away from Kingston, where this story takes place, and I appreciated this feeling of being just a part of the whole, seeing one corner of this movement.

I really enjoyed this. I'm glad I finally picked up one of Vaishnavi Patel's books and will definitely be reaching for her other novels very soon.

A fascinating tale of alternative history! I was pleasantly surprised and continue to love VP’s writing :)

This book was such an interesting read! the story takes place in an alternate universe where India was never became independent from British colonial rule and our main character who will risk everything to free her country from it. I loved seeing the acts of resistance throughout the book & just how important this story is overall.

I really look forward to reading more by this author!

Ten Incarnations of Rebellion is a gripping speculative novel set in an alternate India where independence was never won. Over ten years the protagonist, Kalki, builds a secret liberation movement in her hometown, growing it from a spark of hope into a full-blown rebellion. The world-building is rich and unmerited making this a powerful story of resistance and resilience.

Five stars, without question.

Do you remember the show The Man in the High Castle? That is what this book somewhat reminded me of but if India never secured their independence from Britain. An alternate relaity/timeline. Now I will say I never finished that show but Vaishnavi Patel's writting is something that I will never miss. I loved Kaikeyi and I really enjoyed my time with Ten Incarnations Rebellion.
She started writing this seven years ago and you can tell this took time. Vaishanavi Patel's dedication and passion for this shows and gave us, the readers, with an amazing story of rebellion.
This book hit on relationships that would not be accepted, mythology, history which kept me captivated the entire time and had me finishing it in one sitting. I found that, in my personal opinion if Vaishnavi Patel writes it, you know the characters will be strong and will always have good development, the plot will always be well thought out and executed. All in all another hit and I can't wait to see what she does next.

This book explores an alternate reality in which India was never liberated from the British and is still under their rule. It follows a young woman - Kalki Divekar who grows up in Kingston - a city that the British built and control. Her father who was considered a rebel and fought for India's independence disappeared years ago and is presumed dead by Kalki and her mother. As Kalki grows into a young woman she feels the pull to fight for India's independence just as her father did. However she is not sure how she can do this in Kingston without being caught and struggles with what impact she can make as a woman fighting for independence. Kalki along with her female friends and an old friend of her father's realize they can make an impact in a different way - by working from the inside. Most of them work for the British in the government offices and they realize this gives them unique opportunities to affect change and perhaps turn the tide in Kingston and achieve liberation.

I found the premise of the book extremely interesting with the what if question of India never being liberated from the British and what that would look like in the 1960s (timeframe when the book took place). Even without know much about the history of India myself the book drew me in and I finished it quickly. The characters were well developed and the plot moved along at a good pace. I found the character of Fauzia to be one of the best and most nuanced even though she wasn't the main character. It was also nice to see a main character that wasn't perfect - that had flaws - Kalki often struggled with the decisions she made and was selfish at times which made her seem more realistic. The side characters were enjoyable and written in a way that you cared about their stories too and how they ended up. Overall, this book was a satisfying historical read with a bit of speculation thrown in and was well researched. Thank you to Net Galley and Ballantine Books for an advance copy of this book for my honest review.

This book was such a fascinating read. I love Kallie’s fierce independence and such a strong character. With her friends alongside of her she made her mark! Her rebellion activities were so thought out, I loved this book!

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for- Ballantine for this advance reader copy. This is my honest review of this book.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an advance copy of this novel that takes place in an alternate timeline, where a people are still under the yoke of oppressors, and the life of one young lady who will risk everything to free her people.

Being American means not only not understanding our own history, but the history of other people. For a people who threw off the chains of being a colony, used by a Motherstate to increase it's wealth and power, we are quick to exploit others for our own gain. We are rebels, who love rebels in movies, music and books, but vote to limit our own freedoms in numerous ways, from the color of our house, to what one can do with our bodies. As such the world is a mystery to Americans. Dragging yourself up by the bootstraps means little to people who can't afford shoes, who have known nothing but oppression for generations. Their wealth traveling far away, never too be used for them, only to fill treasuries in countries they can never travel to. Sometimes the only thing left is to fight. Which gets to the heart of this book, a story of a young woman passing through ten stages of her life, each one teaching her something about rebellions, and the lengths and depths she will go to gain freedom. Ten Incarnations of Rebellion by Vaishnavi Patel is a novel set in a different time where India was never given its freedom from England, where the heavy handedness of the oppressors has made it impossible not to fight back, and what this might cost a young woman, so brave and different in many ways.

Kalki Divekar is a resident of Kingston, the new seat of power for the English after the destruction of Bombay during the uprising. Kalki has grown up without a father, who had to leave his wife and daughter for his actions against the British. They are poor, but Kalki has both brains, and a flame within her from her father, one that burns for freedom. Kalki starts small, printing an old song about rebellion and spreading it throughout the city. Slowly Kalki brings in others and begins to realize that there are many different religions and people in her community, each seeing freedom in different ways, ways that might not work together. Also Kalki slowly comes to the idea that maybe her ideas of freedom might not be accepted, including who she might have feelings for. The group expands slowly, moving from gathering information, helping others to sabotage, and much more. During this time Kalki has to make decisions, hurt people she loves, and sometimes much worse.

A book immediately grabbed me, even though I know little about India and the English occupation, well outside of the movie Gandhi, which is a poor excuse I know. I liked the story and how it was told. Patel breaks the story down into ten parts, showing Kalki growth as a person, from wanting to do something, to leading a group, and much more. Kalki is an interesting character with a lot going on, but sometimes she acted a tad naive, and even foolish about certain things. I am sure this is because of the sheltered upbringing she had, but still a few times one wants to go, really girl. The story unfolds along with the situation and one is never overwhelmed with information. This was a story I knew little about going in, but I quite enjoyed, even when I was wincing in many places.

Few books look at burgeoning revolutions and I found the way this book covered it quite riveting and informative. Starting with little things, gaining skills, finding others, learning as they went and becoming quite good at what they were doing. A book that might have a lot of uses in the coming years. And one that I enjoyed quite a bit. I look forward to reading more by Vaishnavi Patel.

4-4.5/5
This a fascinating alternative fictional history to British India, reimagining and asking us, what if the Partition didn't happen and Jinnah & Ghandi both were murdered? I thought this book rly interrogated and demonstrated different approaches to combating colonialism well and how they must work in tandem, especially for the unique case that was British India. For example just as we have different types of colonialism (settler colonialism, resource colonialism, internal, surrogate, etc) one method of resistance might not work well in isolation over the other -
e.g deploying violent tactics may or may not be effective at certain times specifically w/ British India but violence set the ground work for other methods.

However while I believe the novel set out to do the above, I did feel as though the novels moral messaging became deeply muddled along the path and I felt as though, at certain very specific times, the novel was almost condemning the violence despite that violence laying the groundwork for all of the other effective methods? I think this is mostly because the MC was extremely extremely whip-lashy & frustrating at times in her narration. I do appreciate that she was deeply flawed. But her thought processes didn’t feel like the smoothest transitions to follow and she changed her mind many many many times from scene to scene making this moral messaging unclear. That being said, I really loved and appreciated that the book showed that just non violence doesn't work!

Additionally, I really love the amazing, masterful manner and research that went behind this book to consolidate the message with virtues and stories within Hindu mythology. I loved that structure SO MUCH. this authors versatility is truly astounding and impressive. It was very beautiful to read.

My only other slight qualm is the Muslim rep. I do believe Muslim rep is not as subjective as other religions but yes we all have our experiences. To make a muslim character forsake a declaration of faith in a very certain instance upon death is not right. I don’t like that there’s this expectation in media for muslim characters to forsake the most fundamental important aspects of our identity and faith for the sake of greater causes. It’s the goal of EVERY Muslim to read it upon their last death. A feat we would sell our souls to achieve. Of all things, why have the character forsake that? Why not have them do that AS well? I had to put the book down when I got to that section. Death is one of the most important things to a Muslim. And our declaration of faith is the foundation of our faith. I know why the author did it it- it’s quite clear from the book - and I don’t agree with it. Though others may disagree, I felt very strongly about this. I appreciate the author did a lot of research for the history of Muslims and the rep. But I won’t pretend that other Muslims will not have issues with making the Muslim characters marginalized in the same manner. I find that often ALWAYS happens when a non Muslim includes Muslim characters.

I still really enjoyed this book and highly encourage to readers to pick this one up

Ten Incarnations of Rebellion was an interesting read. Not my favorite novel by Vaishnavi Patel, but fascinating nonetheless.
Thank you to the author and publisher for an ARC of this book!

This book talks about so many important things and I really enjoyed reading about them. It was well paced and it kept my interest

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Historical Fiction + Speculative

This is such an intriguing historical fiction that takes place in an alternative or imaginative world where India is still under British colonial rule. While it may not fall under the fantasy category, its imaginative setting in the 1960s certainly qualifies.

The story follows a young female protagonist called Kalki Divekar over a decade of her life, with each chapter representing one year. During that decade, the readers see how much this character has matured with all the struggles and obstacles that she and her people face against the evil forces of colonialism.

The appealing thing about Kalki’s character is taking responsibility when tragedy comes home. Along with her friends, she plans to destroy the empire to get the freedom they have always desired.

The book is neatly structured, and the author did an impressive job with the world-building. The author conducted extensive research and transformed real events into alternate versions. The story focuses more on female characters, who drive the rebellion. This is something more unique for this story than the usual male-dominated rebellion stories.

Despite the strong pros here, there are some drawbacks. At times, the pacing felt uneven. I feel some events needed more development to enhance the story. Although the female protagonist is strong, I couldn’t connect as much as I wished with her, which might be a personal preference. However, regardless of any con, the book has an important message and discusses relevant political and humanitarian themes even in our times, which makes it still a worthwhile read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of this book.

ten reincarnations of rebellion is one of the most unique and breathtaking books I've read. it tackles alternate india set during the independence era, and truly took my breath away in all ways i didn't expect it to. vaishnavi patel's writing is at its best in this, and she's quickly becoming one of the best authors with a strong voice and conviction. a masterpiece.