This was so much fun to read, and I loved the Indian references. I really hope to see more of this author!!

Me waiting this long to read To Bargain with Mortals when I've had it on TBR and readily available is a tragedy because it was phenomenal!

I read this in two days, responsibilities be damned. I loved the premise (magical chosen one, yes please.) I enjoyed the magic system and that it utilized deities to power up the users.

The action was gripping and the prose was well done. Dialogue I felt was a strong plus on this as well. Some of the themes were a bit heavy handed (someone else mentioned "white=bad!" And I can say that that felt true) but this did not deter me personally. One thing that felt off was the presence of vehicles in the world. What time period are we in? I ended up shrugging this off but the rest of the world building seemed to put the cars in a really weird juxtaposition that didn't feel quite right.

Poppy's journey was interesting, however some of the beats of her journey were a bit....expected? Definitely a set of actions that Ive read before. The side characters really helped with making this feel well rounded and made up for her shortcomings. I really loved Hasan and his brothers! I thought the relationships within the gang were well built and believable. That is something I felt a bit conflicted about: I cared far more for these side characters than our FMC which is probably not the goal.

I loved that the hinted at romance between our two leads was just that: hinted at. Hopefully it will bloom into something really exciting next installment along with a new antagonist. I'll definitely be completing the series!

Thanks to bindery, Skiepress, and netgalley for the Arc!

This was such an addictive read, I was immediately immersed and had the hardest time putting it down. The prose is excellent and the story flows very naturally. I love the complexities involved with this very real world issue of colonialism and its impact on all people. I love when characters have specific biases and prejudices based on the world they live in, and it was so interesting to read Poppy's perspective as a strong lead with deep personal issues to work through. It's easy to see how much work was put in to make all of the characters more than just a typical archetype, and they have a lot of deeply human layers.

I do think some aspects of the story felt a little too simple and easy to predict, but I don't think that's a major deterrent from my enjoyment of the story. The creativity of the world building and characters made for a story I was desperate to consume, and I'm so excited to see where the story goes in the sequel.

Despite the formatting issues, I could not put this book down.
The world building is rich, the culture is both compelling and explained in a very easy to digest way, and the character work is immaculate. I appreciate not ending on a huge cliffhanger, but still setting up the second book beautifully.

This story kept me engaged. It was so well written, i found myself not getting lost with all the events unfolding but getting lost in the world of it. It was entertaining and i love a strong female character. Overall, an amazingly done story.

I loved this book! It's a strong fantasy debut with immersive world-building, a great magic concept and a whole heap of interesting characters! One of the things I particularly liked is that it's a fantasy take on the British colonisation of India and it's nuanced. Not all the Welkish (British) people are bad and not all the Virian (Indian) people are good which is often a tricky balance to get right and one that tends to fall one way or the other. There's issues yet to be resolved in Virian culture between the magic users and non-magic users, rather reflective of the Indian caste system still prevalent today.

The characters are also excellent! Poppy as the main character was refreshing, she's strong and fierce but at the same time filled with her own prejudices despite being Virian by birth. Hasan is reckless and dangerous yet has multiple soft spots. Also, big shout out to Zeyar! He's a great side character, the opposite of Hasan despite being brothers, and I'm honestly intrigued to see where the second novel will go.

The only thing I think that stops this being a five star review for me is that sometimes it's a little bit predictable when it comes to the plot. But, nonetheless, it's an enjoyable and engaging read!

The main characters' journeys are both relatable and richly layered. The book takes the classic “uptown girl meets bad boy from the hood” trope and deepens it with thoughtful explorations of class, race, and magical ability.

I appreciated that the story didn’t reduce the divisive element to just white vs. brown. Instead, it highlighted how division and cruelty existed among the marginalized even before white colonizers arrived—especially around magical ability. That internal conflict weakened the people and made them vulnerable to outside exploitation and oppression.

The magic system was a refreshing surprise. Rooted in sacrifice to gods, it made power feel sacred, rare, and costly. You can’t just magic your way out of everything, which raised the emotional and ethical stakes in a meaningful way.

The book is well-written, with strong pacing and complex, believable relationships. I especially liked how it shows that people can hold harmful beliefs and still be loved. Being wrong doesn’t make someone irredeemable—but refusing to grow when presented with new truth does. The story illustrates that nuance beautifully.

4 Stars - Highly Recommended!

What a dazzling read this book is. I am so glad that I took a chance on To Bargain With Mortals despite the fact that I haven’t read anything about the author and the premise seems like the usual fantasy trope of girl-of-destiny. But as I have mentioned in my previous reviews, I can put up with familiar fantasy tropes as long as executed well and To Bargain With Mortals has just done that. It’s not perfect but every page was perfect for me.

Inspired by colonial India, R.A. Basu’s To Bargain With Mortals follows the story of Poppy Sutherland, an orphaned Viryani who was adopted by a childless Duke and a Viceroy at that; and a Viryani criminal, Hasan a.ka. The Jackal, who despite being a criminal and being unrepentant about killing people still has morals to save the innocents. I know it’s crazy but he is just what he is. Heh. Know that these characters are already adults which made the story more novel in the sense that both protagonists seemed innocent about a lot of ways of the world. Poppy, having raised by the nobility, was sheltered and has this great tendency to act like the world owes her a lot for taking a lot from her. And Hasan for only seeing things the violent way. It’s almost always a black and white for him. If he wants to get something, he always faces it head on, with violence, without even thinking about the repercussions of his actions. Sounds irritating but Hasan is such an adorable guy despite the flaws. I may not relate with his logic but I can understand where he is coming from. He is jus a product of oppression who wants to do good but and make a better world for his fellow Viryans and at the same time, protect and provide for his family. Only that he still needs a lot of growing up to realize that fists are not the only way to do things.

I cannot say the same thing for Poppy though. She’s prolly the only reason why I did not give To Bargain With Mortals a perfect 5 star review because she really grated on my nerves. She’s a self-centered brat and is basically someone who had gotten everything that she wanted because she threw a tantrum or had coerced people to do her bidding. I did not feel that she worked hard enough to deserve her achievements at the end. She did not experience sufficient suffering for me to give her a pat in the back and tell her, “You did well, Young Padawan.” I did not see her displaying acts of remarkable brilliance or intelligence or cunning that made me “Oh, wow.” Yes, I know how miserable her life is and that she really has the right to feel hurt but it does not give her the right to invalidate the hurt of others when comparatively speaking, she had it better compared with the other Viryanis who did not even got a chance for any thing better. Le sigh.

Anyway, enough with Poppy lest I spoil the whole book for you with all my rant. Setting my dislike for Poppy, I am happy to tell you that I like all the characters in the book even the villains and the not-so villains. They’re well developed and has their certain depth that it’s difficult to not relate with them at some point. The way R.A. Basu made them was definitely not just your bad-bad kind of villain or good-good kind of protagonists. They have their admirable traits despite having both acceptable and non-acceptable flaws.

On top of the remarkable character development, I also enjoyed the author’s manner of writing. It’s poignant without being flowery. It really set the tone of the book which is inspired by colonial India. And yes, the way the author the built the story around the gods and goddesses of India made it so much more vibrant. I am only familiar with India’s history and mythology on the surface level but this book made me delve deeper into the intricacies of the Indians’ plight regarding their colonization. I also love the magic system created by the Author because there’s a balance. You cannot just use something so powerful without paying for it.

But most important of all, what I truly admired about To Bargain With Mortals was its heavy focus on family. It was just so heartbreaking to witness how the events of the book led to some heartwrenching scenes. Clarence Sutherland was a despicable man through and through but I could not find fault on how he tried, in his own perspective and views of the world, to be a good father to Poppy. How he tried his very best to protect Poppy is his own misguided ways. And then there’s The Jackal’s family whose filial bonds are so strong that they’d rather see the world in chaos than surrender one of their own. Truly, family is complicated but as this book has conveyed, it’s worth fighting for.

Summing it all up, To Bargain With Mortals had been a perfect companion these past days where the mundaneness of life has tried to swallow me whole. It’s surely a series that I’m looking forward to. Another gem in the Bindery books line up that I would not hesitate shoving down anyone’s throat. I pray to the gods of Virian that Poppy would at least grow up in the second and last installment of the series because she’s the only underachiever among the lineup of amazing characters in the book.

5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: fantasy, anti-colonialism, magic, dual POV

This review has been posted to Goodreads as of 4/6 and will be posted to my review blog 5/1 and to Instagram 5/3.

This book actually reminded me a lot of And the Sky Bled , though this one focuses less on the environmental side of things than that one did. Also, revenge overall is less of a factor in this one. That being said, if you liked AtSB, you'll probably like this book as well.

We start the book with Poppy as a child and get a glimpse of what her life is like as the adopted Viryani daughter of the Welkish Viceroy. While Poppy is clearly privileged, it's also obvious from the start, even as a child, that she's been isolated from her culture and is craving that contact. Naturally, as colonialism tends to go, that contact is actively discouraged and denied, and eventually she's sent off to college in Welkland. Again, while Poppy is clearly privileged, even among the Welkish, she also faces the difficulties of being a brown Viryani in white Welkish high society, and thus is subject to abuses, both physical and social.

With this background, we're primed to be sympathetic to Poppy, and she is a sympathetic character. She clearly cares about people and has clearly been through a lot, I liked her character. That being said, she's also blind to a lot of the misfortune prevalent in Viryana as a result of Welkish colonial rule. While she recognizes some of it, she still has a lot of learning (and unlearning) to do. One of the other Viryani characters calls her out, saying that Poppy is so used to being the most oppressed person in any room that when she's not, she doesn't even recognize it, and I think that's a very apt way of putting it. Something I appreciated was that she is willing to learn and she is willing to apologize when she gets things wrong. Over the course of the book Poppy is abused, gaslit, and kidnapped, so she could very easily refuse to listen to what the people around her are saying, but once she's given evidence and time to process, she does tend to come around.

I also liked seeing Poppy's relationship with her parents. Poppy is Viryani while her parents are both Welkish, and they've tried to raise her to be Welkish. Any digression from that, even in enjoying Viryanian stories, is considered a transgression to be met with reprimand (Poppy going to a Welkish college is actually a punishment). At the same time, Poppy's parents do love her, which becomes especially clear later on in the book. Likewise, Poppy is perfectly aware of her differences from her parents and all the ways both them and others make her suffer for those differences. Despite that, she also loves her parents and is deeply affected by the idea of anything happening to them. I liked seeing how Poppy and her father's relationship in particular evolved over the course of the book, and I liked where they were at the end, it set up an interesting path forward. I'm also curious to see where Poppy and her mother's relationship is going. They were more at odds over the course of the book, but by the end seemed firmly on the same side, so it'll be interesting to see more of that.

Hasan is also an interesting character. He and his two brothers inherited a large and fairly successful gang after the passing of their father and have continued to run it well. Family plays an important role here, and we see pretty much from the get-go that though the Devar brothers may quarrel, they would go to the ends of the earth for each other. Aside from wanting/needing to get his brother back, Hasan is coming from a place of disadvantage, having had to survive the Welkish regime and deal with the issues that arise from it in ways that Poppy hasn't. His worldview has been shaped by those experiences and the experiences of those around him, and while he's often right, there are also times where he makes assumptions that Poppy corrects him on. Like her, he's stubborn. But like her, he's willing to learn.

I particularly liked seeing Hasan and Zeyar's relationship. The middle brother is the mediator, but Hasan has a black and white viewpoint while Zeyar operates more in the gray, which naturally causes tension between the two. I liked seeing their moments of unity when it came to getting their brother back. One thing I found particularly interesting was when Hasan did something that aligned with what Zeyar might typically think/do but Zeyar disliked it, and vice versa. It was an interesting way to challenge their existing viewpoints.

The side characters all felt fleshed out and real as well. Zeyar, as mentioned, gets a good amount of time on page, and he even has a view POV chapters himself. I actually liked him a good bit, though later on he makes some decisions and has some perspective shifts that made me like him less. It'll be interesting to see where he goes from here. Harithi and Samina are two other gang members that get a good amount of page time. I liked Harithi's no nonsense attitude and her willingness to call out everyone. I look forward to getting to see more of her in book 2. Samina was an interesting one as well, though she's on-page less than Harithi. Samina actually started out as a childhood friend of Poppy's, and we get to see the two of them interact from the beginning of the book. Their lives diverged, however, though they clearly end up back in the same place. I enjoyed getting to see both their perspectives on things, past and present, and I definitely get both sides of their relationship.

This book deals primarily with themes of racism, colorism, and colonialism. We see a lot of this from Poppy's POV and the way she's treated despite being the Viceroy's daughter (and even the way her parents treat her). That being said, Poppy also has moments of perpetuating these things throughout the book and it's one of the areas she experiences growth in. Alongside these topics, we also get casteism as a theme. In this world, there are Viryanis who have elemental powers, called daivyakt, and those who do not have any powers, called vasudhakt, with the daivyakt being the higher of the two castes. Most of the book is focused on the first three topics, but we see aspects of casteism throughout the book, with it really coming out toward the end of the book, with people even directly pointing out to Hasan, Poppy, and co. the issues with caste and with assuming the Welkish made it all 'equal under oppression.' It was an interesting conversation and I'm curious to see where it'll go in the next book.

Addicting, politically poignant, gangs, and power loosely inspired by colonial India.

Poppy is the adopted daughter of the Duke of Cloudcliff, the viceroy of Viryana. She is Virian - dark-haired and brown-skinned, backward. She had to be the perfect Welkish daughter, or she would be no one at all.

Hasan is an oddly idealistic leader of a a gang, alongside his brothers, a daivyakt able to control fire due to divine power counted as heresy by the Welkish.

<b>He reminded her of the tigers that noblemen were fond of hunting: handsome at a distance, but lethal in close quarters.
</b>
This tackles prejudice and self-hatred - the feeling of being an imposter everywhere. How we define being civilised. How to tackle ingrained bias and perceptions.

The over-simplified moral convictions did grate on me at times as it felt like a mouthpiece to get across an agenda. However, knowing this is probably the purpose of the book, I accepted this angle.

My main issue was our heroine, Poppy. She was very wishy-washy and she was not a character I found myself automatically rooting for.

The world-building was immense but also light in the sense that not much was explained. This made it easy to fly through, but the more I think on it, the more I realise there was so much potential - from the elemental magic, to the gods, to the technology.

This felt like a Dickinson-type setting, yet there are instances where there is a modern technology which throws the reading experience off.

The ending felt very rushed, as well as the setting up for the next book. The prose was simple and easy to tear through.

I think I have guessed the reveal of the series - I clocked it at 57%. I look forward to seeing if I am right in latter books.

Arc gifted by Bindery Books.

Wow!! Took me a day after finishing to even start this review! The author did an incredible job with this story. I love a strong FMC and this one is top tier! There is a lot going on, but the author was able to write it in a way that I didn’t get lost or overwhelmed. I will be patiently counting down the days till book two is released.

It was interesting enough to keep me going into the book because of the commentary it makes about colonialism. The impact that has to someone whose a BIPOC that assimilates to white culture. But like make it fantastical, interesting and full of intrigue. I actually really liked it!!!

And my man, Hasan... he's so cute to me but he'll probably hate being described that!! I adoreeeee the relationship he has with his brothers, it's really sweet and strong. It's refreshing.

Another thing though, the quiet moments where we're learning more about the characters, the plot, and the society they live in felt boring SOMETIMES. Because with the idea being colonialism, I felt like I knew how things were going to go so it felt quiet predictable.

Would still recommend this book if the ideas it explores intrigues you. It's a great read!!

I stumbled across this book on TikTok because I follow Emma Skies, who acquired this book through Bindery. The cover is GORGEOUS, and as an international adoptee I was wary of but intrigued by the premise.

I needn’t have worried. I don't even fully know where to begin, but I thought this book -- once I got over the first 26% or so -- was brilliant. I only really got pulled in once our main characters' goals came together, but after that it simply flew by.

I loved all of the characters in this. The main characters, Poppy and Hasan, have a kind of naivety to their worldviews, and they both come to understandings, by the end of the book, that left me feeling relieved. There's a lot that happens towards the end of the book, and I think all of it is earned... and therefore extremely satisfying to see. The side characters are numerous, and I enjoyed what all of them brought to the narrative. Our main characters are often challenged for their words/decisions, and I loved how characters are not easily let off the hook for their choices.

Poppy, especially, was such a wonderful character. Without giving too much away, I think her growth over the course of the book was such a joy to witness. Underlying all of her actions is this desperate longing to belong somewhere, and that’s a feeling that resonated with me so deeply, as an asian adoptee raised by white people. I just loved her.

I have so many thoughts about this book, and not all of them are super coherent at the moment, but I am looking forward to this book's release and cannot wait for the sequel.

Thank you to Bindery & NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I have to say, this story… it’s a pretty engaging read. The story follows Poppy Sutherland, who’s been away for seven years and is now trying to find her place in Welkish society. Along the way, she meets Hasan Devar, a notorious gang leader, and together they get tangled up in some serious political intrigue. 

Poppy’s struggles a lot with her identity through this story, which I found added a lot of richness to the plot. The world-building was amazing too, with a unique magic system that adds to the story.

The pacing (for me) was absolutely perfect! It had me hooked from page 1 and I really, really loved that the book doesn’t end on a cliffhanger. It wraps up nicely while leaving just enough to make you want more. Overall, it’s a thought-provoking debut that blends political intrigue, magic, and complex characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books

Thank you Bindery Books, Skies Press, and NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I overall rated this a 4 star out of 5.

The character’s depth felt rigid. While we learn their inner thoughts and workings via the shifting POVs and through their words and actions, I feel like I was told more than shown. The relationship between Poppy and Hasan felt like it solidified too fast while the story itself felt too slow.

There was a lot that felt like fluff that could have been removed and would have made the book a bit faster paced and less full of info dumping. It could be 50-75 pages shorter and still pack a powerful punch with the themes presented. It felt like maybe book one’s main goal was to give a deeper understanding of the lore, political structure, and magical system, and then possibly more intricacies to the magic system and character depth will be introduced in the next book? I definitely hope the magic system comes more into play in the next book.

Having said that, I did enjoy the story as a whole. I think the themes are strong pillars throughout the book and incredibly necessary for people to read. The politics are eerily similar to our current climate, and I felt those similarities are so important to be shared.

I enjoyed watching Poppy learn and fall in love with her culture after so many years being forced into a box that didn’t fit her. The fights against systemic racism and sexism are also relevant and powerfully written and presented. This was the strongest part of the book and rightfully should be.

The author’s voice is so strong. She writes with a beautiful cadence that’s easy to follow. I highlighted so many one liners that were so powerful and made me incredibly emotional. Overall this is an incredible freshman novel.

I enjoyed this a lot and love the themes.

A good solid debut from an obviously veryv talented author. Great female lead character with an interesting and unique magic system. Reminded me a bit of a cross between Brandon Sanderson and Gourav Mohanty. Recomended for sure!

3.5 stars! Thank you so much NetGalley and Skies Press for the advance copy! As always this review is completely my own honest opinion. Review incoming ¨̮
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To Bargain with Mortals did some things really really well, and other parts fell flat for me so this book lands in the solid 3 range for me. It was overall a very powerful and well written book, and the social commentary made in it was phenomenal. This book covered lots of heavy topics like colonialism, racism, sexism, classism, prejudice vs privilege, religious intolerance and abuse of power.

What I really loved about this book was that every single issue was shown from multiple sides, and nothing was black and white. We also got to see how upbringing plays a big part in internal biases that are hard to break, even when you know they’re wrong. The social commentary in this book is so impactful and is very relevant to the world today.

Beneath all of that however, the actual plot fell extremely flat for me. The story was extremely predictable and had nothing uniquely special to it. While the issues the story highlighted and the message it had were very profound, there was nothing in the plot that hooked me in. It was a basic story of a young woman coming in to her power and becoming a ruler. I was very happy that romance played such a small role, they very much set the romance up to be a bigger plot in the sequel which was nice. The book focused so much on Poppy becoming her own person and coming in to her own power that a romance plot would have been way too much on top. The pacing was very strange to me, with the ending feeling very rushed. The main plot of the book only spans about 3 weeks and in it way too much is accomplished. We’re talking huge political movements and revolutions. Everything also came together way too easily in the end, it all worked out way too perfectly. It almost felt idealistic instead of realistic. I really enjoyed the first half of the book but the second half just didn’t flow as well structurally. The writing of the book was very well done and it flowed very well. A lot of the statements made were very poetic, profound, and deep. I had a really hard time connecting with the dialogue though, which made it really hard to connect to the characters. A lot of the dialogue sounded very childish to me and not very natural.

I think the main character Poppy had an amazing character arc and growth. There were so many times where she was infuriating me to no end, but was then checked by other characters and immediately self reflected to grow as a person. She changes so much throughout the story and uses every experience to evolve her world view and perspective. Despite all this however she still wasn’t my favorite character and I never really cared if she accomplished her goal or not. My main issue was that even until the very end, after she had learned and experienced so much, her motivations still felt selfish. She always said she wanted the title because it was her birthright, not because she wanted to help others when asked. I very much loved all of the side characters!! Hasan and the brothers were amazing. As well as Samina and Harithi. I think all of them carried the story more than Poppy. Even Catherine and Theodore had more personality than Poppy. Overall I think this book did an amazing job of highlighting very real and very relevant societal problems, and it did it in a very profound way. I just think the rest of the underlying plot was average. I still thought this was a very well written book and a great debut novel!

To Bargain with Mortal is a magnificent read, point blank, nothing else to say. But since I love to yap, here's a little bit of my opinions: I thought the writing style was gorgeous, I thought the characters jumped straight out the page and I loved how human they all felt like while reading, and I thought the magic system was to die for.

Fantasy is one of my favorite genres in the whole world, and this one was the exact type of fantasy I was looking for. I was never bored, never tired and never disappointed throughout all the twists-and-turns this book took, and I'm inmensely thankful for the opportunity to have read it early.

I loved this book a lot! The magic system was wonderfully done and it was a great story! Would highly recommend.

Nope! No no no. Put this down at 16%, and I have no desire to pick it up again. For me, it’s obvious this is a debut. The author relies on telling instead of showing, and mutilates a dead horse with her over explaining. On top of it all, the plot is average at best, and adds nothing to the fantasy genre. I was really looking forward to this one, so it sucks that I have to write this, but… no. That’s all, folks.