‘Rea and the Blood of the Nectar’: An #OwnVoices MG That Gives Magic to Nature

Many thanks to NetGalley, Mango & Marigold Press and the author for the advanced reader’s copy of Rea and the Blood of the Nectar in exchange for my honest review.

• Title: Rea and the Blood of the Nectar
• Author: Payal Doshi
• Publisher: Mango and Marigold Press
• Pub. date: 15 June 2021
• Series: The Chronicles of Astranthia #1
• Pages: 350
• Source: NetGalley
• Genres: middle-grade, action & adventure, fantasy, #ownvoices

It all begins on the night Rea turns twelve. After a big fight with her twin brother Rohan on their birthday, Rea’s life in the small village of Darjeeling, India, gets turned on its head. It’s four in the morning and Rohan is nowhere to be found.

It hasn’t even been a day and Amma acts like Rohan’s gone forever. Her grandmother, too, is behaving strangely. Unwilling to give up on her brother, Rea and her friend Leela meet Mishti Daadi, a wrinkly old fortune-teller whose powers of divination set them off on a secret quest. In the shade of night, they portal to an otherworldly realm of Astranthia, a land full of magic and whimsy.

Struggling with the truth her Amma has kept hidden from her, Rea must solve clues that lead to Rohan, find a way to rescue him and save Astranthia from a potentially deadly fate. But the clock is ticking. Can she rescue Rohan, save Astranthia, and live to see it all?

Rea and the Blood of the Nectar got some very good early reviews and #ownvoices fantasy debut with an Indian main character! I’m always up for some good middle-grade novels to tone down the seriousness and adultness of my usual TBR, so I immediately grabbed this ARC copy!

The story follows twelve-year-old Rea Chettri as she’s thrust into a new world that is just a portal away from her little village of Darjeeling. Everything starts on her twelfth birthday when her twin brother Rohan goes missing. Rea and her friend Leela embarks on a bit of mystery-solving and stumbles upon the magical world of Astranthia, where mythical creatures roam and citizens live in flower bud homes. As Rea meets new friends and searched for Rohan in this mysterious new world, she soon comes to realise that there is more to the story behind this kidnapping and that there are some secrets from her past that are starting to catch up with her.

Initially, I found it a teensy bit hard to actually like Rea and by the end of the book, I think I understood her a lot better and I sort of wanted her to work on herself like she did throughout this book. She was initially what I would call a brat; she has this habit of blaming others for everything that goes wrong, and she had this annoying lack of trust in almost anyone. Her uneasy family dynamics explains a lot of it, but I found it a bit frustrating at times. However, she really grows through her friendships and experiences, becoming more loving, selfless and powerful in a way that is very satisfying to me as the reader.

I don’t feel strongly about Rea’s family yet since a good bit of the book is of Rea and her friends on their quest, but I find them complex and layered from their past experiences, so I’m hoping there will be more direct interactions with them in the next book.

I loved Rea’s friends though! My absolute favourite character here was Leela, Rea’s friend from Darjeeling who gets roped into this mission. Her patience and understanding of Rea and the way she tackles Rea’s tantrums were great! She practically had more patience with Rea than anyone else, myself included.

What I really liked about the plot was that it was fast-paced. It really conveyed the urgency of Rea’s mission and got me excited as the reader. It really delivered on the adventure and magic that it promised in the blurb. I really like how the portals into Astranthia reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia, a series that childhood me loved!

Since this was publicised as an #ownvoices novel, I had high expectations and I am happy to say this book met all of it! There is even a glossary in the back for all the phrases that anyone who isn’t familiar with Indian culture would not understand.

There were a few plot twists in Rea and the Blood of the Nectar, some I saw coming and some that made me gasp out aloud. I did like that about it because too many plot twists in a story that is already as adventurous and fast-paced as this one would have been way too much.

Aside from the village life that Rea and Rohan grew up in, Astranthia plays a major role in this story. I really liked how the author weaved a common theme of nature being magical. She really incorporated a lot of natural entities, like flower buds as houses, lilies with serpentine lethality, clothes made of flowers and many more! Overall, it was very strong world-building and I loved the originality of it!

I also loved how the author handled everything to do with royalty and how the throne passes down from royal to royal. It was unique and I loved the concepts.

Also, let me stress that Doshi used some amazing language in this story. I was constantly highlighting beautiful lines that burst with imagery and richness! However, I did notice that some words, such as “augury” and “pnigalion”, are way too advanced for a middle-grade read, in my opinion. I still loved Googling them though!

I loved that Rea and the Blood of the Nectar was mindful of the fact that it is a middle-grade novel and discussed many relevant themes. My favourite theme from this book was Rea’s growth. Since the whole story is narrated through her POV, it was very obvious when she started to realise her own mistakes and make conscious efforts to correct herself. I think this is a very pertinent theme for kids this age. Rea learnt a lot about taking responsibility, being a good friend, and taking others’ feeling into consideration. I feel like twelve-year-old me would have been very impressed by everything Rea goes through and taken these lessons to heart.

Family dynamics play a major role since most of Rea’s initial personality is molded from her experiences with her Amma and Rohan. I liked how Doshi used this and Rea’s growth to show the importance of friendships. It certainly made me appreciate how much Rea’s friends did for her throughout their quest.

It took me some time to warm up to Rea and the Blood of the Nectar but it is hard to resist the lure of the excellent world-building, the magical writing and the satisfying character development. I ended up breezing through the second half of the book when my interest really picked up and I loved it!

Have you read Rea and the Blood of the Nectar or do you plan on picking it up?