Not many times I give a book a 1, let alone one from one of my favorite authors. I found this book so difficult to read. Everything was so flat - the characters, the overdone description of the Taj Mahal, the court intrigue. I just felt nothing was developed enough, but yet some of the description was so repetitive. I wanted to know more about the actual building of the tomb, more about why the characters behaved the way they did. I didn't need it spelled out, but some of the action behind the reactions would have added to this. Unfortunately I didn't particularly like this novel as much as the first two, which was a shame because I adored those ones. It didn't have the same feel and felt brand new with all new characters being focused on. I also didn't find that this book was written as well as the first two with many grammatical and sometimes spelling errors. The description of this book made it sound as if this book were based on sibling rivalry between the sisters; instead it focused on the life of Jahanara, who doesn't hold the same allure and personality that Mehrunnisa did in the first two.This book felt more like a history lesson to me more than anything else, and although it's fascinating to learn history while reading a work of fiction, at times it felt laborous and the descriptions too long. I only felt these shadows of relationships, and it just didn't draw me in as much as the first two.Overall it was still an enjoyable novel on its own, but simply did not live up to the prior two in the series,
Do You like book Shadow Princess (2010)?
I didn't like it as much as the other two but it did make me want to add India to my bucket list!
—emdog567
Lucid but lacks in being an unputdownable book. a shallow reading would suffice.
—ray
Amazing amazing book. Riveting, and I couldn't put it down.
—nomiexo
Very slow as compared to the first two in the series.
—Cami
