Hello! Ten Incarnations of Rebellion by Vaishnavi Patel is a gripping speculative historical fiction that engaged me throughout the book in little and explosive moments, and I’m very much looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you!
Some Content Notes to be aware of: Death, Colonization, Sexual Harassment, Attempted Rape
From the New York Times bestselling author of Kaikeyi comes an epic and daring novel that imagines an alternate version of India that was never liberated from the British, and a young woman who will 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 each other than facing their true oppressors.
When tragedy strikes close to home, Kalki and her group of friends begin to play a dangerous game, obtaining jobs working for the British while secretly planning to destroy the empire from the inside out. They found Kingston’s new independence movement, knowing one wrong move means certain death. Facing threats from all quarters, Kalki must decide whether it’s more important to be a hero or to survive.
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.
Review of Ten Incarnations of Rebellion
Setting
The setting in this novel feels unique but does not stray too far from reality. In this alternate India in the 1960s, India has not declared independence from Britain yet, but instead suffers under a British occupying empire who employ harsher and more strategic methods to maintain their violent power. This alternate setting gives the author a lot of creative license to explore the themes and character development without being too constrained by our reality’s history, while also expanding on realistic and poignant topics of rebellion against imperialism.
Characters
While the main character POV is Kalki who is a young Hindu woman whose father had to leave due to his ties with the Indian Liberation Movement, Kalki’s two best friends Fauzia and Yashu also balance Kalki’s worldview and provide nuanced approaches to rebellion and faith. Kalki struggles with being torn between starting a local chapter of the Indian Liberation Movement while thinking about surviving day by day; but ultimately errs towards justice and focuses on overthrowing the British’s hold in Kingston. Fauzia is a lesbian Muslim who is a balance to Kalki by being more level headed and strategic in her approach towards rebellion and always tries to minimize harm done to people. Yashu is a Dalit who struggles with rebellion at first with the thought that at least the British don’t look down upon her as much as higher caste Indians do. However, it was cool to see her character arc being the one who ultimately had the least amount of moral qualms about killing others and taking the “low road” to achieve their goals.The three of them all complement each other and in their support for their common cause become a force to be reckoned with.
Themes
A major theme of this book is the interweaving of the avatars of Vishnu. At the end of each chapter, a story about one of the reincarnations of Vishnu is interwoven into the conversations that are relevant to the recent events of the book. With the British trying so hard in this book to eradicate Indian culture and way of life, keeping these sacred stories alive helps the characters maintain hope and meaning as they continue with their fight.
Ultimately, this story of rebellion resonated deeply with me. From my master’s degree in conflict studies, I could see how incredibly researched this book was. From small to large acts of resistance, everyone in the book had their part to play. Ten Incarnations of Rebellion was a skilled examination of the impossible choices of overthrowing the system, and I loved every minute of it.
I definitely recommend it if you’re in the mood for a book with long chapters, fighting the system, and alternate histories.
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