Kaikeyi
Vaishnavi Patel's Kaikeyi (2022) is a fairy-tale retelling novel. The story is set in Ayodhya and Bharat, in 7th-5th to 5th-4th centuries BCE. Characters include Kaikeyī. Key subjects include feminist retelling.
Open Library readers give it an average of 4.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings, and 57 more have it on their want-to-read list. It has been published in 6 editions. It appeared on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction bestseller list in 2022.
It runs to roughly 217 pages — 3–4 hours of reading at an average pace.
About Kaikeyi
This is the story of the chief 'Bad Girl' of the Hindu epic the 'Ramayana.' imaginative and well-written, it is a defiantly feminist view of the start of the myth, and the forces that drove her to her present situation as an outcast, hated by the generations that follow. A little too long, especially the midsection, and rather marred by the use of magic to establish bonds and control minds, but on whole much better than the usual run-of-the-mill mythological recreation of obscure women as first person principals. And then, in a mythological setting which has gods, demons, ogres and monkeys in the mix, one cannot seriously object to a little magic an mind-control!
Awards & lists
- 📰New York Times bestseller list — Hardcover Fiction, 2022
Quick answers
Who wrote Kaikeyi?
Kaikeyi was written by Vaishnavi Patel and first published in 2022.
What genre is Kaikeyi?
It is usually shelved as Fairy Tale Retellings.
How long is Kaikeyi?
The median edition has 217 pages, about 3–4 hours of reading at 250 words per minute.
What books are similar to Kaikeyi?
Readers who like it often enjoy A Thousand Ships, Julia and Wicked.
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