Review of Flower and Thorn by Rati Mehrotra
Flower and Thorn by Rati Mehrotra (MacMillan, 2023) is an absolutely gorgeous young adult fantasy novel set in an alternate sixteenth century India at the beginning of European colonization. With wonderful characters and sensory details, this book is sure to keep you reading long after you should have gone to bed!
Irinya is the only girl from her caravan who hunts for the magical flowers that allow the people to work off their debt to rapacious merchants who have provided them food and other elements of survival. Along with several boys her age, she is always on the lookout for the most rare and valuable flowers and is careful to avoid their deadly thorns. When her childhood friend finds one of the rarest flowers, she promises she’ll keep it a secret. But an attractive stranger who promises to liberate her caravan from its debtor convinces Irinya to give him the flower in return for riches unimaginable. It is only after she searches for him in a nearby city that she realizes it was all too good to be true. Only now, she’s caught the attention of the sultan’s son and is wrapped up in a royal succession that’s got her in way over her head.
Flower and Thorn has all of the great elements of a fantasy novel in a quasi-historical setting. The magical flowers work well within the setting, having been seamlessly integrated into what could otherwise be the real world of several hundred years ago. All of the characters are complex, with even the ones Irinya distrusts proving to have endearing qualities and being just as complicated as she is.
If you enjoy young adult fantasy or historical fantasy, you should definitely check out Flower and Thorn. It will be released on October 17, 2023, but you can pre-order it now!
The publisher provided me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for review consideration.
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