Mr. Ruchir Gupta

What I like about the book, is that Ruchir does great service to Jahanara by bringing her story to life.

I have read about her, and she is one of the great ladies of India, whose story has never been told. Her story lies buried beneath the legends of Razia Sultan, Nur Jahan, Rani of Jhansi and Begum Hazrat Mahal (also not so well known!)

Yet, she was a great woman indeed.

For the rest, I can only say that he could have done better. His characterisation of Aurangzeb was unfair. He converted Shah Jahan into a caricature and did the same for Dara Shikoh. He did not mention any of the good traits of Roshanara and painted her as some sort of nymphomaniacal fiend.

I did not see the purpose of adding the visions. Nor did I see the purpose of creating a love affair with the good doctor.

He could have done better by Jahanara and the rest of the royal family.… (mehr)

Mistress of the Throne is the story of Jahanara the daughter of Shah Jahan who was appointed empress of India after the death of her mother. It is a story both of love and family turmoil.

I thought this book was pretty good. It was definitely interesting to see what India was like during that time and what royal life was like. It is also clear that Jahanara was fascinating and the love between her mother and father legendary and beautiful.

There were some issues I had with the book. The biggest is probably that I felt a disconnect with the characters. They felt a bit flat. I realize they were real people but it still is required to really develop them in a book so that the reader can feel a connection and feel invested. There were times when a character seemed to jump from one personality to another without any explanation. The king, for example, is at once tolerant of all varied beliefs and people but also a tyrant who kills with little provocation in other circumstances with no real reason given to the reader as to who he really is and why he really does this. A better example lies in her brother Aurengzeb who in the beginning of the book is said to speak out against violence towards women and children but in the later part of the book beats his own wife regularly. This would be alright if the reader had been given some kind of hint that this change happened in him. Instead it just is.

There are a few little things also. One super tiny thing is putting translations of words in parenthesis instead of footnotes. It pulls the reader out of the story even if only for a moment, it is like if a director of a movie all of a sudden popped in to explain something then the movie continued. Also I believe the story would have greatly benefited if the author had stayed in third person as he originally planned. Changing it to first person would have worked if he had been prepared to exclude certain things about what was going on that Jahanara wasn't there for or was able to include them smoother. Since he didn't it messed with the flow of the novel and felt like a lot of telling instead of showing. Not that this is impossible but it is very difficult and rarely done well. I do think if it had been third person the flow would have been greatly improved.

As a whole I would say this novel was very well researched. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either. I did enjoy learning about Jahanara and her parents love. Also about the story behind the amazing Taj Mahal. I would be interested in learning more about this time period now and about these people. I would also be willing try reading another book from this author as I think he has a lot of potential.… (mehr)

I'll give the author kudos for an amazing amount of research. The amount of detail and historical facts in this work is astounding. The glittery and vibrant world of the Mughal emperors comes to vivid life in this novel. When seen in stark contrast to the depths of poverty of the Indian peasant, the world of harems, elaborate monuments, and the court seem almost decadent and doomed to collapse under the weight of all the gold and jewels.

I found the historical details presented fascinating as well. The personage of Jahanara, the whole Mughal empire really, was a complete unknown to me. To learn details of her life and how hard it was despite the opulence of her surroundings kept me engaged and wanting to turn to the next page.

However, overall, I found it really hard to connect with any one of the characters. There almost seemed like a wall between us and the characters. Like were watching the events unfold through a glass screen or hearing them read about aloud... Maybe too much historical details were being crammed into the narrative and not enough actual story.

That was another quip I had with this book. There was a lot of "telling" going on rather than actual story-telling. There are multiple paragraphs, sometimes even most of a chapter, where the author just tells us what happened, how many people were involved, and how it impacted history, rather than actually setting a scene and telling a story.

This book is rather hard for me to rate. It gives us an interesting look at a world most Western readers never encounter and it does it with style. We learn about people that are probably completely new to the reader and learn the history of a very fascinating part of the world. But in the process, the reader becomes disengaged with the characters and the story flow. We're "told" more than we're "shown" and in the process, the characters become just words on a page. Sad to say this book becomes a solid 3. No more, no less. And that's all I can really say about it. *sigh*

Note: Book received for free through GoodReads FirstReads program in exchange for honest review.… (mehr)