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Book: “A Kiss of Crimson Ash” by Anuja Varghese
Publishing Info: Orbit, May 2026
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: Nandapore is a city of secrets and spellcasters where seduction reigns and a power-hungry king is never satisfied, plotting to unleash a weapon that has only lived in myth… until now.
To stop him, an ancient goddess seeks out a newly crowned queen, a heartsick prince, a common thief, and a courtesan with magic in her blood. Together, they chart a course through brothels, temples, taverns, and palaces, setting a trap for the empire’s most powerful men.
Linked by desire, destiny, and a dangerous foe, they each must decide…
Review: This was a mixed bag of a read for me, partly because it felt like the book was mis-marketed as a romantasy when it was more fantasy-focused, truly. But then at the same time, the book felt the need to include repeated and often unnecessary (either for plot purposes or character development purposes) spicy scenes that felt like they were shoe-horned in simply to chase trends and/or reinforce that this book is an adult book instead of YA. For the former, I think all books are worse off for trying to capture what are only brief moments of popularity that will likely either date your book immediately or fall off so quickly as to be useless. And as for the latter…
What I liked most was probably the mythology and the ties to Indian culture and history. I especially enjoyed the blending of elements that seemed to come from actual folklore alongside a pantheon of deities that were created specifically for this world. I think this sort of approach for fantasy folklore is often the most successful, where authors don’t feel too tied down to recreating exact myths or using deities from actual religions within their fantasy story. I think a bit more could have been done with them, ultimately, but the general approach was good.
The story itself was OK. I wasn’t blown away by anything that was happening (indeed, there were several moments where side characters would randomly show up with the exact thing needed for a given situation or conflict), but I also was interested enough throughout to keep going. The writing itself was fairly limited with regard to its imagery as well, which was unfortunate, as if there is one word that comes to mind when I picture India, it is “lush.” It would have been nice if the writing could have better risen to the inspiration it was calling upon.
The characters were likewise fine. I didn’t hate them, but they also all felt fairly flat. And it’s here where I really hold the spicy scenes against the book. My personal preference is for a limited number of spicy scenes, used in a way that moves the characters or relationship forward. But that’s just my own taste. However, books are also limited to a certain page count, and the inclusion of certain scenes means taking page time away from other aspects of the story. If a good handful of these spicy scenes had been taken out, and the story refocused on developing these characters more fully, not only would the book itself be better, but the spicy scenes that remained would have hit with more of an impact.
So, overall, this was just an OK read. I don’t feel like I wasted my time reading it, as I got through it quickly and it had flashes of fantasy elements that I did enjoy. However, the overuse of spice, the flat characters, and the limited word craft didn’t ever let me become fully invested. That said, if you’re looking for a more spice-focused Indian fantasy story, this still might be a good read for you!
Rating 7: It never quite reached the potential that you could see glimmering behind the unnecessary spice scenes.
Reader’s Advisory:
“A Kiss of Crimson Ash ” isn’t currently on any Goodreads lists but it is on: Romantasy TBR 2026
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