The Spice Gate - Prashanth Srivatsa - ★★

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AUTHOR: Prashanth Srivatsa
GENRE: Epic Fantasy
PUBLICATION DATE: July 16, 2024
RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: As much as I love spices, ‘The Spice Gate’ wasn’t my cup of masala chai. Complicated (but interesting) worldbuilding, repetitive writing, unappealing protagonist, confusing plot. Very disappointed.


Plot Preview: (Don’t know how much you’ll understand from my preview. For a better idea, read the GR blurb.)
Amir is a poor spice carrier who dreams of escaping his dreary burden and saving his family. Unfortunately, the only possible way to do this involves some unobtainable spices, heinous rich people, and tricky inter-kingdom conspiracies. The more Amir strives towards his goal, the murkier the proceedings become, until he is too entangled in the schemes and needs to take some tough decisions.
The story comes to us in Amir’s third-person perspective.


I'm not an avid reader of epic fantasy but the Indian connection of this novel tempted me much. However, as anyone who cooks with spices knows, getting the spice balance right in every dish is crucial. Too much or too little of any can sully the whole taste. This book has too much spice, thereby killing the flavour.

Bookish Yays:
😋 The sheer scale of this epic fantasy: as mindblowing as strands of genuine saffron.

😋 The regular mentions of unusual Indian dishes such as idli and patoli: as welcome as a glass of ginger nimbu paani on a summer day.

😋 Some of the secondary characters: working as well to enhance the story as a dash of cardamom does to a dessert.


Bookish Mixed Bags:
😬 The plethora of Indian words from various Indian languages: an interesting choice but won’t work for every reader, just like peppercorns don’t click with every gastronome. Western readers will definitely miss out on the subtleties as there is no glossary.

😬 The fictitious quote at the start of every chapter (taken either from fictitious books or assigned to fictitious persons of the Spice kingdoms): Intriguing at first but to be skipped and kept aside later, just like curry leaves in a gravy.

😬 The worldbuilding: as refreshing and tasty as coriander leaves but also as sticky as an overcooked khichdi. Tough to determine what’s what and where’s where, but somehow does its job.


Bookish Nays:
🥵 Amir: as bland as unsalted rice. Boring to gulp, tough to advocate!

🥵 The plot development: as confusing as sorting out kalonji, sabja and black sesame when they aren’t in their respective packets.

🥵 The romance between Amir and Harini: as unbelievable as finding a green chilli in ice cream. What a strange combo!

🥵 The frequent references to piss and excreta and spit, sometimes even as a part of the magical system: as annoying as discovering three bay leaves in a single serving of pulav.

🥵 The initial few chapters, with the overload of characters, places, and sinister schemes: as confusing as standing in the spice aisle of an Indian food store and wondering where to begin.

🥵 The dragged pace combined with the length: as tedious and longwinded as powdering dry red chillies with just a mortar and pestle.

🥵 Logical loopholes: as frequently found in the plot as turmeric is found in Indian dishes.

🥵 Finding caste and class issues even in an Indian fantasy: as unappetising as biting into unground cinnamon.

🥵 The writing: as repetitive as saying ‘chai tea’ or ‘naan bread.’

🥵 The overuse of the word ‘Gates!’ as an exclamation: as eyeroll-inducing as store-bought ginger-garlic paste.

🥵 The infodump ending – as unappetising as a giant black cardamom in biryani. (And almost as irksome!)

🥵 Dramatis Personae at the end instead of at the beginning: as useless as discovering kulfi at a buffet when you have already stuffed meetha paan into your mouth.


All in all, I had been looking forward to this delicacy. This Indian reader was thrilled to find an Indian author writing a debut work in a fantastical India-inspired setting and infused with Indian spices. I wish with all my heart it had worked better for me. After all, this Indian cannot imagine life without spices. Unfortunately, this turned out to be way more over-spiced than I like.

Perhaps if you are a more avid reader of epic fantasy, you might be able to make better sense of this story. So please read the GR blurb to get a better idea of the plot, and other reviews to get a more balanced opinion of the novel. If you do pick it up, I hope your palate loves it and that it ends up more chatpata (flavourfully spiced) than feeka (insipid) for you.

My thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager for providing the DRC of “The Spice Gate” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.

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