The Unrelenting Earth picks up right where its predecessor left off (you definitely need to read this series in order!) and has many features I appreciated in the first book: the alternating POVs of Ahilya and Iravan, compelling world-building, meaningful diversity that in no way feels tokenizing, an interesting magical / technological component (though I definitely do not fully understand the vocabulary used to describe it), and a lot of entirely believable political manoeuvring between different ashrams and the classes and interests therein. This book moves faster than the first in terms of pacing, and toward the end I couldn’t put it down. Rao has written a second book that sets up the third very well but that doesn’t suffer from ‘second book’ issues of feeling like filler or like its only purpose is setup: meaningful action and change for the characters happens and significant details of the societies’ histories and the surrounding world are revealed. I’m really enjoying this series, and look forward to the final installment. 

Thank you Titan Books & NetGalley for providing an ARC. 

Content warnings: violence, death, grief, blood, pregnancy loss