[A/N: A lengthy review as I not only talk about the book, but also some of the tropes it has shown. This book was too problematic that I had to write a detailed review. So bear with me, as I review and rant about this. A big thanks to _RulerOfHearts_ to listening to all of my rants and bearing with me all through this.]
Book Name: Karna's wife: The Outcast's Queen
Author: Kavita Kane
Publishing Year: 2014
"I believe I have a heart of stone, because I am alive and going about life even after reading this book" - Siya
"The Outcast's Queen needs to be Outcasted from the bookshelves" -Siya
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About The Story:
Karnas Wife: The Outcasts Queen tells the story of Karna, through the eyes of his wife Uruvi. An accomplished Kshatriya princess who falls in love with and dares to choose the 'Sutaputra' over Arjun, Uruvi must come to terms with the social implications of her marriage and learn to use her love and intelligence to be accepted by Karna and his family. Though she becomes his mainstay, counselling and guiding him, his blind allegiance to Duryodhana is beyond her power to change. The story of Uruvi and Karna unfolds against the backdrop of the power struggle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas.
The characters of this book can be best described as absurd. Honestly, I was looking forward to when I will complete this book. That for me was a first. I read this book completely, only because I knew had to review it, and speak about some of the things otherwise it would have been rotting in some corner of my library.
Plot, Character Portrayals and My Views
Uruvi is the princess of Pukeya and the daughter of King Vahusha and Queen Shubhra. Growing up as a pampered princess, she's introduced as a childhood friend of the Pandavas and has a certain closeness to Arjun, making Kunti and Shubhra think of Uruvi and Arjun as a potential couple.
I would call Uruvi to be one of the worst written female characters that I have ever read. The way she falls for Karna is truly absurd, the first time she "sees" him is during the Kalapradarshan, that has been organised for the Kuru princes to display their warrior skills. And Karna who jumps into the competition uninvited, grabs her attention. This is literally how she knows him and jump into the next chapter we learn that she's obsessively in love with Karan, if you thought they would have met a few times before her Swayamvar, after which she is 'irrevocably in love' with Karna, then your highly mistaken. The couple meet each other for the very first time at Urvi's Swayamvar where the King of Anga is not even aware about who she is and most importantly, he assumes she is to marry Arjun just like everyone else, for him its curiosity about why he even received the invitation when it was well known that Arjuna is the first choice and not him.
Urvi makes a 'bold' decision to marry a Sutaputra, who by the way now is a king and has a kingdom to handle. The Swayamvar, by the way had nothing extraordinary, it was a simple ceremony where Uruvi makes a decision on whom she wants to marry by simply garlanding the person. Simple enough, but to add drama the author makes Arjun go all angry and make him tell how it is insulting about her to be choosing a groom of her choice and even have the Pandavas attacking and bad mouthing the said princess of Pukeya, when they are already married married to Draupadi. The Pandavas are obviously rebuked and given a 'lesson' on equality, as the author conveniently forgets Karna did what she showed Arjun did what the former did at Draupadi's Swayamvar, she even goes onto the extent of making Karna blame Draupadi for the chaos of her Swayamvar and even the death of his son.
