AlyssumAcantha's Reviews > The Serpent's Shadow

So beautifully written, but the casual racism and confusions about Hindu mythology were a bit jarring and prevented me from being fully immersed in the narrative. Despite her routinely stressing that she is not Hindu, is Christian, has no desire to be Hindu, and her magic is distinctly British, somehow HIndu deities come to her aid and basically take care of her? WTF? Would it have been so hard to just leave them as familiars?

Also, that passage about how "exotic" she looked in a sari was unnecessary, as was Shivani's reference to the chinese living there as "foolish yellow people". Was that really necessary?

Don't give me flak about historic accuracy. You have a biracial woman somehow becoming a practicing doctor (not only doctor but surgeon) in a private hospital in 1909 England with barely any hurdles except one dudebro type, freaking magic and shadow demons, and when it comes to racism, historical accuracy is so important to you all of a sudden?