The Fight Isn’t Over: Ten Incarnations of Rebellion by Vaishnavi Patel Review

Ten Incarnations of Rebellion takes place in an alternate version of 1960s India, where British colonists’ brutal crackdown successfully quashed earlier attempts at independence. We meet Kalki as a teenager. Her father’s fight for freedom forced him to flee their home, and Kalki hasn’t heard from him since. Despite his rebellion liking costing his life, Kalki is following in his footsteps, in her own way. While her mother pleads for her to keep herself safe, Kalki is passionate about the fight to free India. We follow her as she gets older and learns how to best contribute to this struggle—and what she’s willing to sacrifice to the cause.

I was a little intimidated to pick this one up, for whatever reason, so I started listening to the audiobook and reading along, initially meaning to just immersive read for the first chapter to get into it. Instead, I ended up reading the whole book like that, and I loved the experience: the audiobook is excellent, and I felt like I understood the story more deeply by reading and listening simultaneously.

This is a stunning read about the realities of fighting for freedom. While this is not the real history of India, in the author’s note, Patel explains that it is all inspired by real-life events. You can really see that complexity in the text: while there may be heroes and villains, most characters are complicated. Good people do terrible things. Terrible people act as allies in key moments.

It also shows the real sacrifice, struggles, and rifts in revolutionary movements. There are many arguments within the resistance about which actions are appropriate, especially when it comes to violence: is killing your oppressor acceptable? What if they’re just a low-level employee? What if it’s in self-defense? Can you bomb a building with no one in it? How much acceptable risk is there if there may be someone in that building? There are no easy answers, and Kalki herself changes her mind multiple times about where her line is.

Throughout the narrative are traditional Indian stories from religion and mythology that offer context and guidance as Kalki makes difficult decisions, including about when violence is necessary and what kind of leadership is needed in peace times.

That’s not the only disagreement between freedom fighters. When we meet Kalki, she and her friend Yashu have both been invited as star students to a government function. While Kalki is sickened by it, Yashu explains she and other people in her caste have had more opportunities under British colonialist leadership than they had prior to it. She’s skeptical that overthrowing the current regime would benefit people of lower castes. It’s a conversation they will return to many times in years to come.

As I read this book, I was reminded of how many SFF dystopian stories we have about young people overthrowing an oppressive government and how few of them are set in our world—as if we have no examples of powers worth opposing. This feels so needed, not just as an understanding of how horrific British colonialism was in the past and its impacts today (though this is an alternate history of India, the government’s actions are all drawn from real history), but also as an example for the kinds of conversations and choices necessary to oppose corruption in our world.

Part of the reason I was originally drawn to Ten Incarnations of Rebellion was because of its queer content, and while that’s true, don’t expect a heartwarming queer romance. Patel is unflinching about the sacrifices and casualties of rebellion, and no one emerges unscathed. I did, however, enjoy the moments of queer solidarity and friendship included. (Side note: I thought of Kalki as bi and demiromantic and/or demisexual: “I’m slow to everything except anger.”)

When you pick this one up, don’t skip the author’s note at the end of the book. Patel explains how she was inspired by India’s freedom fighters, including those in her own family, and how colonialism has left a wake of destruction that still damages today. She also says that she was interested in the complexities of fights like this and how “selfishness and selflessness that go hand in hand in revolution”—Kalki is so devoted to the cause that no relationship with anyone else can come close. As the author’s note says, “Ten Incarnations of Rebellion is a love letter to those who fought and an exhortation to keep fighting. The struggle is never over.”

Content warnings: Rape, violence, death, racism, homophobia. Spoiler content warning, highlight to read: the queer romance does not end happily. Fauzia dies as a martyr,