Blurb:

She made her decision. Now she has to live with it.

Durkhanai Miangul sealed her lover’s fate when she sent him through a door where either a lady or a lion awaited him. But her decision was only the beginning of her troubles. Durkhanai worries that she might not be the queen her people need or deserve when conflict threatens her kingdom.

Her presumed-dead father comes back with a vengeance and wishes she join him in his cause. But her family’s denial of his revenge forces Durkhanai to take matters into her own hands and she must decide whether to follow the traditions of her forefathers or forge a new path on her own.

Review:

The Monster or the Man picks up where The Lady or the Lion left off. And oh my word, does it pack a punch when it picks the story back up. 

Durkhanai is picking up the pieces of everything. Her cousins are fuming at her (even though this was kind of their fault), her grandparents are fuming (again, also their fault), Asfandyar’s fuming at her (not his fault) and Durkhanai is pulled in all different directions. Her father is still marching on the city, but that seems to be no one but Durkhanai's concern. That actually highlights the change we started seeing in her character, where she is embracing a growing role and autonomy in court to protect her people. 

She plays this role well, even when she's sent back to the valley from her childhood. Now, her great aunt, Bari Ammi, is so cute. I want her to be my auntie. Unfortunately, she is fictional and I'm still stuck with my current auntie list. The rest of Durkhanai's family gives mine a run for their dysfunctional money. I'd argue they're only a few rungs under The Tudors but at least Henry largely kept it to his own wives, not someone else's. Elizabeth did take out her cousin though....this isn't a history lesson. This is a book review. 

Ok so dysfunctional family and past actions ultimately lead up to a dramatic but arguably quickly resolved confrontation. This is one of the bits the story lost me. Durkhanai can do many things, I will accept that. I don't accept that she was able to behead a grown adult man wielding a sword as unsteadily as she's described to. Also! What was everyone else doing at that moment??? It seems like they're just standing there watching this confrontation like "This is fine." Well except her aunt who ultimately loses a hand from this, which I also argue is unreasonable for the sword skills we're told about. 

But we can't end on a dramatic conflict just being resolved. This is a fairytale and we need our happily ever after! Which we kind of get...minus some ambush attacks, which get resolved quickly and quietly off page and a coup which arguably also resolved itself quickly. How you might ask? By choosing between The Man or the Monster. *whispers* "Oh dip, that's the name of the book." 

Actually, I think the ending bit was done quite well. Weirdly I'm almost a little disappointed we got the after scenes we do in the final chapters but it rounded up well enough. I enjoyed the story overall and I can't really complain too much. I liked the world, the characters generally were good, and it closes in all the ways you'd hope. If you've picked up the first book, I can definitely say you should see the next one through. If you haven't read the first book but want a different kind of fantasy world inspired by Pakistan and late-19th century short stories , I'd wholly encourage you to give these two a try.