ARC Review: "Jundi" by Ella Walker Henderson ★★★★

ARC Review: Jundi by Ella Walker Henderson

A thrilling friends-to-enemies-to-lovers historical fiction with a touch of fantasy. The writing styles of Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy and Elizabeth Gaskell meets the stories of The Blue Sword, The Adventures of Tarzan and The Jungle Book with very important aspects of discrimination, colonisation and liberation.

“You are a part of Jundi, and Jundi is a part of you. It will always be. You have a place here, even when your purpose takes you beyond.”

[Contains some spoilers]

PLOT SUMMARY
Miss Gillian Posenby is 23 years old, born and raised in a villa on the land of Jundi near the edge of the jungle. She has always been drawn to the jungle, and the tales she’s heard growing up about the White Tiger, its ruler with great powers – though believed to be a myth. Gillian has often dreamt of the tiger, and it is said if you do you are chosen to one day be permitted into the White Tiger Village, secretly hidden in the jungle.

Due to conflict between Ambrith the land where her family is from and Jundi from threats of a rebellion, Gillian and her widowed mother (Gilian’s father died in the military 4 years ago) are advised to leave Jundi. Gillian is most reluctant to leave, expected to settle down and marry in Ambrith, but Jundi is the only home she has ever known.

There is a great desire for her to marry family friend Captain Max Bexley, an excellent rifleman of the Ambrithian army. He is expected to wed before he is called away to Jundi, and is immediately captivated by Gillian when they meet. They come to the realisation that they can use each other for their own benefit: Max marrying into the family of the most respected fallen military hero would help him to excel in his already excellent military career, Gillian marrying Max would help her fulfil her desire to return to Jundi.

It is a quick marriage of the greatest convenience, though with each passing day any love they had slips away. Max, after all, is the enemy of the people Gillian has grown up with; and Gillian keeps trying to enter the jungle against Max’s wishes, and he grows suspicious of her actions wondering if she is a spy. But when Max gets captured by the White Tiger Villagers, Gillian must put aside their differences to save him. With an imminent war and inhumane orders from his superiors, Max is torn between duty and love.

This is told from the third-person past-tense POVs of Gillian and Max.

OVERALL OPINIONS
When I heard this book is “Jane Austen meets The Jungle Book”, I was most intrigued because the combination is rather rare. Just as Gillian is drawn to the jungle so too was I drawn to this story. And what a tale it is! A beautiful combination of charm and compassion. Every page was eloquently described, and I can see why people would compare it to the likes of Jane Austen, especially during the first half of the book.

The book can be split into three parts: the first part is the introduction to Gilian, her family, the upcoming rebellion, then her journey to Ambrith and the meeting and marriage to Max; the second part is her return to Jundi, the conflicts in their marriage and Max’s disappearance; the third part is the White Tiger Village and the deescalating of the whole situation. I loved the first third where they go to Ambrith and Gillian and Max gets to know each other. Some of the story could be considered predictable (for example, where Venkat is after he disappears) but not fully (I did not expect who was behind this).

The title of the book being Jundi is the most fitting choice as this whole story is more about Jundi than any other thing: from its culture to its stories and its desire for peace. Jundi is all our protagonist Gillian has ever known and is drawn to, and it touches the hearts of all who are there, especially Max.

Interestingly, the prologue and epilogue are from the point of view of the White Tiger when he encounters Gillian as a child and adult respectively. I like that we also have a poem as an epigraph, The Tyger by William Blake. Again, very fitting as this compares the fierce nature of the human soul to a tiger in a jungle – which introduces the aspect of the White Tiger before even beginning the book.

Gillian and Max’s relationship is so complex and I love that it eventually goes from a marriage of convenience with ideal attraction to them working together and supporting each other’s beliefs. I like that they both have lost their fathers and looked up to them the most and bond over it. I also like the character development of them both: Gillian realises she does not have to be directly in Jundi to help them obtain their peace, and Max sees the error of his ways and the people of Jundi. The thing I love the most about Max is he always values Gillian’s opinions even from the first time they speak.

Overall, I really enjoyed this, there has not been anything like it in a while, and I am very interested in checking out her series “Of Wind and Lightning”. More strong female characters in a fantasy setting? Sign me up!

<< Positives >>
🠚Strong female character. I always love this when it is done and done well.
🠚Max’s character arc. This was the most interesting element.
🠚Supportive characters had a purposeful role to the story. Nagular is important within the Jundi community, his getting locked up is the thing that sets a lot of the events into motion. His son Venkat, of course, became a potential love interest. Characters like Max’s sister Rachel and the little girl Inda from the White Tiger Village.
🠚I liked that there were no real villains. The Ambrithians and the colonel could be considered the villains but ultimately everyone is misguided.
🠚I love the whole idea of the White Tiger and when we finally get to meet it. Reminded me of Aslan from Narnia.
🠚A perfect beguiling book cover. Random fact, but the model on the front is a model who supplies stock photos called faestock, and I was obsessed with her work when I was a teenager! I used to put her on the front cover of various fanfictions I used to write. The stock image they picked for the cover can be seen here.

<< Negatives >>
🠚The relationship was more of a secondary element to the overall plot and I would have loved more moments and chemistry between Max and Gillian. This is a clean book which I accept and can understand if that is why the romance is not so prominent. I just feel it is a waste.
🠚I hated Venkat? Like, he is annoyed at Gillian for not coming to visit sooner, before she left Jundi the first time as if she was able to, and expecting them to start a relationship when she is already married and as if 8 years haven’t gone by since his disappearance? Reddest flag. Max is a whole green jungle.
🠚I feel there should have been an epilogue where we see how Gillian and Max are in Ambrith. I would have liked to have seen a conversation between Gillian and her mother when she returned.

CHARACTERS
-ˋˏ ꒰ Gillian꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ Gillian is a quiet, reserved, well-spoken woman like you would expect from such a time period – but she is not afraid to speak her mind, defy people and stand up for what she believes in. In this manner, she reminds me of Bathsheba Everdeen from Far From the Madding Crowd or Margaret Hale from North and South.
-ˋˏ ꒰ Max꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ Max has the most interesting character development, as mentioned above. Overall, I love his fierce loyalty to his wife and the way he wants to protect her. I like that he goes from concerning about how he is perceived by his men, particularly his wife having him look like a laughing stock for if he is “unable to control” her how will his men take him seriously, to showing his men how highly he respects her and waits for her directions at the end.
It is heartwarming how much he wants to do the right thing, though is torn if it is ever a military order. It is sweet that his loss of innocence is restored through many of the female characters (Rachel, Gillian, Inda). I like that by the end of the story, he no longer wants to be in the military.

FAV QUOTES
• Her vibrant beauty drew him more strongly with each hour he spent with her. Being with her was like being with Rachel in some ways. She pulled at that same feeling of innocence in him. He felt again as if he could be the young man he was as a youth, with hope in the world to come.
• A goal formed in his heart to win a real smile from her, not the one she gave to everyone else.
• When he looked at her, the warmth in his chest surprised him. He wanted to protect her. She felt like an anchor of innocence.
• Gillian was surprised that Max cared to share his opinions and ask for hers. He seemed to listen even if he wasn’t convinced. Her mother had always taught her that men would prefer if she didn’t offer her ideas, only listened to theirs.
• Gillian had climbed both of these [trees]. She had a spirit that he envied and that he had seen in no other woman.
• She was done playing the delicate female, not now, not ever again.
• Something had drawn Max to Gillian, something she hadn’t understood from the beginning. But she thought back to the words he had surprised her with, the other reason he had married her: that she was different from any woman he had ever known.
• He wanted to be there for her even more than his own glory. The realization surprised Max enough to distract him from the pounding in his head. He cared for Gillian, more than he’d thought.
• Her father and theirs, killed on opposite sides of the same old conflict.
• Gillian felt echoes of Max in [Venkat’s] words, with his unyielding sense of duty. Only, they fought on opposite sides, and more than ever, she wanted the people of Jundi to be the side that won, no matter what that meant for Ambrithians and their way of life in Jundi.
• She had thought that being in the White Tiger or even a place with Venkat was how she would achieve this union of purpose.
• “I shouldn’t have to choose between my duty and honor and loving you.”
• “I can’t say no. I’ve always followed orders.” He sank down on his heels, his head in his hands. Tears seeped through the cracks between his fingers…“what does that make me?” | She leaned down, shaky herself, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “It makes you an honest man.”
• “I know it’s not what you need, but a part of my wants to keep you away from the pain, safe somewhere else.” | She held tighter to him. “No, this is where I belong, what I’m meant to do. And maybe all the more so beside you.”
• “You would sacrifice so much?”| “Willingly for you, my dear.”
• And when she dug her fingers into the Jundi soil for the last time and touched them to hear heart, she knew that her home would come with her.

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I received an advanced copy from BookLibrary’s April giveaway in exchange for an honest review and I’d like to thank Ella Walker Anderson and BookLibrary for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.

“Jundi” is out June 4th