I have a thing about feminine rage (insert the Anya Taylor-Joy clip here), and that's honestly the main reason I wanted to read this. The Palace of Illusions is a work of historical fiction that retells the Indian epic Mahabharata from Draupadi's, or Panchaali as she's often referred to, perspective. She's a central figure in the original and, in many ways, the catalyst for the devastating war that follows. But this book doesn't frame her as the usual damsel in distress. Instead, we see her rage, her tantrums, her sharp intelligence and the shrewdness with which she runs her household. We see her insistence on taking up space in a deeply patriarchal world.
I've always viewed the characters of the Mahabharata, including Draupadi, as almost god-like, but this retelling strips that away and makes them feel human.