By Radhika Sanghani (author)
"Female demon slayers, super-hero Indian goddesses, first crushes and kisses, and living true to yourself — this is an exhilarating, uplifting joy."
Paperback Not Available
View All Editions (1)
October 2024 Book of the Month
Fiendishly funny (“Knowing you’re about to be attacked by demons must add a whole new layer to PMS”), and sizzling with sisterhood synchronicity and bloody battles, Radhika Sanghani’s Here to Slay is shot-through with the empowering theme of daring to live as your true unique self.
It wasn’t always that way for the novel’s likeable protagonist, though. At the start of the novel, outsider Kali — a British Indian teen in a largely white school — just wants “to fit in. That’s my 16th birthday wish. To get through the rest of the day — and ideally the rest of the year — without anybody noticing me”.
The exact opposite happens when Kali’s teacher Mrs Patel leads her class in a lively rendition of “Happy birthday” and relates the story behind her namesake. To Kali’s embarrassment, the “most popular girls in the whole year know I’m named after a blood-sucking goddess”.
While life became harder for Kali after her best friend moved away (“We were allies – I stood out because I was brown, and Tanya did because she was neurodivergent”), matters get a whole lot worse when a demon appears on her bed. After Kali kills the beast, it vanishes. Right after, her first period arrives.
Taking advice from Mrs Patel, who seems to know a lot more than she’s letting on, she reaches out to a charismatic fellow Kali who tells her, “This is the way it is. The demons come after us, and we’re destined to kill them. It will only end when we’ve killed them all. Or they’ve killed us”. What’s more, “They can sniff us out when we’re menstruating”.
As an escalating demon-slaying quest unfolds, Kali’s journey to embracing her unique self — and being proud of her Indian culture — is encapsulated by a shift from regarding her namesake as “weird, ugly and unlovable”, to realising she’s “the most powerful, beautiful, inspiring goddess out there… because she doesn’t conform to any of the standards that women are held to. She’s setting her own”.
Also offering authentic rep of lesbianism, asexuality, bisexuality, neurodivergence, and the dynamics of family and friendship, Here to Slay slays it big-time. In fact, it’s a firecracker of female-fronted YA fiction.
Kali has a lot to deal with. Her crush doesn’t notice her, her parents love her cousin more, and a big family wedding is overshadowing her 16th birthday. So, she really did NOT need a demon appearing in her bedroom and for the fate of the world to rest in her hands. It turns out that all girls named after the Indian demon-fighting goddess Kali are imbued with special powers, and are destined to fight demons.
Read the full description
At least she’s not alone in this mess… she’s got the very cool, very confident K to teach her how to be a demon slayer. Now, if only she can also figure out how to slay at life…
Packed full of relatable fun for teen & YA readers, with queer representation and a sweet first kiss storyline!
'Funny, quick and refreshing. Loved it!' - Elle McNicholl
Ferocious and furiously funny...perfect teen fiction.' - Lizzie Huxley-Jones
Radhika Sanghani is an award-winning features journalist, acclaimed author, screenwriter, influential body positivity campaigner and a 2020 BBC Writers Room graduate. Radhika writes regularly for the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Elle, Guardian, Grazia, Glamour and Cosmopolitan; was recently featured in Italian Vogue as well BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour and is a regular guest on Sky News and Good Morning Britain. She is also a TedX speaker on body positivity, a yoga teacher and runs a charity initiative with AgeUK fighting loneliness in older women.
Her middle-grade debut The Girl Who Couldn’t Lie (Usborne) published May 2024.
Photo credit SEBC Photography
Longlists Announced for the 2026 UKLA Book Awards
The LoveReading4Kids Best Children's Books of the Year 2024
the best books for teenagers
Three Brides for the Devil
One Thousand Dreams of Shoelace
The Haunted House on Hollow Hill
The Ghost of Shadow Vale
The House with Chicken Legs
Kali has a lot to deal with. Her crush doesn’t notice her, her parents love her cousin more, and a big family wedding is overshadowing her 16th birthday.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Here to Slay and determined it is suitable for children aged 11-18 years old
Here to Slay features in the following genres: Featured Books for 11+ readers, Featured Books for 13+ readers, Featured Books for Young Adults, Books of the Month, Recommendations, Star Books, Stories about Family and Friends, Fantasy / Magical, Horror & Ghost Stories, Romance / Relationship Stories, Mystery / Mythology, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Relating to LGBTQ+ people, Children’s / Teenage: General interest, Relating to specific groups and cultures or social and cultural interests, Interest qualifiers
Paperback. Not Available.
Here to Slay was written by Radhika Sanghani and published by Knights Of Media an imprint of Knights Of
Here to Slay has 352 pages
©PTC International Ltd T/A LoveReading is registered in England. Company number: 10193437. VAT number: 270 4538 09. Registered address: 157 Shooters Hill, London, SE18 3HP. Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer
The National Year of Reading starts here. Join thousands of families and schools supporting reading for pleasure across the UK.