I started reading this book on a recommendation of a fellow book reader and didn't regret the decision.
This book is less about Buddha ( Siddhartha is born only halfway through the book and even then not too highlighted) and more about the life and times in Kapilavastu. Told through the POV of slave Chapra and pariah Tatta, it follows their miserable existence and what they do to come out of it. The ending was unexpected.
The quality of a good book in a series is that it leaves us in anticipation of the next. This book does that.