This was a bit slower paced that I thought it would be but I still loved it. So beautifully written with interesting characters who all have interesting relationships with each other. I don't rate 5 stars because I did feel like the book dragged a bit near the middle. Now that the world is established, I'm really excited for the next book to see where the story's going. Praying I don't get my heart broken ( )

Two monstrous women unite to overthrow a corrupt Emperor!

This is a complex, complicated sapphic fantasy book. Lots of politics, lots of different POV characters, lots of mythology and worldbuilding. Sometimes it overwhelmed me. A lot of the time, I was worried about how it would all end. Death and violence had a strong presence in the book, always lurking and ready to unleash at a moment’s notice.

But the heroines (or, anti-heroines??) of the story, Malini and Priya, always brought me right back to the page. Both are interesting, three dimensional characters wrestling with their instincts and trying to fight/embrace their fates. Malini must embrace the monster her political will makes of her and Priya must come to accept what her magic makes her. Their actions and decisions will reverberate across the Empire.

The romantic storyline wasn’t strong enough for me. Y'all know I love my kissing books. This isn’t one. But I don’t think it is supposed to be– it sets up the relationship between Malini and Priya in order for later books to build on it. ( )

ya know what? 5 stars haha. i really like the author’s writing style and tbh the world itself feels pretty original and unique. to be fair, i don’t know much about indian mythology. it might only feel original to me cuz i don’t know better. however, in terms of my enjoyment, though possibly ignorant? how i would rate my experience of reading it? 5 stars.

the hook advertisement of this book and i guess of the series is that it’s about “morally grey lesbians” and the author really wasn’t lying. not only was the fact that it was a wlw relationship written by a woman for other women refreshing, but they were legitimately morally grey. they weren’t reduced to the feminine one who likes girly things and the masculine one who rejects anything stereotypically feminine. they were just two women who had their own personalities (which included the normal combination of both falling into some stereotypes and not falling into others) and their own desires. desires that weren’t mary sue “i need to save the world cuz i’m a ~selfless hero~.” they wanted things they recognized were horrible and felt guilty about. but they also still did what they desired cuz they valued themselves over what was right or expected of them. i really enjoyed that. it felt very human.

it’s just in general very pleasant to read a book written by a woman who isn’t ashamed of being a woman. that’s too common in this genre. somehow having a female protagonist who is badass means rejecting she’s a woman and treating it as a detriment to her growth as a person. that doesn’t make sense. that’s continuing something really annoying and something i’m really really sick of in media. there’s a huge misconception that feminism is creating a female who isn’t able to be feminine. or that has to pretend that masculinity cannot possibly be present at the same time as femininity. it can never simultaneous. aka you can only be a toxic tomboy or a bimbo in feminism. that’s,,, really dumb. and just not realistic.

anyway, i digress. i just say all that to praise that the book completely ignores that weird trend of “feminism.” and honestly for that alone i may have given it 5 stars. it also just has a good plot tho and good pacing and foreshadowing. just in general good writing. i definitely recommend. ( )

An engaging fantasy novel set in an Indian-inspired world, The Jasmine Throne follows Priya, a maidservant with a mysterious past and Malini, a princess who's been sent into exile. You've got political intrigue, religious clashes, the consequences of imperialism and misogyny, a magic system whose full repercussions may not be clear even to its users, and a soupçon of body horror.

This is an enjoyable read with fairly complex characters, realistic family dynamics, and some promising—if preliminary—worldbuilding. The pacing is a bit wonky and the number of POV characters needed to be trimmed a lot, but I liked what Tasha Suri is doing here enough to continue on with the series. ( )

This was BRILLIANT. Brilliant as in bright - the fires within this book burn hot and bright, burn brilliantly.

Things I loved:
- MORALLY GREY LIKE I'VE NEVER READ BEFORE, the absolute greyest of morally grey characters.
- BAD ASS GIRLS
- love love love most of the POV characters
- Interesting world and setting

Things I liked:
- BURNING
- I wanted to KNOWWW, I NEEDED TO KNOW EVERYTHING
- questions I had were answered and it was so satisfyinggggg
- Interesting cast, and small enough that made it easy to keep track of who's who and actually get to connect with everyone.
- different POV's but you don't have to wait long to go back and see whats happening to everyone.

Things I didn't love:
- about half way through I wasnt super sure where the plot was going and it felt a bit stuck but then, BAM! Action! So if you're stuck in the middle, just keep reading, it gets fucking awesome. ( )

What a book!!! Omg. I can’t think of a single critique it was just absolutely a work of art. Complex characters layered in moral grey depth. A insanely well thought out magic system with easy to follow lore and history. A plot that twisted and turned and left me on the edge of my seat. Although it was over 500 pages it never once dragged or lulled. And despite the constant switching of character POVs and the multitudes of such each felt so distinct that I was never lost nor confused. A new favorite ( )

Be still, my elemental, queer heart! This book is sexy, deep, mythological and compelling. The thing I love so much about this first installation is how deep we go within the characters and what drives them... a battleground between good and evil where I'm not quite sure for which side I should be rooting, all slowly unraveled in some of the most beautiful prose I have ever read in a fantasy series. *fans self* I can't wait to see where Malini and Priya take us, and each other, next!

READ IT! ( )

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me. I just didn't feel like I connected to the characters or the story a lot. There was a lot of set-up and explaining the politics in the beginning (probably the first 1/3 of the book it seemed like it took awhile to get going) so that may have been part of it. It is all important and I'm wondering/hoping that future books will draw me in more now that a lot of the background has been laid. I did like that everyone had their flaws and bad characteristics which where acknowledged. Not a wow but not bad - I will continue to read the series as it comes out. ( )

Enjoy the environment of the book. Like the relationships of the main characters. The movement of the story was a little slow for me. Did not know it was a 2 part book till the end and was disappointed. Due to the slowness of the story, I will not read book 2.
I am not a Fantasy book reader. I enjoyed that I did not have to refer to maps or character pages. ( )

A maid just wants to do her fucking job, ends up seeking to overthrow an empire. 5/5, would swim again. ( )

This is a great story about love, sacrifice, oppression, rebellion and magic. It is filled with strong characters who are not just good or just bad, but real and raw. The love in this book is not just roses but very much also thornes and I enjoyed it immensely. And on top of all that it reads very easily. A great start of this series and I am very much looking forward to the next book. ( )

Very rich world-building, but the story suffers a little from too many characters. ( )

My relationship with novels that have won the World Fantasy Award is a mixed bag. On one hand, there's no denying that they have literary value. On the other, they usually come in flavors that I really don't savor. Such is the case again here, as while this book has much to recommend it in terms of the quality of Ms. Suri's prose, setting, and themes, the bottom line for me is that this is mostly a romance novel and, in general, romance novels don't usually hold my attention; particularly when you have a book that mostly seems to exist as a prequel to a (hopefully) more exciting book. If you find yourself reading this novel and the relationship between the two main characters is not holding your attention, I have to warn you that it doesn't get better; and I regret to be making that judgement. ( )

this was a new author to me and it just didn't work out between us. pedestrian writing, wooden characters, and it seemed like it was all setup for the next book. i'm not gonna stick around to see how that one works out. ( )

This one is entirely too long. Its a lot of build up and background info that is, I am assuming, setting up book two's background. But 20hrs of something being mostly build up feels like too much to me. I appreciate that it is F/F relationship or will be but I could have used a bit more build up between the two MCs or at least a little more heat between them. I'm also not a fan od the number of characters that got a pov... it made everything feel a little cluttered and as an audiobook made figuring out who was who and the overall voice of the story a bit of a challenge. I think if this had been printed edition I might not have made it through, but the narrator held my interest at least. Hopefully book two will pick up the torch and run with it, because I know I will not make it through another book with this same pace. But I am at least intrigued to see where it goes from here. ( )

Got about halfway through this one before giving up. Very cool characters and setting but they were not quite enough to overcome the confining setting and lack of anything happening

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters — but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.

But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.

Absolutely gorgeous read from start to finish. ( )

One Sentence Summary: Priya is just a maidservant, but one with an incredible power that once deemed her a monster, and the exiled Princess Malini who vows to overthrow her brother deems her useful, potentially at the cost of her heart.

Overall
The Jasmine Throne is a story of women and the power they wield. It’s a story of empire and the tenuous strands that bind countries that can just as easily snap. It’s about religious ideologies and how they clash. But, most of all, The Jasmine Throne is about family, burning, and power. It’s a deep, dark, dangerous world where, as a female reader, I felt like I was walking a thin line. There isn’t as much romance as I expected, but I adored the story of women and just how powerful they can be.

Extended Thoughts
Once, Priya was a temple child who lived in the Hirana, who was meant to walk the deathless waters three times to gain power and position as an Elder. But, after her cohort passed through the first time, the rot settled in Ahiranya, a terrible sickness that seems to slowly turn people into trees. So the Elders and children were burned alive. Somehow, Priya escaped and became a maidservant to the regent’s softhearted wife.

Princess Malini was meant to burn on a pyre in order to purify her soul and be granted immortality alongside her heart sisters, at the order of her brother, Emperor Chandra. But Malini refused and was sent as an exile to live in the now crumbling Hirana. Poisoned little by little, she is weak and has nothing but a vindictive woman as jailer, until she witnesses Priya’s powers and manipulates her into becoming her maidservant, and resident once again of the Hirana.

With threads, plots, and manipulations running rampant throughout the empire and in the hearts of women, Priya and Malini are at the center of it all.

The Jasmine Throne paints a vivid picture of an almost terrifying world, one where women seem to serve a sole purpose: to burn on a pyre in order to be purified as the mothers of flame did generations ago. But women will not so meekly go, as the women of this novel show. There’s strength under their docile skins, cunning in their minds, and silvered words on their tongues. This is a fantastic story of feminism and how women have the power to reshape the world.

I loved Priya and Malini and, really, all of the characters. While the minor characters weren’t really complex at all, the main ones were amazingly well done. They each had a story, a motivation, loyalties. The secrets they kept from each other helped shape them and the story. But Priya and Malini were something of a counterpoint to each other. Where Priya has a soft heart and cares deeply about service and loyalty, Malini has vengeance in her soul and plays her role to perfection. I loved that they were wary of each other, that they struggled to open up and be vulnerable to each other. It created a delightful push and pull between them that heightened their characterizations.

But I was disappointed in the romance. It felt more like a faint thread for the vast majority of the story. There were some really amazing parts, but it’s mostly, very definitely, a slow burn romance. It is, though, extremely well done because, by the end, I felt my heart being torn in two from what Priya and Malini were faced with. The moments between them are small, but mighty.

There were some themes I found myself fascinated by. I loved that it was about family. There are blood families and found families and families forged through alliances. But they were all bonds between people that were strong and carried weight and demanded loyalty. I really enjoy how it showed just how dysfunctional any kind of family can be. There was also the idea of women being monstrous. I found it interesting that it was Priya and Malini who referred to themselves as such, but I don’t recall the term being put to the men who were the ones instigating the murder and bloodshed and burning. It was fascinating to read how the two women came to terms with being monstrous, how their views on it evolved over the story, how it shaped them and is setting them on the paths they find themselves walking at the end.

The Jasmine Throne really packs it in. There’s so much in it, so many themes, so many wonderful characters, and such incredible world building. It’s slow moving, though, and takes a while to get to the heart of the story. But I like to think of this as a great balance of knowing when to reveal and when to hold back. As slow as it is, it may be tempting to put it down or stop, but then a kernel will be offered and revelations and secrets will be shared along with more veils and mysteries.

But one of the strengths of The Jasmine Throne is the incredible world it builds. There’s an amazing mix of religious ideas and cultures woven all through it. It sometimes felt like it was a little too much, but it all worked together perfectly in the end. I really loved the nature-oriented magic, and the shifting Hirana felt suitably creepy and dangerous while offering something incredible.

What I loved about The Jasmine Throne was that it didn’t shy away from anything. It never felt like too much was thrown at it. It could and did incorporate so many ideas, themes, and beliefs that all blended together to brew unrest on the horizon. The Jasmine Throne beautiful sets up the trilogy while providing a ton for readers to sink their teeth into. There’s a great deal of political intrigue and maneuvering, and the women who are shoved to the fringes but who are really at the heart of the story.

The Jasmine Throne is an incredible complex fantasy focused on the impact of empire on multiple countries and groups of people, the women who are oppressed who find ways to grasp power, and the two women with the power to change their world.

Thank you to Angela Man at Orbit for a physical review copy. All opinions expressed are my own. ( )

I barely know where to start with a review of The Jasmine Throne. I’m all strangled vowels and twisted feelings and a deep-burning satisfaction that yes, THIS is how you do fantasy right.

Expect intricate world-building, complex characters and an epic plot of conspiracies and revolution alongside a slow-burn, simmering queer romance. For once, I have no criticism of the many POVs - all of which added something, rather than distracting - as each narrative wrapped around and across the others, developing my understanding of the whole. While it's slow to build, The Jasmine Throne never felt over-long; and the pay-off is in the way Suri brings everything together in the final act. There is so much in play - so many conflicts left to play out - that the next book can only be devastating. I can't wait.

Full review

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ( )

OH GOSH. I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS IN MY BODY RIGHT NOW.

(my biggest feelings are holy hell I love Priya, and Bhumika, and Malini so muuuuuch). ( )

Spectacular high fantasy with a gorgeously wrought world in which two women from radically different positions fight to save their cultures and lives. Romantic subplot is present but low key. This one definitely secured Tasha Suri's position on my favorite writers list. ( )

Kind of fun, but didn't really work for me, a very large character cast is just disjointed and unnecessary because we mostly follow only two streams of action. The background to the world was interesting but unexplored, and may have needed more guidance for those of us unfamiliar with non-christian religious architecture, even though it's a welcome change from the more common settings.

The lead character is one Pirya, formerly a temple child, now a maid working for the regent's wife, who was also a temple child and uses her position to care as much as possible for those who need some help in their lives. But both their positions are dramatically change when the disgraced princesses Miriam is brought to exile in the temple. Miriam had been expected to 'purify' through self-immolation at the coronation of her brother as Emperor, as many of her sisters and the temple elders did. However she didn't see why that was reasonable! and so rather than being forced she was sent in exile. Little did the emperor know that the remote territory she'd been sent to still had an active religion. Pirya and her mentor re-invigorate their religious powers, but there are rebel forces at work too seeking full independence, and the jungle itself is alive.

It's the jungle that's the interesting part, and it's relationship to the religion - interestingly non-christian, but otherwise left unexplained - but there's no details given and few instances to even infer what it looks like and how it works. Described as unapologetically feminist, it is not that much directly so. All the institutions are run by men and expected to remain so, as the story progresses there's some establishment of more female driven power structures, but the reasoning is purely personal rather than ideological. Including a lesbian central character doesn't make it explicitly feminist either, and it's tactfully done.

Something about the pacing, the multitude of characters, and the lack of world-building details mean I'm going to pass on the rest of the series. It was interesting, but somehow not quite interesting enough. ( )

The story is set in the cultural milieu of the Indian subcontinent and the author Suri does a very good job finding the balance between elements that would be familiar to western readers and the foreign/exotic details that make the world unique and compelling. One advantage of reading on a Kindle app is that I can quickly look up existing terms if needed. The principal conflict comes from a typical conqueror/conquered dynamic, where the cruelty and oppression of the ruling emperor and his sycophants feeds an undercurrent of sedition and rebellion. There are also elements of social strata conflict and gender [role] bias that play an important role in the story. The magic system is a hybrid religious and [nature] spiritual/supernatural format with a nominal Hindu feel, where certain rituals [bathing in sacred waters] and physical matrices [sacred wood] can generate, hold and distribute “gifts” (aka magic). There is a hint of desperation in the mix from a mysterious pandemic (aka ‘the rot’) that helps develop very sympathetic main characters. The two protagonists begin in different social strata with a shared antagonist (the Emperor) that helps to push the two together until they can develop a much deeper/emotional/somewhat romantic relationship … and here I think the author does a fantastic job with the slow burn that doesn’t overwhelm the story. Realistic and complicated family dynamics add even more to the over all drama. While the ending does set the stage for the sequel (which I am looking forward to reading), it is was a solid enough conclusion that the book can stand alone.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheJasmineThrone #NetGalley ( )

I have been pretty upset for many days now because I kept seeing everyone receiving the ARC of this much awaited fantasy novel but I wasn’t. But it’s finally in my hands and I couldn’t waste another before I got to it. And wow this was worth all the angst.

I really loved Tasha’s Ambha duology but I found it very difficult to review them, because I didn’t know how to say anything except wow. And this beginning of a new fantasy trilogy is no different. But I can also see how different this story is from her previous works. While both Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash were slow burn romances with themes of colonialism and oppression and these themes exist in this book as well, The Jasmine Throne is much more fast paced and exquisitely crafted which will literally leave you breathless with awe at many moments. The writing is quite evocative, particularly when the author describes the rot destroying the land as well the horrifying conditions of the people - it really hit me hard to see the atrocities committed in the name of faith and empire.

This world is also very deftly built - we get to know a bit of the history of the various kingdoms which make up the empire, the major power players, the differences in faiths of people across the kingdoms and most importantly, how colonization destroys cultures and cuts off people from their roots, while also imposing their rigid religious bigotry and misogyny on everybody. Tasha handles with a lot of depth and sensitivity this aspect of oppression and how it eats away at the conscience and will of the people who are constantly pushed down and mistreated and made to feel less than. The underlying theme of this story is also power - what will anyone do when they are in a position of power, what price will they pay, who will they sacrifice at the altar of faith and justice and empire, and who actually deserves the power to reshape lives and kingdoms. It’s a fine balance how the author explores these different ideas of power and very thought provoking for us readers as well.

And we see this excellent story play out though the eyes of an excellent ensemble - a diverse group of characters each with their own motivations and beliefs, each one on their own path of fulfilling their fate and finding justice for what they have been denied. Malini is a princess in exile who knows her emperor brother is sadistic, and wants to do whatever she can to make sure he is deposed and replaced by a better person. She is formidable and cunning, a strategist who knows all the cards she needs to play to achieve her goals, but in her heart is someone who wants a better ruler for the empire. Whether she wants it as revenge for all the trauma she has been subjected to by her brother, or out of the benevolence of her heart for the sake of the people, is something we have to discern for ourselves.

Priya on the other hand is living as a maid servant, trying whatever she can within her modest means to help the children who are starving and ill in her kingdom. This is the story of her discovering her powers, and realizing how she can use them to better the lives of her people who have suffered for too long. At every turn, she has to weigh what she wants to do with her power and the author really succeeds in showing us her true heart and what kind of a person she would be when having to choose between lives and vengeance.

The romance between these two is a delicious slow burn, navigating the line between how a relationship can develop between a Princess who has to completely depend on the maid to save her life, and how it progresses when the princess has something more to offer on account of her station. Their relationship is filled with yearning and angst, with a bit of a forbidden element to give it more gravitas, and we are always on our toes wondering if they will make it together or sacrifice the other to achieve their ambitions.

Rounding out this excellent duo and their love story is a whole host of supporting characters, a high born lady with her own forbidden magic who wants to save her land and people, an irrelevant prince of a kingdom who wants to see his destiny fulfilled, a rebel leader who would pay any price for power and liberation, an abdicated prince who is not sure if he wants to take up his title and responsibility again for the sake of his people, and a sadistic emperor in the background who wants to build his empire on the pyres of women and in the name of his depraved faith. Despite so many characters and POVs, the author manages to keep us hooked to the story and it only feels like something we wanna get lost in, not ever overwhelming.

In conclusion, this is a great beginning to a new fantasy world. You will obviously not give this a miss if you are already a fan of the author. But if haven’t read her previous books, and are looking for an epic fantasy full of strong female characters trying to right the wrongs of their world, an exploration of the depravities of colonization and the corruption of power and faith, and a beautiful sapphic romance borne out of adversity; then you don’t have to look further than this. ( )