One of the things I’d like to do better as a reviewer is to stay on top of book releases. Thomas over at SFF180 has great videos about SFF books that are coming out; I want to be as knowledgeable about new releases as he is. I’d like to maintain a look ahead for books that I want to read and review. Generally, I’m too busy for this, but I did prepare for the first half of 2021, and one of the books that I knew I wanted was The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri. I wanted to read Empire of Sand but never got around to it. (I still want to read it.) So, when I saw the start to a new series was coming out this year, I knew I had to read it, and the good folks at Orbit granted my request. In fact, I reached out to Orbit to ask for a review copy which I rarely do. For a while now, I’ve had high hopes for this book. I’m glad to say that The Jasmine Throne lived up to and surpassed all my expectations. This book had everything I want in a fantasy novel.
Disclaimer: Orbit Books, the publisher, provided a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
© PrimmLife.com 2021
TL;DR
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri exceeded all my expectations. Its politics, setting, characters, and magic all hit the right notes for me. This book about power, resistance, and the cost of being a ruler is magnificent fantasy. Highly recommended for fantasy fans.
From the Publisher
A long-imprisoned princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic come together to rewrite the fate of an empire in this “fiercely and unapologetically feminist tale of endurance and revolution set against a gorgeous, unique magical world” (S. A. Chakraborty).
Exiled by her despotic brother, Malini spends her days dreaming of vengeance while trapped in the Hirana: an ancient cliffside temple that was once the revered source of the magical deathless waters but is now little more than a decaying ruin.
The secrets of the Hirana call to Priya. But in order to keep the truth of her past safely hidden, she works as a servant in the loathed regent’s household, biting her tongue and cleaning Malini’s chambers.
But when Malini witnesses Priya’s true nature, their destines become irrevocably tangled. One is a ruthless princess seeking to steal a throne. The other a powerful priestess seeking to save her family. Together, they will set an empire ablaze.
Review: The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
The Jasmine Throne starts off in the imperial court in the Emperor’s point of view. He’s watching preparations for the ritual burning of women, including his own sister. This sets the tone for the book. What follows is brutal, harsh, and yet lovely. The Emperor frames the story, but other than that, he doesn’t appear much except in other’s opinions or memories. The main characters are Priya and Malina. Priya is an Ahiranyi maidservant in the household of the regent of Ahiranya. Malina is the emperor’s sister and captive, banished from court to the ruins of a temple in Ahiranya. But, as one would expect, there’s more to each woman than their meager beginnings. Malina is isolated in the ruins with only her Parijati caretaker to interact with. Guards and servants are forbidden to talk to her, and the caretaker keeps her pliable by drugging her. In order to care for Malina, her guards, and her caretaker, servants are allowed in the temple ruins. Priya joins these servants to make a little more money and to pursue her own search within the temple. Malina and Priya’s paths cross, and the princess manipulates the situation to get Priya assigned to her. Thus begins a fraught alliance upon which resistance, in many forms, rests.
This is the opening novel in the Burning Kingdoms series. It’s a secondary world fantasy that draws from and blends together the cultures of India. Magic, politics, romance, and religion all blend into an excellent narrative. Suri drops the reader into the action with little explanation. She trusts that the reader is smart enough to pick up her world as they read. Part of what I liked about this novel was learning how the world works. I’m looking forward to exploring more of it in future books.
In particular, I like how the magic tied into the religion. I wonder if the magic came first, and their religion built around it, or if the religion came first, and the magic derives from the religion. For this novel, we primarily see the magic of the Ahiranya, but there are hints of other magic in the prophecies of the nameless. I think in future novels we’ll see magic from other cultures.
Priya
Priya is a temple child who escaped the empire’s purge of the Ahiranyi religion to become a beggar that is eventually taken in by the regent’s wife. Priya doesn’t remember much of temple life, but she can’t forget her days as a beggar child. This leads her to care for the orphans of Ahiranya. Priya has a good heart that she somehow maintains in this brutal world, and it makes her all the more special for it. A lot of this novel follows Priya trying to figure out how to remain herself in her changing circumstances. How does she keep such a good heart when her heart keeps getting hurt?
Priya isn’t the only temple child who survived the purge, but she’s the only one back in the ruins. As a servant to Malina, Priya learns that the princess is being poisoned with needle-flower – think opium – to the point where she’ll die. It’s never clear if the poisoning was due to negligence or at her brother’s instruction. It doesn’t much matter as the outcome would be the same. We see Priya use her station as a servant to play upon expectations and biases of the noble caretaker to save Malina’s life. Priya balances caring for the princess while at the same time searching the Hirana for a key part of her past.
Malina
Malina, the princess of Parijat, failed her brother the emperor because she refused to be burned alive. For her punishment, she’s drugged and exiled. When we meet her, she’s struggling just to stay alive. Malina is complicated if I may commit an understatement. She grew into my favorite character by the end. During the book, I’m rooting for Priya more, but I like Malina better. I feel like I understand Malina more than Priya because Malina is a political person. More than that, she’s a political genius even though it cost her friends and nearly costs her life. Also, her goals are clear from the start. Survive, escape if she can, topple the emperor if possible. Priya’s goals change until she gets to work in the Hirana, the temple. So, she felt a bit inconsistent for a while. Malina, on the other hand, was consistent throughout the whole book. She knows what she wants, and she plays the hand that’s dealt her. Malina possessed the ability to see things as they are. It would be easy for a person in her situation to wish or hope or pray for better. But, often, wishing for better is a way of not dealing with reality. She does none of these because she is clear eyed about her reality. She knows what’s going on, and rather than hoping for better, she adjusts and works to improve her situation in any way she can.
Malina possesses that great quality of politicians that is winning people over. She can inspire; she can draw people to her; she can convince others to her cause. Her backstory explains this perfectly. Too often, characters are political because they’re supposed to be political. But Suri shows us enough of Malina’s childhood to explain how she became as skilled a politician as she is. Basically, I love Malina even at her most monstrous.
The Politics of Power
Not only does The Jasmine Throne have interesting politics; it spends a lot of time musing on what power does to people. For the emperor, power allows him to indulge in his cruelty. For Priya’s employer, Bhumika, power brings with it a chance to preserve her nation and culture while compromising with a husband, the regent, in more ways than she bargained for. For the head of the resistance, power comes with a death sentence unless he can find more power.
The best exploration of cost of power is between Priya and Malina. For Malina, people are tools to be used to further her goals. This even applies to people she loves. She believes that a better future means she has to do monstrous things, to make awful choices, and exact terrible sacrifices. She knows the cost and yet still strides forward into the actions. When it comes to Priya, she can’t help but use her. She doesn’t want to, but she does. Interestingly, Malina is completely honest with Priya, but because of how Malina uses her, Priya can’t trust that. Watching this interpersonal balancing act of being human while being powerful was great. For now, their goals align. What happens when they oppose each other? That will be an interesting question.
Politicizing Religion
Conclusion
Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne delivers everything I want in a fantasy novel. Whether politics, magic, culture, romance, or scenery, this novel knocks it out of the park. But as I finished reading, it was Priya and Malina that stayed with me. These two women have been through tough ordeals, and I can’t wait to see what they’ll go through in the sequels.
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri is available from Orbit Books on June 8th, 2021.
© PrimmLife.com 2021