Tag: author-tasha suri

Sequel to The Jasmine Throne, and very much a second book of a trilogy; do not expect resolution before the third book lands. Tasha Suri fearlessly throws her heroines to the wolves; after Priya and Malini manage to get themselves in actual positions of power at the end of book #1, they now must choose between their responsibilities to their respective peoples and their love for one another. I thought this book was quite a bit longer than it needed to be — the characters spend a lot of time spinning their wheels and fighting the same fights — but it’s smoothly written and the worldbuilding is simply amazing.

Sequel to Empire of Sand; the first book was good, and this one is even better. Arwa’s sister shook the foundations of the empire in the previous book, and in this one, Arwa is left trying to pick a safe path through the crumbling Empire. Arwa and her sister Mehr are very different people: Mehr rebelled and embraced her status as a low-caste tribesperson, whereas Arwa tried to hide her past and blend in. Like her sister, she finds herself in a position to use her background for the greater good, but her relationship with her heritage is fraught. I loved her journey, and how it illustrated the impact of cultural erasure on the descendants of persecuted peoples.

This universe of this book is well-crafted and interesting but the theme is super dark, almost unrelentingly dark; the heroine’s determination to survive, to find small victories, was what kept the read going. Mehr is the Governor’s daughter and a nobleman, but she is also the second-class daughter of his first wife, who belonged to a tribe of magic-users that is being vilified and forced from the empire. She lashes out at her situation by performing some of her mother’s forbidden magic, and attracts the attention of dangerous people, which places everyone she loves in jeopardy. Because she never stops fighting, her character arc is actually not the interesting one; instead, it’s the man that she meets partway through the book, whose journey was even darker than hers, who grows and develops the most because of her intervention. Very smooth writing; I liked the themes, which revolve around familial relationships, compromises, and the choices people make when they need to stay true to themselves.