Book Review of The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

Name of Book: The Jasmine Throne 

Author: Tasha Suri 

ISBN: 9780356515649

Publisher: Orbit 

Part of a Series: The Burning Kingdoms trilogy 

Type of book: South Asian fantasy, Sapphic romance, slow burn, chemistry, desires, secrets, temple children, royalty, plants, earth, plague, powers 

Year it was published: 2021

Summary:

Author of Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess's traitor brother.

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.

Characters:

Main characters include Princess Malini, a politically savvy as well as manipulative young woman who is forced to become a prisoner. Princess Malini is best described as an inferno, something that cannot be gotten rid of, and someone forced to be too strong at an early age. She is fearless but has her own desires and secrets. Priya is humble, has a big heart and is loyal to friends. She is also strong and tends to be self sacrificing. At the same time people underestimate her. There are other characters like Bhumika, a temple sister to Priya who is expecting her first child and is keeping secrets from her husband as well as some princes from minor kingdoms who desire a different kingdom than is espoused by Emperor Chandra.  

Theme:

Have faith and don't be afraid, there is beauty in ugliness 

Plot:

The story is in third person narrative from everyone's points of view. The tale introduces us to Chandra, an emperor who is best described as extremist ( think fantasy Taliban) who burns his sister's friends and wants to burn his sister, Princess Malini. However she refuses to be burned and is sent away to another kingdom, hopefully to rot. The story then jumps to Priya who works at a castle I believe and she eventually becomes Princess Malinis maid. Both women sparkle with attraction and yearning, but both must give something up to even begin relationship. Meanwhile there are other aspects going on such as mysterious disease, the attempted tries to rescue Princess Malini in hopes she can convince her older brother to become an emperor, and also trying to understand the powers of mysterious waters that Priya and few others were forced to take. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

Tasha Suri was born in the U.K., but toured India during childhood holidays. She is now a librarian in London, and studied English and creative writing at Warwick University.

Opinion:

When it takes me mere days to finish reading a book and pay attention to the story and mourn as I get closer and closer to the end, then it definitely is a five star read in my opinion. I started, got to almost the middle then paused a month before returning to this wonderful and rich world again. And I loved every page and word that I spent with THE JASMINE THRONE. I loved the characters, the world, the writing style and the messages that the author sent out. What I also loved was the political complexity and how much it takes to attempt to start a war or a revolution. There is a very strong and powerful chemistry between Princess Malini and Priya as well as the class imbalance. What I also loved is how well fleshed all characters, both primary and secondary felt. Reading this book felt something akin to reading a great CLASSIC, except it's not written by a white male but instead by a South Asian woman and in there a voice can be found among those who lack one. 

This was given for review 

5 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)