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rocky41_7As of now, only two of the three books have been released, but I recently finished the second. The trilogy starts with The Jasmine Throne and follows with The Oleander Sword. The author is Tasha Suri.
The jacket description from The Jasmine Throne is:
Both women are queer and I promise it's not much of a spoiler that there's something going on between Priya and Malini.
First, it was refreshing to read an English-language fantasy novel that was very much not culturally Western/European. Although it takes place in a fantasy world, TBK is clearly south Asian culturally--the women wear saris and the men dhotis; they eat roti; they're described with brown skin and dark hair. I'm sure there are things I miss because I'm not culturally aware enough to catch them, but given how European a lot of the fantasy genre is, this was a nice break from that!
The characters themselves are probably Suri's greatest triumph. All of them are very distinct and yet real. All of their motivations make sense; they all come across like three-dimensional characters with conflicting feelings and their own personal goals. I adore all three of the core protagonists and I loved watching how they tackled their respective problems. I particularly enjoy how ruthless Malini is allowed to be. She is a woman with a quest and she is not going to let anything get in her way, and that hurts her relationships sometimes, but it was also fun to see a female protagonist be so unabashedly driven and ambitious.
I saw The Jasmine Throne described as "feminist" in a review which made me roll my eyes a little--what makes a book feminist? Having read it now, if there's something I would say makes the book "feminist," it's that all the major movers of the plot are women. There are men present, even in positions of power, but outside Malini's brother Chandra, they are by and large not significant influences on the plot. The women's responses to these men moves the plot far more than the actions of the men--and this is true even where the women are in subservient positions. The three core protagonists--Priya, Malini, and Bhumika--are on a ladder of power, with Priya the maidservant at the bottom, Bhumika the regent's wife in the middle, and Malini the princess at the top--but they ALL enact significant influence on how the story unfolds.
The prose itself is not particularly remarkable and in some places, the dialogue comes off as awkwardly modern in this pseudo-historical setting, but it does make for a quick, uncomplicated read.
Priya and Malini's relationship is not the core of the book--it is a fantasy story, not a romance--but it is very central. One of the things that fascinates me about them is how driven they both are for their goals. At various times, they butt up against the "love vs. duty" conflict and I do believe both of them, if they were forced to choose, would pick their duty to their people over their feelings for each other. And that's interesting! It feels like a realistic approach, where you don't always have the luxury of putting your own feelings and desires first. And I'm always interested in stories where love just wasn't enough. However, I do firmly believe Suri means to give her leading ladies a happy ending. In the meantime though, it's great to watch them struggle with this conflict.
Overall, I enjoyed these and I'm looking forward to the final book in the trilogy. Suri has crafted a vivid, diverse fantasy world with fascinating characters and a queer leading romance and I'm very interested to see how things play out for Parijatdvipa in the end.
The jacket description from The Jasmine Throne is:
Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of powerful magic – but is now little more than a decaying ruin.
Priya is a maidservant, one of several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to attend Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, as 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 . . .
Both women are queer and I promise it's not much of a spoiler that there's something going on between Priya and Malini.
First, it was refreshing to read an English-language fantasy novel that was very much not culturally Western/European. Although it takes place in a fantasy world, TBK is clearly south Asian culturally--the women wear saris and the men dhotis; they eat roti; they're described with brown skin and dark hair. I'm sure there are things I miss because I'm not culturally aware enough to catch them, but given how European a lot of the fantasy genre is, this was a nice break from that!
The characters themselves are probably Suri's greatest triumph. All of them are very distinct and yet real. All of their motivations make sense; they all come across like three-dimensional characters with conflicting feelings and their own personal goals. I adore all three of the core protagonists and I loved watching how they tackled their respective problems. I particularly enjoy how ruthless Malini is allowed to be. She is a woman with a quest and she is not going to let anything get in her way, and that hurts her relationships sometimes, but it was also fun to see a female protagonist be so unabashedly driven and ambitious.
I saw The Jasmine Throne described as "feminist" in a review which made me roll my eyes a little--what makes a book feminist? Having read it now, if there's something I would say makes the book "feminist," it's that all the major movers of the plot are women. There are men present, even in positions of power, but outside Malini's brother Chandra, they are by and large not significant influences on the plot. The women's responses to these men moves the plot far more than the actions of the men--and this is true even where the women are in subservient positions. The three core protagonists--Priya, Malini, and Bhumika--are on a ladder of power, with Priya the maidservant at the bottom, Bhumika the regent's wife in the middle, and Malini the princess at the top--but they ALL enact significant influence on how the story unfolds.
The prose itself is not particularly remarkable and in some places, the dialogue comes off as awkwardly modern in this pseudo-historical setting, but it does make for a quick, uncomplicated read.
Priya and Malini's relationship is not the core of the book--it is a fantasy story, not a romance--but it is very central. One of the things that fascinates me about them is how driven they both are for their goals. At various times, they butt up against the "love vs. duty" conflict and I do believe both of them, if they were forced to choose, would pick their duty to their people over their feelings for each other. And that's interesting! It feels like a realistic approach, where you don't always have the luxury of putting your own feelings and desires first. And I'm always interested in stories where love just wasn't enough. However, I do firmly believe Suri means to give her leading ladies a happy ending. In the meantime though, it's great to watch them struggle with this conflict.
Overall, I enjoyed these and I'm looking forward to the final book in the trilogy. Suri has crafted a vivid, diverse fantasy world with fascinating characters and a queer leading romance and I'm very interested to see how things play out for Parijatdvipa in the end.
