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brittneyreads's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
lohmein's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
nightowl22's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
pauline1512's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
debchan's review
5.0
props to everyone who waited a whole year for this book after The Jasmine Throne! you are much stronger than me. i couldn't wait another second and immediately drove to the library to pick this up. and then read the entire thing. tasha suri you are an EVIL genius.
second book syndrome? she's never heard of it. i thought the first book was a bit slow and lacked that zing! pop! spark! that prevented me from fully loving it. not this one. i was so invested in everything going on on both sides of the war. even some of the politics weren't horrible to read. i saw people only rly enjoy bhumika's POVS but i kid you not malini? she had the best scenes truly.
i no longer feel like choking on flowers. i feel caught up in a horrible war, frustrated on malini's behalf, angry on priya's behalf, terrified on bhumika's behalf, and utterly depressed on rao's behalf. evey scene with bhumika and the yaksa elicited some awful sense of dread. suri is so good at making the reader terrified she should write some thriller novels fr. she's also very concerned with writing the most gut wrenching scenes, what does she get out of our pain? my stupid human brain isn't capable of separating fictional characters from people i think i know so all i feel is complete loss and devastation. like you think priya/malini sucks??? it DOES! but so does rao/aditya which completely took me out of nowhere. like a sniper or smtg.
priya: jasmine throne was more her book, and this is more malini's book but that doesn't make her any less important. she's helping her people, especially with the rot, and trying not to let everything drain and exhaust her further. but oh look, now she has to join malini which is 100x more exhausting. but also she's the only person who malini can trust. everyone else also hates her bc of her magic and, i love when she thinks that she's just like malini except that she wears her anger on her sleeve. yess go girl prove them wrong! wipe out an entire army! and yet all that power comes at a price and she has to pay it now. angst-ridden and while i love it i also cannot wait for it to be over i need my HEA!stupid yaksa ruining everything, especially happy malini/priya endgame. i rly want to know why they want her so badly. and also, i want her to do the whole "my power comes from within i don't need you" arc but suri is so realistic and gloomy i fear not. she stabbed malini in the chest but she also stabbed every single reader, i'm sure we felt that. oof.
malini: go off! everyone was talking about morally grey and malini losing her humanity, and yeah i can maybe see where they're coming from. but to me? every action she took weighed in both the right thing to do and the vengeful thing to do. she wasn't reckless with anger. she planned her moves, cold and cunning. and she had enough priya scenes to retain that humanity. it is so easy to cheer for her to overthrow her brother. i'm so looking forward to how her character progresses in the next book. bc it kinda felt like a really thin thread just snapped at the end. like maybe in the next book she's go a little crazy, lose her humanity, and descend into morally dubious actions. at least i hope so.
malini and priya: i kid you not when i read that first letter, i was like crying/screaming/throwing up as well as laughing/giggling/kicking my feet. the way they yearn for each other is unmatched. i wish their long-term situation lasted a bit longer just bc they both unraveled a bit without the other. but when they did get to see each other again ugh! the small touches, the stolen glances. and then we got the tent scene, akin to the waterfall scene. it's written so tenderly, their love, and yet so intense and strong and also! brittle!the way priya had to cut malini out of her heart. the way malini declared priya as an assassin PARALLEL to the way malini had saved priya's life earlier! she's so good at dropping the pertinent info before passing out. the way they're on opposing sides now and still love each other. the way malini is willing to bury that love. i'm so invested in how suri is going to handle this. i don't think i'm prepared.
bhumika: i was both excited and horrified to read her chapters. i was so annoyed the rebels were getting her tired. like ok sometimes violence is fine, but we're trying to establish our own nation please and diplomacy is key! stop waving your weapons around when you don't know shit about politics! just let bhumika breathe for a sec pLEASE. and then as if i wasn't already so stressed for bhumika, the yaksa come back. and then they're not how they were expected to be. bhumika is risking everything to save her people and her commitment? she's so strong i love her so much. especially after everything she went through with being married to vikram. if anything, just survive please with jeevan who i didn't expect to love as much as i did. something about loyal soldiers respecting and having undying faith in the women they serve. didn't expect a bit more than that, but for the first time i'm not complaining about a probable romance.
rao: he was such an agent in the first book, and even more so here. once again, grief has torn a massive hole in him, and it keeps ripping day by day. he was like a sleepwalking man, just following malini's orders, unsure of his purpose now that he'd crowned her. suri said i'm going to rip every single thing this man cares about away from him :D if i thought rao/prem was tragic?? rao/aditya was 1000000x more tragic. ended me just as much as priya/malini. someone get this man a weighted blanket and a box of chocolate.
aditya: soooo i guess i got a bit more of that sybling dynamic with malini i wanted in book 1. but now what i really want, is what rao wants. i want to see aditya as he once was, the heir prince, proud and brave, commanding men. and yet i have to sacrifice that like he does so malini can keep her throne and allies. is it too much to ask for him to genuinely be happy... what i want more than anything itw is for suri to give us a book about malini and narina and alori and aditya and prem and rao when they were children and best friends and none of them had to worry about war or death or ever losing each other.
rao and aditya: they're just priya/malini pt. 2 if the waterfall scene never happened. the way rao is terrified he's lost aditya, the old him, the old prince who was rao's best friend. the way aditya only ever wanted rao's presence. the way they were each other's purpose. and the fact that malini KNOWS, i know she knows something. and did prem know?? bc i don't think he did and i wish he did. i want him BACK. plus the stars, i cannot shut up about the stars. suri is so sick and twisted for that continued imagery.she gave rao alori and then burned her alive. she gave rao prem and then he bled out to death. and then she gave rao aditya and he sacrificed himself when it wasn't even necessary. damn.
lata: she was actually one of my favorite characters and i think she deserves a lot of recognition. her steadfastness, her constant presence was as much a relief to me as i hope it was to malini.
rukh: ok i liked him 10x better here. what wonders a family, a roof over your head, and food does to a child! he was so much smarter than he seemed and ik he showed a glimpse of it in the previous book but i think his role is not yet finished. i've rly warmed up to him you may as well call me ganam.
chandra: terrible terrible person but also incredible characterization. the scene where he's weeping in the temple and the high priest is comforting him. um i don't wanna see evil incarnate act human please!! but also i ate it up, i love a character convinced he's divinely chosen, doing the right thing, just to be doing the worst thing possible. he def got the ending he deserved (it should've been more painful tho tbh)
ok within the span of like a week i've now read about the archery scene with the fish and the water from the Mahabharata THREE TIMES. i reread it with A Spark of White Fire, i just finished Sons of Darkness, and now this?? is this a sign for me to read it bc i really want to and i think this pushed me into it.
my favorite scene in the entire series so far is whenmalini forces ashutosh to pick between punishing priya or having her save his men from the rot. it's just such a genius move, perhaps even a solomon baby move? the whole exchange was chef's kiss to me
again, rip to everyone who read this back in 2022 and have been waiting 2 years. i just have to wait 6 months (which is torture), but nothing compared to the OGs. i applaud you. i need that third book more than anything bc i want everyone happy. i would like priya and malini to be able to take charge of their respective lands, rule how they want to, even marry if they want to. i would like bhumika to finally get some rest, her child padma to be safe, and even idk keep jeevan alive. i would like rao to fill that empty gaping hole with something even though he's lost everything i genuinely don't know what would be a good ending for him except to literally die as well. ofc suri would keep him alive though just to keep him suffering.
it's so good. i rarely enjoy two characters as much as priya and malini. the writing kept me literally stuck to the pages, unable to do anything else but turn the pages. the dread she's able to create and the absolutely wild situation she's dragged these characters into is so mean of her (i love it). now this series is all i'm ever going to recommend with the added advice of not reading the whole thing until the last book comes out. bc how am i ever going to forget this book and these characters?? amazing job.
second book syndrome? she's never heard of it. i thought the first book was a bit slow and lacked that zing! pop! spark! that prevented me from fully loving it. not this one. i was so invested in everything going on on both sides of the war. even some of the politics weren't horrible to read. i saw people only rly enjoy bhumika's POVS but i kid you not malini? she had the best scenes truly.
i no longer feel like choking on flowers. i feel caught up in a horrible war, frustrated on malini's behalf, angry on priya's behalf, terrified on bhumika's behalf, and utterly depressed on rao's behalf. evey scene with bhumika and the yaksa elicited some awful sense of dread. suri is so good at making the reader terrified she should write some thriller novels fr. she's also very concerned with writing the most gut wrenching scenes, what does she get out of our pain? my stupid human brain isn't capable of separating fictional characters from people i think i know so all i feel is complete loss and devastation. like you think priya/malini sucks??? it DOES! but so does rao/aditya which completely took me out of nowhere. like a sniper or smtg.
priya: jasmine throne was more her book, and this is more malini's book but that doesn't make her any less important. she's helping her people, especially with the rot, and trying not to let everything drain and exhaust her further. but oh look, now she has to join malini which is 100x more exhausting. but also she's the only person who malini can trust. everyone else also hates her bc of her magic and, i love when she thinks that she's just like malini except that she wears her anger on her sleeve. yess go girl prove them wrong! wipe out an entire army! and yet all that power comes at a price and she has to pay it now. angst-ridden and while i love it i also cannot wait for it to be over i need my HEA!
malini: go off! everyone was talking about morally grey and malini losing her humanity, and yeah i can maybe see where they're coming from. but to me? every action she took weighed in both the right thing to do and the vengeful thing to do. she wasn't reckless with anger. she planned her moves, cold and cunning. and she had enough priya scenes to retain that humanity. it is so easy to cheer for her to overthrow her brother. i'm so looking forward to how her character progresses in the next book. bc it kinda felt like a really thin thread just snapped at the end. like maybe in the next book she's go a little crazy, lose her humanity, and descend into morally dubious actions. at least i hope so.
malini and priya: i kid you not when i read that first letter, i was like crying/screaming/throwing up as well as laughing/giggling/kicking my feet. the way they yearn for each other is unmatched. i wish their long-term situation lasted a bit longer just bc they both unraveled a bit without the other. but when they did get to see each other again ugh! the small touches, the stolen glances. and then we got the tent scene, akin to the waterfall scene. it's written so tenderly, their love, and yet so intense and strong and also! brittle!
bhumika: i was both excited and horrified to read her chapters. i was so annoyed the rebels were getting her tired. like ok sometimes violence is fine, but we're trying to establish our own nation please and diplomacy is key! stop waving your weapons around when you don't know shit about politics! just let bhumika breathe for a sec pLEASE. and then as if i wasn't already so stressed for bhumika, the yaksa come back. and then they're not how they were expected to be. bhumika is risking everything to save her people and her commitment? she's so strong i love her so much. especially after everything she went through with being married to vikram. if anything, just survive please with jeevan who i didn't expect to love as much as i did. something about loyal soldiers respecting and having undying faith in the women they serve. didn't expect a bit more than that, but for the first time i'm not complaining about a probable romance.
rao: he was such an agent in the first book, and even more so here. once again, grief has torn a massive hole in him, and it keeps ripping day by day. he was like a sleepwalking man, just following malini's orders, unsure of his purpose now that he'd crowned her. suri said i'm going to rip every single thing this man cares about away from him :D if i thought rao/prem was tragic?? rao/aditya was 1000000x more tragic. ended me just as much as priya/malini. someone get this man a weighted blanket and a box of chocolate.
aditya: soooo i guess i got a bit more of that sybling dynamic with malini i wanted in book 1. but now what i really want, is what rao wants. i want to see aditya as he once was, the heir prince, proud and brave, commanding men. and yet i have to sacrifice that like he does so malini can keep her throne and allies. is it too much to ask for him to genuinely be happy... what i want more than anything itw is for suri to give us a book about malini and narina and alori and aditya and prem and rao when they were children and best friends and none of them had to worry about war or death or ever losing each other.
rao and aditya: they're just priya/malini pt. 2 if the waterfall scene never happened. the way rao is terrified he's lost aditya, the old him, the old prince who was rao's best friend. the way aditya only ever wanted rao's presence. the way they were each other's purpose. and the fact that malini KNOWS, i know she knows something. and did prem know?? bc i don't think he did and i wish he did. i want him BACK. plus the stars, i cannot shut up about the stars. suri is so sick and twisted for that continued imagery.
lata: she was actually one of my favorite characters and i think she deserves a lot of recognition. her steadfastness, her constant presence was as much a relief to me as i hope it was to malini.
rukh: ok i liked him 10x better here. what wonders a family, a roof over your head, and food does to a child! he was so much smarter than he seemed and ik he showed a glimpse of it in the previous book but i think his role is not yet finished. i've rly warmed up to him you may as well call me ganam.
chandra: terrible terrible person but also incredible characterization. the scene where he's weeping in the temple and the high priest is comforting him. um i don't wanna see evil incarnate act human please!! but also i ate it up, i love a character convinced he's divinely chosen, doing the right thing, just to be doing the worst thing possible. he def got the ending he deserved (it should've been more painful tho tbh)
ok within the span of like a week i've now read about the archery scene with the fish and the water from the Mahabharata THREE TIMES. i reread it with A Spark of White Fire, i just finished Sons of Darkness, and now this?? is this a sign for me to read it bc i really want to and i think this pushed me into it.
my favorite scene in the entire series so far is when
again, rip to everyone who read this back in 2022 and have been waiting 2 years. i just have to wait 6 months (which is torture), but nothing compared to the OGs. i applaud you. i need that third book more than anything bc i want everyone happy. i would like priya and malini to be able to take charge of their respective lands, rule how they want to, even marry if they want to. i would like bhumika to finally get some rest, her child padma to be safe, and even idk keep jeevan alive. i would like rao to fill that empty gaping hole with something even though he's lost everything i genuinely don't know what would be a good ending for him except to literally die as well. ofc suri would keep him alive though just to keep him suffering.
it's so good. i rarely enjoy two characters as much as priya and malini. the writing kept me literally stuck to the pages, unable to do anything else but turn the pages. the dread she's able to create and the absolutely wild situation she's dragged these characters into is so mean of her (i love it). now this series is all i'm ever going to recommend with the added advice of not reading the whole thing until the last book comes out. bc how am i ever going to forget this book and these characters?? amazing job.
mj_them's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
dominguezraquel95's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow wow wow!!!!! The way each character’s arc reflected and balanced and foiled one another, the subtle callbacks to past events, and the gorgeous prose made this so hard to put down. And MALINI!!!!! She’s beautiful she’s manipulative she’s cruel she’s rational she’s committed she’s convinced herself of her own righteousness she’s conflicted she’s thoughtful she’s ANGRY she’s vengeful she’s everything I adore in a woman protagonist and boy would I have gone feral for her as a teenager.
roseastro's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5