The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
I would like to thank Nazia from Orbit for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Orbit
Published – Out now
Price – £8.99 paperback £4.99 Kindle eBook
One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne.
The other is a priestess searching for her family.
Together, they will change the fate of an empire.
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 . . .
When does the war start? The moment the two sides meet on the battlefield? When declarations get politely sent to each other? Perhaps when an Archduke is killed? Go back further and you’ll see collections of key characters, events, pressures and triggers that make war and revolutions start to get gears in motion and once started the world changes forever. This is very much what the magnificent The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri which explores the theme of revolution while also delivering a host of fascinating characters deciding what is the right thing to do is and a world where magic is about to return to full strength.
The country of Ahiranya was once famed for magic, liberal beliefs, and a love of nature key to its older religion but many years ago it lost a war and became part of the Parjatdvipa’s Empire and now viewed as a place with little real resources but can be a wonderful place to party for the wealthy. This is a realm now ruled by a Emperor fixated on his own country’s traditions and a firm believer that any hint of rebellion should be punished with maximum force and who believes that women is found to be against him should be burnt alive. Princess Malini the Emperor’s brother has urged rebellion and has refused to accept that fire is her only chance at redemption she is sent to Ahiranya drugged to be imprisoned until she changes her mind. In the palace of Ahiranya’s Regent who works diligently for the Emperor, we meet Priya a servant who tries in her spare time to help children coming down with a mysterious fatal disease known as The Rot where plants start to take over the body ultimately killing the host. Priya spends money she does not really have to spare to help its her only way she can change events in her country and reminds her of a life when she served a now destroyed Temple on a strange rocky area filled with unusual statues known as the Hirana. Malini is to be imprisoned in these ruins and Priya will cross paths that will ultimately lead to war and rebellion against an Empire.
This is an amazing piece of epic fantasy offering the scale and depth that the best stories in the genre provide. Using a setting inspired by Indian history and also epic stories Suri has created their own standout tale which was a delight to explore. Primarily we have Priya and Malini as the centre of the story. A Princess and a Servant crossing paths is a very old idea but here neither woman is exactly what they seem. The Malini we meet for most of the early parts of the novel is weakened by the medication she is forced to drink but we see signs of someone who plans in advance and seeks any form of advantage to suit her own political ends. She is like a steel trap that has been rusted over and now coming back to life. Priya seems initially a kind woman just looking to heal but we also find she is linked to the Deathless Waters a magical force in Ahiranya that can kill those who attempt to reach it but can deliver magical power. The injustices increasingly seen on the streets against the poor and those who try to keep Ahiranyan culture alive are suggesting Priya may herself need t decide should she get involved. Suri delivers a fascinating journey of power shifting between the two as they get to know each other moving from servitude, gamesmanship, bargaining, rescue to eventually each seeing the other as an equal. That friendship also becomes a powerful growing attraction in an empire that has forbidden same sex relationships and Suri makes each woman the catalyst for each side’s rebellion to finally take a stand against the Emperor.
I loved the depth shown in each character with these leads but Suri delivers a host of interesting characters who each are shown to have a variety of public faces they show the world. Three other key supporting characters are given a lot of time and play a crucial role in what happens to the central pair. The Regent’s wife Bhumika is a seemingly loyal wife of Ahiranyan royalty who accepts her husband’s role and duty to supress rebellion. She carries his child and just continues to create a household of the poor and disaffected as charity, but we soon see she is also protecting her country’s legacy and is a constant source of conflict with Priya over following orders. Priya also finds herself running up against Ashok the revel leader who has gone to desperate measures to find a way to fight. His tale is one of the classic debates – how far can you push back before your own tactics hurt the people you want to protect? Knowing the cruelty of the empire we may find his own tactics equally painful to watch and yet despite this violence and desire to act we see signs of a man who wasn’t always this way and for whom the world has made him have to give up his better natures. Lastly hiding in the brothels and pleasure places of the city we have Rao a man seemingly just after seeking fun who is very keen to now if Malini is alive and can be rescued – he hides many secrets and shows that not every member of the Empire thinks the Emperor is infallible. Suri gives each supporting character depth and personality that makes them come alive – some we meet only for a few scenes but tells you so much about this world and how it works.
The storytelling and quality of the prose are also huge attractions I need to point you towards. A lot of this story is happening in a world of intrigue where people have to hide their true natures so there is a lot of scheming and hidden agendas to initially uncover but as the story heats up we move into scenes of magic, fighting and revelations about the characters we meet. It’s like watching a giant mechanism slowly whir with power and then come to full life and the pacing for me is spot on pulling you into the story and yet explaining the secrets in a measured way without having to infodump on the reader. The other delight is Suri’s prose as we move from scenes of action, intrigue, body horror and romance seamlessly truly pushing the epic nature of the story taking us from palaces to back streets, brothels to broken magical temples and a sense of a whole magical world hiding underneath the reality awaiting reawakening. Suri captures both the atmosphere of these places and the spirit of characters perfectly and reading the pages to soak up the use of language was a joy.
Compared to Suri’s duology The Books of Ambha this is very much a larger series with even more characters and lands to explore but still carries their hallmark ability to deliver characters you want to know and a world that is never simple black and white but about competing approaches to fifth back against evil. This is a startlingly great piece of fantasy that hints by the end that the main act of war is soon to start in earnest and I am so so ready to find out what happens next. This is going to be one of the novels of the year, so I strongly urge you to get your hands on it as soon as possible.
