The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri

I would like to thank Nazia from orbit for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Orbit

Published – Out now

Price – £10.99 paperback £5.99 Kindle eBook

Malini has claimed her rightful throne as the empress of Parijatdvipa, just as the nameless gods prophesied. Now, in order to gain the support of the priesthood who remain loyal to the fallen emperor, she must consider a terrible bargain: Claim her throne and burn in order to seal her legacy-or find another willing to take her place on the pyre.

Priya has survived the deathless waters and now their magic runs in her veins. But a mysterious yaksa with flowering eyes and a mouth of thorns lies beneath the waters. The yaksa promises protection for Ahiranya. But in exchange, she needs a sacrifice. And she's chosen Priya as the one to offer it.

Two women once entwined by fate now stand against each other for the sake of their respective homes. But when a new enemy rises, they will once again find themselves fighting together to prevent their kingdoms, and their futures, from burning to ash.

Warning This review is about the conclusion to the Burning Kingdoms trilogy that started with the fantastic The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri and was followed by the equally great The Oleander Sword

In epic fantasy the ending is often the most important. Will order be restored? Will the best characters survive? And, how can I turn that final page to see what happens? I love the journey of a story but with a trilogy I do want to see a book hit the landing. I am extremely pleased to see that Tasha Suri’s excellent Burning Kingdoms trilogy ends powerfully with The Lotus Empire that delivers a suitably emotional finale that keeps us guessing all the way to the final chapter as to what will the ending lead to.

Parijatdvipa is a powerful empire that has dominated the land of Ahiranya for a long time. Priya has fought for a long time to free her people but a chance encounter with the royal prisoner Malini would be heir to Parijatdvipa’s throne changed their lives. The two worked together to gain freedom and found they were in love with each other two. For Malini a civil war was commenced with her evil brother Chandra and Priya’s magical powers were crucial to her victory. However, for Priya her powers have a price as they herald the return of the gods known as Yaksa who are changing certain followers not their avatars. Priya feels their call and left Malini stabbed by her own hand. The Yaksa have decided the world needs to be changed into their image and humans are finding themselves and their crops infected by the magical plague known as the rot. The solution is to conquer Ahiranya once more and destroy the Yaksa but Priya and Malini are this time on warring sides and the final battle is looming.

Sometimes you must look back on a reading experience and look how far the story has come. Malini and Priya were pretty powerless when we first met them. Malini just a prisoner and now both women are leaders, powerful (Malini’s guile and Priya’s magic are evenly matched) and their world is changed. Freedom for Ahiranya was won and then seems lost. We’ve met a host f characters and as we join them for The Lotus Empire everything is feeling very wrong. Malini and Priya who we learnt to love (and are a great couple) become enemies just when they’d had their greatest triumph together. The skill Suri has is that this feels logical not contrived. The immense power of the Yaksa is a huge disruptive influence that makes Priya choose a side for her people. Malini needs to now save hers and so we have two characters who we know have cared for one another, who know each other’s minds and now having to battle each other. The emotional battle I this next book really works then as we have moments when they come into contact with each other and we feel the looming conflict that won’t need much to set things off.

In terms of magical threats, the Yaksa are excellent enemies. The bring a touch of cosmic horror to the story being incredibly alien transmuting flesh into plant and while wearing the faces of characters we have met they have an incredible uncanny valley feeling, which is impressive to create in a book. Every time one appears they feel menacing and dangerous and as their agenda becomes more clearer the whole world feels at stake. Having lost the maniacal Chandra in the last book here we have a different type of enemy - not cackling evil but immensely dangerous and inhuman. When they use their magic even fleetingly lots of people die and the means every time a character interacts we feel things can go south very quickly.

Indeed, the book has a powerful theme of taking on your gods. The Yaksa are shown as undeserving of the devotion that the people of Ahiranya have shown them and the magic they were given carries a high price for those who wield it. In contrast we have for Malini the aftermath of her victory. A society that has believed that women must burn for the sake of the country doesn’t change with a simple change of leader and we see in Malini’s scenes more intrigues, betrayals and zealots at work. There is an intriguing plotline where the solution to how you battle gods involves creating the absence of magic, of feeling this other world and the theme that its for humans not gods or their priests to determine the future. In fanatsy this is an unusual approach that really stands out here and neatly fits the wider themes the series has explored.

In terms of endings I’m not going to spoil it but it works beautifully and emotionally. There are costs to be paid to save the world and we feel sorrow and joy along the way. All the key characters we have met along the way have important tasks to do from the grief-stricken Rao morning the lost of Priya’s brother to the remarkably determined Bhumika who to save the world has sacrificed all her memories of it. The arcs for all key characters are very fitting and neatly combine as allies and enemies are created. When we must leave, we see everything has changed and yet it feels the right time to say goodbye even if we can never quite see the future.

The Burning kingdoms has been a powerful and inventive series that combines characters to root for (and sometimes fear) with amazing worlds and a use of magic that brings it all to life. The Lotus Empire is a very successful culmination of storytelling that cements Suri as one of the most exiting fantasy writers around at the moment. This is a strongly recommended series and I am very excited for what Suri does next.