Tuesday, May 25, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

 


Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on June 8, 2021 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

The Jasmine Throne is the first book in Tasha Suri's new epic fantasy trilogy, The Burning Kingdoms.  Suri came onto the SF/F scene with her tremendous Books of Ambha duology (Empire of Sand, Realm of Ash).  Those books each featured mixed-race protagonists dealing with the after-effects of colonization and empire, re-discovering their heritages, and dealing with unexpected difficult romance to partners with their own issues.  They were really strong books, which made this book one I've been looking forward to even before it started getting serious hype.  

And The Jasmine Throne rewards the hype in spades.  Once again, this is an epic fantasy story featuring a pair from opposite sides of an Empire, who fall into an uneasy and this time sapphic romance.  And once more we deal with themes of power, colonization, and the aftermath thereabout, as we deal with a world with forgotten magic and an Empire ruled by an absolute monster.  And the story features a large tremendous cast of characters, all with their own agendas and interests, many of whom struggle with whether seeking the power to obtain their goals makes them monsters....and what will be left of them in the aftermath.  It's a hell of a trilogy opener, and well worth your time.  -----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
As a child Priya was born in the Hirana, the temple sacred to the people of Ahiranya, which was once a prosperous powerful nation before being conquered and subjugated by Parijatdvipa.  She had a special connection to the Deathless Waters, the magical waters which only reveal themselves to the right people and the right time, and bear both power....or death to those who try to immerse themselves within.  As a Temple-Child, Priya only had time to immerse herself once, to become Once-Born...before tragedy struck and all of her fellow children were burned alive.  

Now Priya lives as a handmaiden to the Regent's wife, in a land living in fear of its conquering empire...and suffering from a magical plague called the Rot spreading among its people.  And Priya has not only hidden her past, but has actually forgotten the power she once held, little as it was, and convinces herself she has no interest in trying to regain it.  

But when Malini, the exiled sister of the despotic and cruel Parijati, is sent to the Hirana for imprisonment, Priya finds herself back in the Temple she grew up in....and begins to feel again her connection to the magic of this place.  And when Priya mistakenly reveals her power in Malini's sight, Malini decides she can use Priya to possibly escape her imprisonment and to fight back against her brother.   

But Priya is no fool to be easily manipulated, just as Malini is not the weak-minded girl her brother believes her to be.  Together, the two could be a force, both politically and romantically...but their very existences threaten to throw off the balance of power in a province beset by not just a cruel emperor and his vassals, but rebels lords and people who remember what once has been, and will risk whatever it takes to regain it.....
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The Jasmine Throne takes place in an fantasy country - Ahiranya - that had once conquered nearly all the continent in a past era, only to now fall conquered before a different continent-wide empire - Parijatdvipa.  The people of Ahiranya still remember the old ways, when they were guided supposedly by the Yaksa, mythological beings of great power, and suffer their rule unevenly, especially after the fire consumed the Temple Children in the Hirana.   Some people attempt to make their lives work in the present - guiding their people to the future, others try to stoke memories of the past and potential rebellion through poetry, and of course a few live in outright rebellion, willing to do whatever it takes, even if it kills them, to fight back to restore what they had in the past.  Meanwhile people from the rest of the Parijati Empire don't see any of this, instead falling for the reputation of Ahiranya as a place known for its pleasure houses.  

In all of this the story is told through the perspectives of a number of characters, most prominently our two main protagonists, Priya and Malini.  But we get significant chapters from other points of view, such as Ashok - Priya's "brother" as a temple child who leads the vicious rebellion willing to put Ahiranya to flame in a fight for freedom, no matter how impossible or impractical such freedom would be in the modern world - and Bhumika, the empire's regent's wife who was secretly also a temple child, and whose vision of a future for Ahiranya requires a more delicate touch, as one cannot simply go back to the time it didn't depend or interact with its neighbors....even if that touch means temporarily or permanently collaborating with their conquerors, because to try and get rid of them entirely is now impossible.  These two characters in particular (and there's one other major point of view character, but he's less interesting) and their fight for what only Priya (and Malini to a lesser extent) can give really provides a fascinating look at Empire, Colonization and the aftermaths, and what possibilities there are going forward. 

But the heart of this book are Priya and Malini.  Priya is a girl traumatized by what happened in her past, the burning of her fellow Temple Children, and who finds herself torn between both Bhumika and Ahiranya's visions....and her own simple desire for the power she was once supposed to have as a child.  And she's also torn by the need to help others...and the idea that her own power may be monstrous at its root, such that she might have truly deserved to die with the other temple children.  And then there's Malini, who may be almost helpless to start, but is a cunning and seemingly ruthless manipulator willing to do anything - if there is anything - to unseat her cruel brother from the throne.  Malini is aware she is a monster* - or at least believes that she is - with how she manipulates others, and part of the relationship between her and Priya that is so difficult is that Priya can so quickly see how Malini is trying to use her.  But with the monstrous acts of her brother the Emperor, Malini sees no other way forward but to act monstrously.  These two protagonists struggle for their own desires and for what they've each lost, and for whether they have to truly become what their enemies and others truly see of them, monsters in how they grab power instead of accepting the meek roles they are supposed to accept.  

*This book calls to mind the similar in some ways but very different in others romance of CL Clark's The Unbroken, also featuring a colonizer princess and a colonized person, but this is a key difference here: whereas The Unbroken's princess was also privileged enough to not fully empathize or realize the plight of those conquered, she thought of herself as good, whereas Malini believes herself to be no such thing.* 

 Again these characters lead a tremendous plot that touches a ton of other characters, features some magical fantasy elements that aren't fully dealt with here but are clearly going in some strong and dangerous directions, and will have implications for all of the territories in the Empire by the end.  It's a hell of a ride, and one that I couldn't help devouring incredibly quickly.  Easily a highlight of the year so far.  

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