The Jasmine Throne is a stunning, rich beginning to Tasha Suri's Burning Kingdoms series. All that the book covers, from political intrigue to complicated familial relationships to a perfect slow-burn romance, it does with such detail and dedication. As long as the book may be, the plot is fast-paced enough and the character development intriguing enough that it's a pretty breezy read and tough to put down. There is perhaps a hundred-page stretch towards the end where things stagnate a bit, but overall Suri pulls together a scintillating storyline and set of characters that will leave any reader captivated and eagerly awaiting the next entry in the series. It's also worth noting that The Jasmine Throne treads new ground in the fantasy genre - off the top of my head, I can't think of a single novel with a South Asian sapphic romance set in a fantasy world inspired by historical India. The Jasmine Throne is a thorough treat that breaks boundaries and offers a fresh perspective in a genre that all too often finds itself bogged down by tropes - simply a must-read.

I adored Tasha Suri’s previous books, so I was naturally excited for her next release! The premise, in particular, pulled me in; I mean, “morally gray lesbian protagonists seeking revenge”? Who wouldn’t be intrigued by that? Gorgeously devastating, The Jasmine Throne slowly unravels a story about fulfilling your destiny by carving your own path.

After refusing to be “purified” by dying on a pyre, Princess Malini is imprisoned in the Hirana, a haunted temple where the temple elders and children were burned. Priya is a maidservant who is eventually tasked with serving her. However, Priya has a secret: she is one of the few surviving temple children and holds a forbidden power that only grows stronger as she spends more time in the Hirana. After Malini witnesses her powers, they become entangled in each other’s plots of revenge. Along the way, we also follow Rao, a prince trying to free Malini; Bhumika, another surviving temple child who wields a different sort of power; and Ashok, Priya’s brother who leads a rebellion against the Parijatdvipan Empire.

I honestly don’t know where to start with my review. I’m writing it a couple of days after I finished it, and I’m still having trouble formulating my thoughts on this book!

Suri’s writing was exquisite, as per usual. This story was like the bloom of a flower, a slow unfurling that culminates in something beautiful if deadly. The pacing perfectly built up the events throughout the book; I wanted to both savor it and read as quickly as I possibly could.

We follow many different characters to obtain the necessary perspectives, but each voice sounded distinct enough that you could easily distinguish between them. I loved all of our main characters; every single one of their plot lines was fascinating. Both Malini and Priya are seeking vengeance for different reasons and in different ways. They’re both morally gray, although I would probably say that Malini is more so than Priya.

Both Priya and Bhumika are temple children, two of the few who survived the fire that was meant to eradicate them. They hold a sort of kinship in that way, where they share an upbringing and a secret. Bhumika’s story was also interesting to follow; even if others see her as weak or treasonous, it’s clear that she’s fought for her people in her own way.

Meanwhile, Malini’s brother, the Emperor, sentenced Malini to imprisonment after she refused to burn willingly. His religion calls it a purification, but she knows it’s a response to her efforts to put their older brother, the rightful heir, on the throne. All three women have carved out their own sources of power in different ways, and it was fascinating to see their fates intertwine with the other characters.

I honestly wish we got to see more of Rao; I really liked seeing how his character arc ties in with Priya and Malini’s plot lines. Honestly, I didn’t like Ashok much at first, but over time, you begin to understand his motivations more. Like Bhumika and Priya, he seeks to free Ahiranya from the empire’s clutches.

The romance was honestly more on the light side, but I’m not complaining. So much happens that romance is the last thing on your mind, or at least it was for me; I was more focused on the intricate moving parts of the plot. Malini and Priya are both lesbians; their attraction is forbidden, but only because they live under an emperor who considers all women impure by fault of their sex. It is established that in parts of the empire, as in Ahiranya before they were conquered, women had more freedom and people could marry someone of their own gender.

I’m not sure I could talk more about the plot without spoiling anything, so I’ll just say that this book was just so entrancing. Again, I have so much to say, but I can’t put it into words! This book just really scrambled my brains; that’s how good it was!

A thrilling start to a new trilogy, The Jasmine Throne utterly bewitched me. I cannot wait for the sequel (why did I read this book so early?)! The characters were amazingly written, and the prose was so gorgeous. If you enjoy morally gray characters, fantasies with wondrous worldbuilding, or lesbian protagonists in fantasy, you won’t want to miss The Jasmine Throne.

This book is difficult to review in full, because it was beautiful, but also it was quite long. What I appreciated about this book was that, although it is a part of a set, it was a full story. It’s nuanced, with many different themes. The character growth in this is interesting, as our female main characters are relatively morally grey. Malini and Priya start their companionship as one of necessity for both. They are transparent about their missions and goals with one another, and these goals align.
Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot. There are a lot of layers and a lot of pieces at play. This could be overwhelming for some who are expecting a fast-paced fantasy. I am very excited to read the next books in this trilogy!
A full review will be posted on July 2nd, 2021.

Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First off, The Jasmine Throne has been/was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021! It has been on my to-be-read list for a long time. When I saw that I had been approved to review this ARC, I was so excited that I was jumping up and down! Fantasy books are my favorite genre, and as an Asian-American reader, I think it's so important to support #ownvoices authors of Asian descent, especially during this time. There just aren't enough Indian/Indian-inspired characters in the fantasy genre. Thank you again to the publisher for this opportunity!

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri is an amazing fantasy novel about an Indian-inspired world with magic. The story revolves around two young women - Malini, an exiled princess looking to take back the throne, and Priya, a priestess with magical powers. Thrown together by chance, the two have to work together in order to achieve their goals and fight for what's right. This novel has fantastic world-building. The magic system, native customs, and fantasy elements are all well-thought-through and explained well. I felt like I was had been transported into another world, which is exactly what I want when I'm reading fantasy.

Here is an excerpt from the opening chapter when we are introduced to Malini. In the palace, her brother, the emperor, is performing a ritual to exile her as punishment for an as-yet-unmentioned crime:

He did not hold her tight. He did not harm her. He was not a monster.
“Remember,” he said, voice low, drowned out by the sonorous song, “that you have brought this upon yourself. Remember that you have betrayed your family and denied your name. If you do not rise… sister, remember that you have chosen to ruin yourself, and I have done all in my power to help you. Remember that.”
The priest touched his torch to the pyre. The wood, slowly, began to burn.
Firelight reflected in her eyes. She looked at him with a face like a mirror: blank of feeling, reflecting nothing back at him but their shared dark eyes and serious brows. Their shared blood and shared bone.
“My brother,” she said. “I will not forget.”

Overall, The Jasmine Throne is an amazing introduction to an Indian-inspired fantasy world. It will appeal to readers of other fantasy books like The City of Brass and We Hunt the Flame. In addition, beyond fantasy, the novel also speaks to societal problems in the real world, such as misogyny, poverty, and conquest. If you're intrigued by the excerpts above, or if you're a fan of fantasy books in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in June!

4 STARS

The Jasmine Throne is an adult fantasy book set in a vivid world of political schemes and betrayal. A forbidden romance between a maidservant and a princess, the Jasmine Throne is sure to appeal to readers. I absolutely loved the two main characters, Malini and Priya. Their story was so interesting and I found myself immersed in it. However, the other side characters were less appealing to me. I loved the worldbuilding of The Jasmine Throne, and I would definitely recommend.

To be fully honest, I was hesitant going into this one because I didn’t like Suri’s last book, Empire of Sand. However, between hype from almost every friend (all of whom admittedly did enjoy Empire of Sand) and the premise of morally gray lesbians topple an empire, yeah I was intrigued. Post-book, I am, as always, thankful for friends who have better taste than me and can steer me in the right direction because this book was an absolute blast. A slow-paced, slow burn that focuses on narratives that don’t often get shown in such epics with a delightful main, extremely gray pairing.

For me,, the best part of this book has to be the worldbuilding. We’re first introduced to Parijatdvipan Empire, where the current emperor Chandra is attempting to convince his sister to burn herself in the name of their mothers of the flames. Immediately after, we move to Ahiranyi, a subjugated country under Parijatdvipan rule, whose religious practices were violently quashed and general culture are sneered upon by their ruling class. Off the bat, we get these rich, vibrant cultures rich with history and ages past. As the book continues, we’re introduced to the cultures of several other countries also under Parijatdvipan rule and I’m eager to learn more about their histories in the following books.

Religion unsurprisingly, plays an important role throughout this story, as both a tool of subjugation used by the ruling class, and as a method of rebellion. For personal reasons, I tend to be iffy with books that place too much emphasis on religion and characters with religious motivations, but with The Jasmine Throne that was absolutely not the case. Priya, one part of our sapphic duo, was raised within the Ahiranyi religion and sources her powers from the Yaksa their beliefs are based upon. Malini, on the other hand, has had her entire life upturned by her brother’s zealous beliefs towards the mothers, to the point of narrowly escaping death. Suri does a really good job of addressing the viewpoints of these beliefs through a wide variety of characters and interweaving those beliefs with the story itself to craft a delightful tale.

Moving back to the characters, what a fascinating group! For a story about topping emperors and overthrowing government, Suri choses to focus on a set of unconventional characters. Namely, women and characters with ‘quiet’ roles, ones who, in any other story would be relegated to the backdrop. We have Priya, a young maidservant brought in to tend to the Parijatdvipan princess exiled to this “undesirable” country. Then there’s the princess herself Malini, who spends much of the first half of the book drugged and sluggish, and certainly in no position to act on her own. Finally, there’s Bhumika, the “timid” Ahiranyi wife to the Parijatdvipan regent to the country. All characters in positions of minimal power, of little ability to act on their own. To truly highlight that difference, we also get chapters from the perspectives of characters like Ashok, Priya’s older brother and leader of a prominent rebel group, Vikram, regent and Bhumika’s husband, and Rao, an Aloran prince also seeking to remove Chandra from the throne. Characters in roles that traditionally would direct a story like this. And yet it’s the former trio that drives the action, that move the pieces into play to conduct this rebellion.

Finally, let's talk more about our sapphic duo, Priya and Malini. I actually think it’s quite fascinating that Suri chooses to describe them as morally gray, when I thought their actions were fairly in line with conventionally “good” protagonists. Sure Malini is a little on the power-hungry side, something she fully acknowledges, but that desire for power doesn’t seem to go much stronger than to be on an equal footing with what male characters are given. Were these two characters male, I don’t think we would have even stopped to question their morality. That being said, I have a particular weak spot for Malini for being unabashedly open about her desire for power and about her own machinations prior to the book that landed her in this situation to begin with. There’s a girl who knows what she wants and is unafraid to take it.

Overall, I rate this book a 4/5. Phenomenal worldbuilding paired with scheming characters in unsuspecting roles and a delightful sapphic duo in Malini and Priya. An excellent and unique addition to the epic fantasy genre and I can’t wait for book 2!

Review to be posted on my blog 24 May 2021

I found this story to be really interesting. Fantasy fiction set in an India inspired world. The worldbuilding was unique. I did have a bit if a hard time understanding the world at first, but it was later explained.
Told from several different point of views, which wasn't too overwhelming because most of the povs were from the two main characters.
The first part of the book was a bit on the slow side, but it did pick up and enjoyed the last half of the book more.
Overall it was an interesting story with lovely writing that I enjoyed.


Thank you for allowing me to read ab early copy.

Pain. Everything hurts. An achingly stunning world with vivid and rich characters and relationships. This was such an amazing read, I couldn’t put it down from the start.

Pain. Everything hurts. An achingly stunning world with vivid and rich characters and relationships. This was such an amazing read, I couldn’t put it down from the start.

What's more exciting than a princess refusing to become a human sacrifice to appease her brother?

Said sacrifice being imprisoned in a temple where twenty-five children were slaughtered and the priesthood then committed ritual suicide. In the very same room where the children were murdered.

Oh and this temple? Not only a crumbling ruin, but nearly impossible to access. The "treacherous climb" referred to in the description isn't some rickety old stairs--it's climbing up the side of a building with cracks, fissures and other objects you can hurt/kill yourself on.

Better yet, the maids aren't allowed to live in the temple with the princess, so they have to risk their lives (and they do, when it's raining) each day to complete their work.

What a disgusting book. DNF.

Intrigue? Check! Royalty? Check! Court drama and secrets? Check and check! A fast paced, well thought out story that was hard to put down.

5 stars !!!

The Jasmine Throne is a sapphic Indian-inspired fantasy that follows two women; a maidservant with a dark past and skeletons in her closet and the sister to the empire’s corrupt emperor, sent away to live in solitude by the emperor himself. This is the sheer perfection setup that I strive for.

All POVs were engaging, and I streamed through the book. Pacing was spot on. Everything was pretty spot on, in my opinion: characterisation, worldbuildng, development. Perhaps some will find the first half slow because it leans more into development and politics, but I love that so it was not a problem for me.

It was also beautifully written. The dialogue and prose was exceptional, and I have tabbed so many beautiful lines that I will hold dearly forever.

Still processing but I can’t get the book off my mind so here we go. I’m in love. This book is a new favorite of mine that I would recommend to anyone who loves epic fantasy books. It’s up there with The Poppy War and The City of Brass.

In terms of the romance I’m sold. I got morally gray lesbians and enemies to reluctant allies to lovers. The yearning. The washing your lovers hair. I- I just love them so much. It was perfect. And you get to see two people who have gone through so much find someone who cares for them and that just makes my heart happy. The romantic aspect of the story didn’t take away from the plot and that tends to be rare but it was done so well.

The writing style in this book is beautiful and the world building was so incredible. The plot was a little slow near the beginning of the story but that was also because the setting was still being set up.

All of the character’s perspectives were well written and when switching POVs it was easy to tell who was talking. My main issue with multiple POVs in books tends to be that the characters sound to similar to each other and I was glad this wasn’t the case for this book.

The book deals with important topics and discusses those issues well, even though it does take place in a fantasy setting.

Overall this was definitely one of my favorite reads of 2021 so far and that’s saying a lot considering that I’ve read almost 200 books this year. It was just incredible and I will be recommending it to everyone willing to listen to me talk about books for more than two minutes.


**i will be editing my feedback and posting a full review by next week

So, there are books that other people will love and really get into and then there are those that divide people. This book is good, well written, and the characters are fun to read about. I personally couldn’t get into it, but others will like it.

I have been pretty upset for many days now because I kept seeing everyone receiving the ARC of this much awaited fantasy novel but I wasn’t. But it’s finally in my hands thanks to a Goodreads giveaway and I couldn’t waste another moment before I got to it. And wow this was worth all the angst. Ironically, my ARC request got approved 2 days after finishing it :)

I really loved Tasha’s Ambha duology but I found it very difficult to review them, because I didn’t know how to say anything except wow. And this beginning of a new fantasy trilogy is no different. But I can also see how different this story is from her previous works. While both Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash were slow burn romances with themes of colonialism and oppression and these themes exist in this book as well, The Jasmine Throne is much more fast paced and exquisitely crafted which will literally leave you breathless with awe at many moments. The writing is quite evocative, particularly when the author describes the rot destroying the land as well the horrifying conditions of the people - it really hit me hard to see the atrocities committed in the name of faith and empire.

This world is also very deftly built - we get to know a bit of the history of the various kingdoms which make up the empire, the major power players, the differences in faiths of people across the kingdoms and most importantly, how colonization destroys cultures and cuts off people from their roots, while also imposing their rigid religious bigotry and misogyny on everybody. Tasha handles with a lot of depth and sensitivity this aspect of oppression and how it eats away at the conscience and will of the people who are constantly pushed down and mistreated and made to feel less than. The underlying theme of this story is also power - what will anyone do when they are in a position of power, what price will they pay, who will they sacrifice at the altar of faith and justice and empire, and who actually deserves the power to reshape lives and kingdoms. It’s a fine balance how the author explores these different ideas of power and very thought provoking for us readers as well.

And we see this excellent story play out though the eyes of an excellent ensemble - a diverse group of characters each with their own motivations and beliefs, each one on their own path of fulfilling their fate and finding justice for what they have been denied. Malini is a princess in exile who knows her emperor brother is sadistic, and wants to do whatever she can to make sure he is deposed and replaced by a better person. She is formidable and cunning, a strategist who knows all the cards she needs to play to achieve her goals, but in her heart is someone who wants a better ruler for the empire. Whether she wants it as revenge for all the trauma she has been subjected to by her brother, or out of the benevolence of her heart for the sake of the people, is something we have to discern for ourselves.

Priya on the other hand is living as a maid servant, trying whatever she can within her modest means to help the children who are starving and ill in her kingdom. This is the story of her discovering her powers, and realizing how she can use them to better the lives of her people who have suffered for too long. At every turn, she has to weigh what she wants to do with her power and the author really succeeds in showing us her true heart and what kind of a person she would be when having to choose between lives and vengeance.

The romance between these two is a delicious slow burn, navigating the line between how a relationship can develop between a Princess who has to completely depend on the maid to save her life, and how it progresses when the princess has something more to offer on account of her station. Their relationship is filled with yearning and angst, with a bit of a forbidden element to give it more gravitas, and we are always on our toes wondering if they will make it together or sacrifice the other to achieve their ambitions.

Rounding out this excellent duo and their love story is a whole host of supporting characters, a high born lady with her own forbidden magic who wants to save her land and people, an irrelevant prince of a kingdom who wants to see his destiny fulfilled, a rebel leader who would pay any price for power and liberation, an abdicated prince who is not sure if he wants to take up his title and responsibility again for the sake of his people, and a sadistic emperor in the background who wants to build his empire on the pyres of women and in the name of his depraved faith. Despite so many characters and POVs, the author manages to keep us hooked to the story and it only feels like something we wanna get lost in, not ever overwhelming.

In conclusion, this is a great beginning to a new fantasy world. You will obviously not give this a miss if you are already a fan of the author. But if haven’t read her previous books, and are looking for an epic fantasy full of strong female characters trying to right the wrongs of their world, an exploration of the depravities of colonization and the corruption of power and faith, and a beautiful sapphic romance borne out of adversity; then you don’t have to look further than this.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and Orbit for allowing me to read another gorgeous book written by Tasha Suri.

This was an author that came across my radar last year. I was driven to find more authors who wrote books about characters that were not white, had a different magic system, and of course, wrote fantasy. Reading 'Empire of Sand' and 'Realm of Ash' were gems, and remain on my 'favorites' list.

Goodness, where to start with this book? It's a LONG book.

The joy of reading a Tasa Suri book is that the way she writes, it's like standing in a white room, and suddenly things start appearing while you read. You can see where you are, feel where you are. You can also see the characters. These characters you read about are not perfect people, nor are they evil people... they are flawed in various ways that you could to see throughout the course of the story.


Tasha Suri also has that excellent way of giving you breadcrumbs to lead you to where she wants you to go. The more you eat, the more you keep pushing yourself onward. The plot and it's magic system are developed piece by piece through the three characters solely connected to it. There are two mysteries in this book: the magic and the empire / princess' followers. Again, you get so wrapped up in the story and how delicious it is written that you don't mind that someone has crammed an encyclopedia of information into your head.

The magic is unique but a little difficult at times to fully grasp its context. One of the reasons that I rated it down a star. I think what I didn't understand was the rot and it's connection to the magic that was once gone/now found.

And of course, the female/female relationship. I liked it, but I felt like it wasn't enough for me? I felt there was a pull between them, but it was too ... sudden? Or perhaps not explored enough. I think it will come in the other two books when the stakes get higher.

All in all, I am ready for book two. I just think that the only hang ups people will have will be with the magic system and how exactly it plays out, but I think when more answers come in book two things will make sense. Don't let it stop you from reading it.

full review to come two weeks before release— this was very reminiscient of “priory of the orange tree” with the different povs that tie in together and the f/f romance, however, that is where the comparisons end. the world is rich with indian influence through the worldbuilding and the intricate magic system. the characters are also very morally ambiguous which i tend to lean towards in fantasy books. priya and malini have been through a lot and the fact that they are now beginning to trust each other is one of the first steps towards healing from their pasts. it is very evident that the worldbuilding is nothing to be looked over with the different religions and the care it took to craft such a luscious environment

3.5 stars because 1) the romance just didn't gel with me for some reason and 2) did not have to be almost five hundred pages long. Otherwise, though, quite enjoyable—I'll be sure to check out Suri's other work.

How about that blurb, right?

Look, I’m all about setting empires ablaze. That’s my thing. Not that I’ve ever done it, but I’ve thought about it a whole lot. So when you have a book like this — Ancient ancestral magic! Evil emperors! Festering rebellion — yeah… I’m gonna love it.

And I did. I adored The Jasmine Throne.

Not only because of the premise (which is great), but because of the characters, too. Priya is this wonderful ball of contradictions. Quiet on the outside, subservient. But defiant on the inside. Dangerous. Furious. And with the potential to do something about it.

I really liked Malini, too. Which… yeah, came as a bit of a shock. I usually have a bit of a Thing with royal characters (specifically, I usually wish they’d all die horrible deaths), but Tasha Suri managed to make Malini feel sympathetic enough that I actually managed to root for her. Here’s a character that has been locked away, drugged to a stupor, sent to die out of sight of a brother that now burns women alive for pleasure. No matter what he says his reasons are. Yet despite all that, she still has strength. Priya may be dangerous in a physical sense, but Malini’s cunning can kill you just as dead.

I’m always worried about the power dynamics in relationships that go across class lines, and you don’t get much bigger of a gap in class than between princess and maid. Yet the relationship between Priya and Malini always felt very grounded. Like no one of them had too much power over the other. So, again, I felt myself rooting for something that I generally would be very opposed to — for these two characters to just get together already.

I always find that Tasha Suri’s prose has this wonderful quality of reading very quickly, yet being full of very evocative and sensory description. The way the author describes things, you can hear the crunch of leaves, the swish of skirts, the splash of water. At other times, you feel suffocated by the heat and smoke of a fire.

I read this novel over the course of a day. I picked it up before bed one night, it was finished before I went to bed the next. It’s one of those books that takes small, gradual steps towards where it wants to be. There are some big action moments and emotional crescendos for sure, but it was the quiet moments that grabbed me. The frank conversations between two women in a cell. The sharing of wants and dreams.

I realise that I am focusing very heavily on these two characters in my review. But I can’t really help it, I was utterly captivated by them. There are some other point-of-view characters too — I believe six in total — but it always felt like this book belonged to Priya and Malini. The other perspectives never engaged me as much as those two, aside perhaps from Bhumika: Priya’s mistress, who has some secrets and some power of her own.

While there is an empire out there in the world beyond this couple, the conflicts and the stakes feel so much more personal than this wider picture. I never got too much of a sense of what this empire was like beyond the characters I was shown, and it felt a little “out of sight” for much of the story. But then… I didn’t really care. Because Suri left tantalizing hints of the culture that they destroyed, and I was too caught up wrestling with that sense of loss to spare much of a thought for a regime that burns women and leaves others to rot with disease.

It’s a cliché, but the thing I disliked most about this book is that it ended. I felt like I was just gearing up to watch these characters fly when the book came to an end. It might make me sound cruel, but I can’t wait to see how these characters will react in higher pressure situations. I can’t wait to see how they make the difficult choices. I can’t wait for the next book.

Tasha Suri swiftly became a favorite author after her Books of Ambha duology. Those two books speak to me on a level few do that when I heard of The Jasmine Throne, it became my most anticipated release for 2021.

The Jasmine Throne has all the promise of a first book in a trilogy. A vivid and detailed world, the first tremors of rebellion and unrest, a simmering, slow burn romance. I think it's impossible for Suri to write anything I outright dislike, That said, it was perhaps the technicalities of writing for a series rather than a standalone that ultimately disappointed me. The Jasmine Throne is not a first book that works well enough on its own.

Outside of that very specific qualm, I can't fully figure out what my overall feelings were for The Jasmine Throne. I liked it, but I didn't fall head-over-heels for it, and I still haven't been able to figure out if it's because I spent the entire book comparing it to what I know and love from her previous work, or if there's more to it than that. Suffice to say, this is by no means a bad read. As objectively as I can be, I think it's actually a great read. I just wanted something more.