4.5 Stars

This book was very, very good and I cannot wait until the sequel!

The world building was fascinating, as were both of our main characters. Sapphic fantasy that felt real and not forced. I highly recommend this book to any fantasy reader.

I will definitely be checking out this authors earlier books as well now that I have read this one.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of ‘The Jasmine Throne’ by Tasha Suri. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such a breath of fresh air in a fantasy book. It felt unique and new and exciting. I did read the eBook alongside the audiobook and that helped with the pronunciations as I don’t think I would have read things correctly on my own without the audiobook narrator. I really liked the characters and the world that’s been created. I also didn’t realize this is a series and I will definitely be picking up the next book.

5/5 stars

THE JASMINE THRONE was an exciting new adult fantasy by Tasha Suri, an author I really adore and continue to adore now. When you pick up a Suri novel, you know you're going to get well-developed romance, intrigue, twists and gorgeous worldbuilding, and that was most certainly the case with TJT. While I'll confess it took me a minute to really get into this one, once I began getting a feel for this world and these characters, I really enjoyed it. Things got really good as I began to know these characters and all of their connections to each other. Suri's writing style is gorgeous and really brings this lush world based on Indian history and mythology to life and that was just a sight to behold. I thought the dynamic between Priya and her siblings was fascinatingly written and those were the scenes I enjoyed the most. As far as main characters go, I really couldn't help but like both Priya and Malini. I love how Priya in particular was framed with her soft and compassionate heart and how that ends up being her greatest strength. I feel like that isn't something we see much of in heroines and I could relate to her in that respect. I liked how many different fluctuations that Malini and Priya go through as they become allies and more as rebellion unfurls across their land. This book has a lot of moving parts and I really enjoyed seeing all the side characters having POVs in this one. It really gave me grasp of all the different groups of people fighting to stave off the Empire and the wicked Emperor. TJT is a story about identity, power and revolution that left me craving more.

I genuinely want to give this book a second try when I'm more in the mood for epic slow fantasy. It has everything in it that I love, but I was having a hard time connecting with the story - which I do think was on me not the book.

My general preference is for faster paced books, so if you like fast paced stories this one is not for you. But if you're fine with slowly building plots this is a great one to check out. The characters were great. The writing was beautiful. The magic was interesting. I cannot wait to give this a second shot one day and fall in love with it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for give me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is heavily political and jumps between two point-of-views. The magic system is great, but for some reason I couldn't make a connection with the characters while reading it.

THIS IS GOOD. LIKE AMAZING... i cant even think straight after that last 100 pages, i don't think anything i say will be coherent

if you want some shaky morals, women leading in a society where "women are only crowned in death", and an achingly angsty sapphic romance, THIS is the book for you!

im a malini and priya apologist first, human second - they may do wrong, but this sign can't hurt me as i can't read 😌

I want to have things to say about this novel, but yet I do not. It will carve holes and not fill them but somehow you will still be satisfied. I do not feel anger or impatience at the thought of waiting for the next book, only a steady readiness. I will wait and when the time comes, I will be thankful to read Suri's words again.

*eARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I read a copy that I purchased from Illumicrate.*

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri. I've read other books by Tasha Suri in the past- Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash, both of which were solid 4 star books. So, I expected something similar of The Jasmine Throne.

The Jasmine Throne is a hefty book at approx. 530 pages. I think it would have benefited from stronger editing. There were a lot of short POVs from characters that we didn't return to or ones that didn't affect the story enough to matter. Additionally, the beginning was a little slow.

I am a sucker for world-building. I think the author made a deliberate effort to hide her world and mythology, then selectively reveal it as the story progressed. I don't know if this was a bad choice, considering the plot. Sometimes, it is good for the audience to be in the dark. I am definitely intrigued enough to pick up the next book.

3.75 stars

This one took me cover to get through, but it’s not because I wasn’t enjoying it! I’m not a big fan of body gore, so some of the descriptions were hard to get through. Overall, loved these girls and this story.

A few housekeeping items -

TRIGGER WARNINGs - This book contains elements of ritual suicide, death, graphic fight scenes, burning, and characters that are risking their own death frequently.

I heard about this book through a panel with the author and was so excited to get it from Netgalley this summer. Sadly, it took me a while to pick it up because I was very hyped to read it... and now I can say that I might have gotten into my own head and had too much hype.

This book started off beautifully. It was a new world, Indian in premise, with a sapphic love story ahead and I was running on adrenaline to get into it. As the book progressed, I found it so hard to follow. Not only are there a billion POVs to follow that pop up throughout the book, but there are also various religions, lands, rebel groups, and locations to remember and since I didn't have a physical copy of the book it was really hard to flip back to work it all out. (I have heard some reviewers mentioning they had a flow chart, and I am sad that I didn't think to get one running in the beginning but I read before bed too so it probably wouldn't have worked for me either.) I found out that at the end of the book there is a list of names and explanations about who everyone is - that would have been very helpful to know, but on an ebook it is difficult to flip back and forth.

My biggest issue with this book was not the confusion though, it was that the pace was just so slow. Every time I thought there would be an action scene it fizzled out almost before it started. I know that this is the first of a series and they generally build to a grand war, but I needed more from this book to really keep me with the series past book one and it did not deliver that.

The author attempted to build this big, beautiful world ensnared with fear over their ruler, but there was a lot of telling and not showing and that broke the illusion. I would have really liked to also have the Emperor’s POV, to show us his evil nature versus everyone just talking about it. There were other instances where she did show things and I don’t know that they were necessary, for example Ashok. I am not sure that he needed to be in the story for it to progress.

All that said, I did finish the book. It took everything I had to give it a full fighting chance, but I doubt that I will continue with the series.

Honestly, this book is everything. Sapphic Desi heroines, an India-inspired empire suffering from a mysterious rot that turns people into dryads and under the thumb of a fanatical ruler, and a strange magic blooming in women with the future of a conquered city-state in their hands. The ladies are the leads here, and the ladies, quite literally, rule. The story is intricate, it's lush, and it's complex; there's politics, a war on the horizon, and delicately tangled threads of family, both blood and chosen. Suri doesn't shy away from darkness and monstrosity, voluptuousness and complexity; she's woven a luscious tapestry of magic, humanity, and what it means to wield power.

The Jasmine Throne is truly spectacular character-driven fantasy! The stakes were high, the pacing was perfect, and the characters were deeply compelling. Suri effortlessly explored the crossroads of power within an intricate political plotline and a uniquely ominous magic system. The cast was large and there were many POVs, but the believable humanity of the characters was never sacrificed. The world-building evolved effortlessly alongside the plot, and never once felt incomplete or like info-dumping. I absolutely adore Malini and Priya, and I can't wait to see how these complex and powerful women grow. Their slowburn romance built perfectly and was essential to their characterization, but never became the main focus over the rest of the plot.

I, for the life of me, could not get into this one. At first I thought it was my mood and timing. So I waited a few months and tried again, when I was on my fantasy kick. Nope. Unfortunately, this book just couldn’t hold my interest. I feel kinda bad, cause I was reeeally looking forward to this one too.

Tasha Suri builds brilliant magical worlds.
Each character in this book had a really interesting and definted point of view, but the clear stars of this novel were Priya (an ex-handmaiden of the Hirana) and Malini (the ostracized princess of the ruling land that has set the seeds for a rebellion). I think my favorite theme in this book is the ways women could gain power in a world where women were only respected as idols.

The deathless waters were both fascinating and terrifying. Watching Priya change as she dealt with the waters more often was really interesting.

Just in general, the plot was very focused on war and military, which isn't my favorite genre, but the relationships in this book were so intricately woven, that I was so focused on each scene and the fighting felt immediate.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I didn't even start this book so that's that. I didn't know it's an Adult Fantasy and I prefer YA so that was a let down for me. I don't think I'll ever start it, so sorry for that! Many people liked it but I have a strong feeling I'm not going to.

THIS BOOK!! OMG YOU GUYS.
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My Rating [4.5/5] 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨
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Read this book, if you want....
🌿Sapphic Goodness with Sass
🌿Slowburn Romance with lots and lots of angst
🌿 Knife to the throat while flirting
🌿 Amazing characters who will kill you in an instant
🌿 Badass females in sarees
🌿 Amazing dialogues and quotes that will break your heart
🌿 Lots of Sass, killing and spying
🌿 Just want a book that will break your mind and heart at the same time.
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I'll be honest. There were few instances where I felt it didn't live up to the potential of the characters, story and the plot in general. But it was such an amazing book with really solid development, characters and progress. So I definitely recommend you guys pick it up too!!
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You will thank me. Read this book.
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Thank you @shutupshealea for having me on the tour & @orbitbooks_uk for the gifted copy !

The world in this novel was so beautiful! From the rot to the flowers to the lattice walls in the Hirana.
On top of that, the characters were so complex and real. The relationships are multilayered in a way that endears you to them. In this novel no villain is above redemption and no hero is above reproach.

There were parts that dragged a little bit and I did think the book was all suspense with not enough action. However, I am still hooked and can't wait for the next one!

I don't entirely know how to write this review because trying to put my feelings into words seems impossible. The jasmine throne was everything that I thought it was going to be anymore. I knew that the story was about two morally gray Desi lesbian women. I knew that the setting was inspired by ancient India, but I still wasn’t prepared for how immersive the world would be. Truly, The Jasmine Throne and Tasha Suri have blown me away with just how incredible this book, these characters, and this world is.

Characters make or break a book for me. I am not the kind of reader who is fully invested in the aesthetic or the plot or the world building of a book if I do not love the characters. And the characters in The Jasmine Throne are some of my favorites. From the moment that I met Malini, I knew that she was a girl after my own heart. Priya also won my heart easily and though she was different from Malini in many ways, I loved that we got to see their strengths in different ways. For me to write about both of these incredible women without giving away spoilers but I would be shocked if readers did not leave this book wanting more from these two powerful women.

But I also appreciated that the other cast of characters in the jasmine thrown were just as well developed as a main characters. I got a really great understanding of the people around both Malini and Priya and it wasn’t hard to see why they were (or weren’t) drawn to each other. There’s nothing I love more than a large cast of characters coming together to create such an interesting atmosphere. Again, I don't know how much I can say without spoiling the story but I promise that you're all going to love (or hate) these characters.

And speaking of atmosphere: the world building in this book is masterful. This is my first book by Suri but it won’t be my last. While this is a long book, which leaves Suri a lot of room for world building, it never feels like too much information. As someone who knows a lot about Mughal Empire and other historical periods in South Asia, I was able to pick up on a lot of the inspirations. Plus, a lot of the names gave me hints as to what inspired their creation. However, I don't think that a reader needs prior knowledge of Indian history or mythology to understand the world. That aspect of The Jasmine Throne, in my opinion, is one of the strongest aspects of Suri's craft.

I want to take a moment and talk about how emotional I got while reading this book. As much as I loved the characters and the plot, I have to say that the little bits and pieces of information Suri gave to create the world really pulled me in. The mentions of the pyre, the saris and the camphor and ghee, the prologue showed me just how much thought Suri put into creating her world. As the story progressed and more information was revealed, the happier I got. South Asia has such a rich history and it's amazing to see it in a book form. Plus, it's even more amazing that a South Asian writer can write this story.

This was absolutely incredible - I went in expecting the best, because I've read the author's other books, but it still managed to blow me away with its unique magic system and fabulous lead characters. I can't wait for book 2!!!

I really wanted to love this book, believe me, I really did. I adored Tasha Suri’s other works and thought they were well developed and beautifully written and was super excited to receive an arc of The Jasmine Throne (so very excited). I couldn’t put her last two books down but this one (which should have hit all the right notes for me being a WLW high fantasy) was a struggle to get through and in the end, I didn’t even want to bother and finish the last 50 pages or so while sitting on a beach on vacation. Arg! What happened?

I couldn’t connect with much of anything here – the characters, the relationships, the politics, the magic… it all just fell a bit flat for me. Maybe I read this book at the wrong time? – I’m in a massive reading slump to be honest and have been super busy and stressed. Perhaps this is a me problem and not a book problem – but I’m still heartbroken about it. I just really didn’t enjoy this book at all.

Maybe this series will develop better over time, but this first book did not encourage me to want to go out and read the sequel one day. Maybe in a few years when the series is complete I'll come back to it and give it another shot. In Suri's other works I found I appreciated the books as a whole a lot more once I was done the book - maybe this will work similarly with her series.