What you think you’ve been promised, searching for its in here and it’s not. Malini is set out for the throne having been ordained Empress by the Mother’s and the nameless gods. Priya and Bhumika find there time as Elders challenging but something bigger than war for the throne waits for all of them. gripping, mesmerizing, lush poetic prose takes you by the hand slow and steady, and suddenly your barreling for the end. And that end has surprises in store that are heart wrenching and poingnant.

While The Jasmine Throne was a novel dedicated to building character dimension, The Oleander Sword is a war novel, a political novel but most importantly it is a novel of a tender, tragic yearning between characters who cannot love without burning down the world around them.

TJT gave us a silver of knowledge into the world of the Yaksa and Ahiranya and mere glimpses into the world of Parijat. TOS dives deeper into the complexities of religion and how religion impacts politics. Through its use of multiple POVs, the reader aptly experiences these differences in religion while characters like Chandra, Aditya, Rao, Priya, Ashok and Bhumika weave the religious and culture significances of their homes/beliefs through their narratives.

In reading TOS, I couldn't help but draw the religious and political perils to the very real and historical toils of religious politics in the Indian sub-continent. The British ruled over the subcontinent for 400 years and in that time, they created unmistakable and deeply woven divides between various religious and ethnic groups. The Partition of 1947 was the bloody and brutal culmination of those centuries of harm. Years later, in 1971 we would further see the remnants of this brutality in the Liberation Wars.

My heart and soul sang with the fire in Malini, danced wildly in the strength of Bhumika and angered tragically in the misguidance of Chandra. Chandra, despicable as he is, is a reflection of many men within Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi society. Religious zealotry has pushed Chandra into becoming a vile and horrible thing much in the same ways it has for political leaders historically.

The Oleander Sword is a novel deserving of praise. I still dream of its tender wounds, its unflinching tragedy and it's unapologetically fierce women.

Corey Reviews The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

The Jasmine Throne is a f*cking great read.

That is all.

Corey Reviews The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri

“Thank you to my readers for joining me for the second book in this series. I’m so glad you’re here. I hope it wasn’t too traumatic.” Author’s Acknowledgements, The Oleander Sword

Well, Tasha Suri, it was flipping traumatic, but I hold no regrets. This novel, the second in the Burning Kingdoms trilogy, continues to engulf me. Your women terrify me and worry me and enthrall me. Sometimes I’m not sure what the heck is going on but your writing pulls such strong feelings from me that I don’t care.

The first book in the trilogy, The Jasmine Throne, dropped me into a South Asian fantasy realm. The fantasy themes felt familiar – political battles for a throne, conquered lands, priests and princesses and soldiers and servants – but the language and imagery and food and clothing are so far from any fantasy novel I’ve read before. In the end, the horrific consequences for women in these realms make the ways women use and gain power even more satisfying.

The Oleander Sword is that classic middle book. Book 1 ends on a thrilling moment. Book 2 continues the stories of many men and women but my heart is with Bhumika, Priya, and Malini. Each woman is on their own journey and they are all so complicated. Priya is the easiest to love, in my opinion, and Malina the hardest because she’s terrifying. And Bhumika, she’s forced into so many compromising choices that I simply worry after her.

This book has battles. This book has machinations. This book has friendships. This book has magic. Best of all for my reading heart… this book has love and desire, as the relationship between Priya and Malina develops deeper, a dangerous thing for them both.

At one point Malina thinks about Priya, “Because I need her. Because she saw me once, for everything I was and could be, and wanted me anyway. And she sees me and wants me still, over the chasm that should make enemies of us. And yet it does not. Cannot. It was a truth like a wound, like a fragile heart exposed, and it frightened and awed her in equal measure.”

This passage could also describe my reading relationship to The Oleander Sword.

Fright and awe and desire and power and (dammit) death and sacrifice are all over these pages. Of course Book 2 ends with my reader’s heart ripped out and bleeding. Of course it was too traumatic. Of course I’m thanking you, Tasha Suri, for this journey.

Go write Book 3, please and thank you.

After loving this book's predecessor, The Jasmine Throne, I am pleased to report that this one is also excellent. My favorite morally grey lesbians are still morally grey, there's even more yearning, and all of the secondary characters are as dynamic and heartfelt as I remembered.

I will say, this is definitely the second book in a trilogy. While it does feel like its own complete chapter it still leaves you on a shaky ending. I also did not like this one quite as much as the first, through no fault of the book's. The first volume is a story of women climbing their way to power; this is a story of them hanging on to it. And that's just not my favorite vibe.

Pick this book up (or go pick up the first if you haven't read it yet) if you crave lush fantasy settings that aren't knock offs of medieval England, like nuanced protagonists, and want to enjoy some truly beautiful writing.

Book two of the Burning Kingdoms trilogy and continues the story of the two main protagonist: Priya and Malini as the later moves to claim the Imperial throne from her brother while the former takes her place as a temple elder trying to save her people from a magical pandemic (called the rot). There is not as much world building in this sequel (with more focus on relationships that were beautifully choreographed); but the prior world building is brought into better focus as the respective deities move toward more active involvement in what appears to be an approaching magic war (which is actually the continuation a previous conflict between the mothers and nature spirits) … and those deities are absolutely terrifying. It is a bit of a slow start with Priya and Malini pining for each other while recognizing that the difference in station and ethnicity making any future together problematic … but hey, it could be so much worse right (let’s put a pin in that for now). About half way through the story arcs once again come together and it almost appears that there is a happy ever after in there someplace (except we know there is at least of more book coming). By the end of the book, I was not so sure. Despite that, the interactions between all of the characters were so well developed on so many levels that the story felt amazing real to me. I can barely wait for the next installment.

I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#TheOleanderSword #BurningKingdoms #NetGalley.

The sequel to Jasmine Throne takes everything I loved about the first book and amps it up. The Oleander Sword is an excellent epic of magic and political intrigue, all tied to the personal character arcs. Because that's what Tasha Suri does amazingly well: everything is character-driven, showing how personal arcs can effect the world. And that is my favorite type of epic political fantasy: one that never forgets that stories are most compelling with personal narratives.

Thank you Netgalley and Orbit for the chance to read this ARC. Opinions are my own.

The Oleander Sword is a beautiful and devastating sequel to The Jasmine Throne. If you read the first book and thought “you know what, I’d like it to have even more political intrigue, please” then this book absolutely delivers.

It continues the cycle of trust, betrayal, and sacrifice with twists that left me sobbing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the chance to read an ARC. I am so excited to hold a physical copy in my hands next month!

The sequel to The Jasmine Throne continues the epic, intense story of magic, power, and monsters. The yaska are alive again, giving the Ahranyian Pryia terrible power while demanding an equally terrible price. Malini has been proclaimed Empress but still fights for her throne inch by bloody inch. Their feelings for each other grow deeper and more complex as their paths pit them against one another. Engrossing and intoxicating, the second book in what is shaping up to be an unmissable series does more than just set up the next book - The Oleander Sword is complex and vital enough makes readers long for just a little bit more.

A second utterly brilliant entry in the Burning Kingdoms to follow the Jasmine Throne.

Tasha Suri writes beautifully. Her characterization is deep and on point, told through the eyes and perspectives of fascinating characters. Following the events of the Jasmine Throne, Princess Malini is waging a rebellion against her bigoted, misogynist psychopath of a brother, the twisted Emperor Chandra whose ultimate goal is to see her humiliated, tortured and killed. Thanks to Chandra's madness and complete lack of scruple, much of the kingdom has erupted against him, but Malini's path is not always easy.

Suri writes political tensions beautifully, mixing the soft and intimate with the grandiose and majestic. While kingdoms and countless lives may be in the balance, the people involved are just that: people. Malini is a woman of passions and doubts, well meaning and intentioned, but capable of great ruthlessness. Her estranged lover Priya is is embroiled in her own struggles, with the two inevitably drawn back together.. Priya's desires to rid Parijatdvipa of the plague may eventually bring her to a conflict with Malini's god-given ambitions

Suri writes in such a way that the reader can feel the romance, The chemistry between Priya and Malini crackles upon the page. Their love for one another is brilliantly written, one of the finest romances in modern fantasy. Less expected was the glimpse into Chandra's monstrous psyche.

In Chandra, Suri constructs a black-hearted villain who thinks himself the hero of his own story. Wrahtful, misogynist and yet obsessed with making himself the hero, Suri humanizes him without ever once making him sympathetic until the end.

The stage is set for book 3 and Suri looks ready for an epic conclusion.

🧡 Sapphic
🔪 Violent girls
🌳 Nature is important
🌏 Great worldbuilding
🖤 Dark fantasy

This novel immediately follows up on the events of Jasmine Throne. But where Priya served as our main perspective, Malini now does. Right off the bat, we start with her new struggle of being a prophesied empress and having to deal with court politics. All while being away from Priya.

I loved curling up and jumping right back in with these familiar characters. The first book was fantastic. It was a slow build towards action and now we're back with the people I love and root for.

Yet even with reading the previous book and loving the characters, it was a challenging book to tackle. There's a large cast of perspectives and everyone has their agenda. While I kept finding myself thinking, this would make a great TV series, I did struggle with reading the book.

We are somehow balancing this book of someone seeking power while also dealing with another main plot of magical rot spreading. There's this political plot and a supernatural plot that are supposed to be intertwined but didn't always feel that way.

At the end of the day, it felt more like filler compared to the first book. Like it was here to set up a finale leaving the pacing a little hard to push through.

Though I still loved every moment again with Priya as she tries to understand her self while working between two different women playing this broader political game. I also love Priya's relationship with Malini and the strain that events put on them. And while I may have some of my own struggles with the book, it could just be me. It's a massive book to take on that I'd recommend and might even suggest having a physical copy to easily go back and forth in. I know that was even necessary for me and Jasmine Throne.

Oleander Sword is a complex journey. The world and the characters are complicated, there are a lot of layers. There's a lot of questions to ask about morals, the same questions some of the characters are asking and I can't wait to see the bigger picture for all of these books one day.

The second in the Burning Kingdoms series, the Oleander Sword was everything I could have dreamed of to follow the Jasmine Throne and more. Malini, prophesied to be empress by the nameless god, moves to secure her throne currently held by one of her brothers after it was refused by another. Meanwhile, Priya, the thrice born priestess of the deathless waters, would do anything to ensure her people's liberty from imperial rule and from the blooming rot that has moved through the land. Both women would do nearly everything to secure their ambitions. Neither wishes to sacrifice the other or their bond.

Tasha Suri writes beautifully complex characters and lush world of war and faith. This is not a story of simple heroes and villains but rather of people trying their best when there are sometimes only hard choices. All the while each story moment offers a chance at connection. It is the relationships coursing through the book that makes Suri's writing really sing. Romantic, familiar, and platonic bonds are built, broken, and.clung too through out the Oleander Sword. Each of these is given the same weight of respect and the same potential for future success which I adore.

This is absolutely a perfect way to continue the series. This book is to be savored and adored, the characters treasured, and next to be waited for with bated breath.

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me a digital copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

UM OUCH??? You know after finishing the Jasmine Throne I was in a similar state of awe, shock and overwhelming emotions but they do not compare to THIS. Tasha Suri has a natural talent of crafting a gorgeous story with characters that you cannot help but love and then MURDER YOUR SOUL?

The Oleander Sword is the sequel to the Jasmine Throne and god does it live up to expectations. After a wonderfully crafted world and political empire with magic and Gods, in the first novel, the sequel takes off running. We are one year into Malini's journey to take the throne from her brother and Priya learning what it means to be a Temple Elder. There isn't much else to say about the plot without heading into spoilers but Suri does not disappoint with the action scenes, the mystery of how are they going to do it? AND oh my god, the tension between Malini and Priya. Both of these characters are so deep and their edges seem to clash against each other but somehow end up melding together perfectly. There were many times I was squealing in my bed because of single LINES they two would have with one another.

I also want to express how much I love Bhumika, truly an icon of gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss. Her relationship with her daughter was beautiful to see as well as how strong she is as a woman and UGH I just really love her overall. The same goes for Rao too, poor man can never catch a break.

If you enjoyed the first book, you will love this. The characters only get deeper and the relationships stronger (in good and bad ways) I am seriously still shaking after finishing this.

I won't speak on the end, but ouch. OUCH. I don't know what I expected but it definitely was NOT that. The fact that I have to wait for the third book is making me hurt in many ways. My poor girls OH GOD. I was so frustrated with some of their choices, but I KNOW we need tension but I just want everything to go happy and well - even though I know that is not going to happen.

Thank you again to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this chance. I was so thrilled and excited to receive a copy of this ARC and as always, I will be selling this to everyone I can at my job because this is truly one of my favourite adult fantasy. Morally grey sapphics will always, always win.

Wowowowoowowwwww. This was so good 😭 The first book in the series, The Jasmine Throne, focused more on world building while also introducing these incredible characters. And it had to the world in these books is complex with politics, religion, and history. After establishing the world the author was really able to dive deeper into these characters and whew, are they the definition of morally gray. I am obsessed with the different sides we see of Pria, Malini, and Bhumika and the reasons they make the decisions they do. Similar to the first book, there are a lot of POVs from many side characters, but I felt that these added to the plot and were necessary for us to understand certain elements. The myths, magic, and twists in this story are so well done, but even better is the TENSION. There is so much romantic tension with multiple couples in this book!!! the romance is beautiful and complex and I’m still screaming over the ending. I’m almost sad I got an ARC because I don’t know how I’ll be able to wait a year for book 3 😭 be prepared for pain.

The Oleander Sword escalated the stakes from the Jasmine Throne and pulls the reader back into the world. I, was drawn and addicted to Suri's writing. The descriptions are lush and expressive, and the thoughts and words of the characters have a way of slipping right to the heart with their exactness and hurt.

I started this review trying to keep it clinical but, this book has left me burning. The lore and the world have expanded in ways that change everything, an epic battle is built to and all the sides get their own arcs and point of views. You could find understanding for every character's motivations even the more despicable ones.

Malini, is beautiful and angry and feral but all compressed in a show of grace and political savvy and I am obsessed with how Suri writes her. Priya is stuck with the cost she was unaware of, a sacrifice she wasn't prepared to make, she is forced to choose her loyalties and endearingly is so blunt and lacks the political savvy but she tries her best. Together, I love them. I feel like, possibly among my favorite sapphics of all time.

Every character though, reading this book was like coming home, I was on the edge of my seat hoping they would all end up okay. And where it ends... I cannot believe how long I need to wait for the conclusion. Everyone should read this...

If you haven't read the Jasmine Throne yet, read that and then come for The Oleander Sword because it is one of the most engaging series i've read that left my buddy read with tons of comments, with the most competently written political system and religious structure, and the most beautiful character work. I will highlight this book and series until my dying days!

I won't be going too terribly in depth with this one, considering it's a sequel, but it's just as good as the first one. While it is a middle book and it focuses on the development of the characters and getting them to the places they need to be in for the finale, it doesn't suffer for it. It doesn't lack anything, simply because Tasha Suri has crafted such a fascinating cast of characters that learning what happens to them and who they become is almost an addiction.

I will be asking her to pay for the therapy I'll need after that last 20-15% though.

I have just read my best book of 2022. I know we're only halfway through the year, but I have no idea how another book can top The Oleander Sword. Frankly, I have no idea how Tasha Suri topped The Jasmine Throne, which has become my go-to fantasy recommendation and is one of my very favorite books, but in The Oleander Sword, we see Suri upping her game to write a stone-cold masterpiece.

The Oleander Sword picks up a year after The Jasmine Throne left off. Empress Malini wages war in the hopes of gaining allies and claiming her throne. Priya and Bhumika rule in Ahiranya as temple elders, trying to make the most of their country's fragile freedom while contending with the spreading rot. All three seem poised to claim the destinies they envisioned for themselves... only Malini faces grave doubts from her allies, and Priya and Bhumika face threats almost beyond their imagination.

The Oleander Sword is an epic story of war and country, love and monsters, power and sacrifice. But like all the best writers of epics, Suri makes you feel every moment deeply. There were so many times when conversations between characters had me laughing, only to have me crying moments later. There are so many stunningly gorgeous sentences that I think I highlighted half the book.

I do not want to spoil anything -- I fully think that every reader deserves to experience the full emotional journey of this book without knowing much -- but there are certain heartbreaking moments that will linger with me, even after the moment when I finally get to read the final installment in The Burning Kingdoms series.

I sound hyperbolic, I know, but I think that The Oleander Sword is very likely the best work of fantasy that will be published this year. It could even be the best novel that is published this year. Everything about it is so flawlessly crafted, so full of emotion, so epic in scope. You owe it to yourself to read this perfect book as soon as you possibly can.

Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for a free advance review copy of The Oleander Sword in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is what I want in epic fantasy: a compelling setting, political intrigue, amazing world-building, meaningful diverse representation, and a plot I’m consistently excited about. It’s also what I want in a middle book of a trilogy: self-contained enough to not feel like it ended too abruptly while still leaving me on the edge of my seat for the third book. The ending — I won’t say much about it but suffice to say that I’m waiting extraordinarily impatiently for book three and am a little bit stressed about it! The multiple perspectives — and there are a *lot* of them — feel distinctive and are used to great effect in developing the characters and their motivations, and the religious and magical elements that were intriguing in the first book are further elaborated here beautifully. One of the absolute best fantasy series happening right now — highly, highly recommend.

*Content warnings:* fire / fire injury, war, blood, death, gore, injury detail, violence, murder, torture, suicide, misogyny, sexism, death of a loved one, grief, xenophobia, animal death

*Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing an ARC in exchange for this review*.

Great sequel! I wish the villainous entities were explained a bit more and earlier and I found the abrupt nature of some of the shifts to be a bit jarring but an excellent book.

Rating: 3.5
I found it hard to focus on all the characters and things happening, but I think that's more of a me problem than a problem with the book. I still really like most of the characters, especially the two main ones. I'll definitely be rereading this before I read the third book.

5/5

Declared the rightful empress of Parijatdvipa by the prophecy of the nameless god, Malini embarks on a vengeful path to usurp her brother and lay claim to her throne. Meanwhile, Priya, now an elder of Ahiranya and thrice-born priestess, gambles the extent of her power to eradicate the rot taking hold in her country. Set apart by their respective roles, Priya and Malini’s destinies remain forever entwined, but as Malini’s campaign to depose her brother takes a brutal turn, coming together may be the only option to truly achieve what they both desire. War wages and the deeper Priya reaches into her power to turn the tide, and Malini turns to pent-up rage, the cost of their advance blooms into something truly deadly.

The Oleander Sword is a sequel of such brutal reckoning that I was completely unprepared to venture into. After the astonishing start to the series that was The Jasmine Throne, its sequel quickly lept to the forefront of my anticipated upcoming reads for 2022. An expansive and otherwise ambitious addition to the series, The Oleander Sword stole my heart and destroyed my soul with a slow and delicate grace. Tasha Suri elevates everything previously contended in the first installment, focusing more heavily on battle strategy, and examining the temple of Ahiranya and the Yaska. Everything about this sequel is awe-inspiring, from the intensely romantic and tender moments between Priya and Malini to the gradual undertaking of a stolen empire. Once again, Suri provides a staggering amount of character perspectives to wade through, woven together in an intricate tapestry that renders itself to the overarching themes of power, loyalty, and love. One character that really stood out to me this time around was Bhumika, who carries the weight of what is happening with Ahiranya towards a sacrifice that was absolutely heart-wrenching. Alongside the ongoing war, and the unsettling shift back at Ahiranya’s temple, there was not a moment in this book where I was not caught in its unforgiving clutches. The political tension underpinning the actions of every character, and the divided loyalties threatening to fracture the established alliances only made this sequel all the more disconcerting. Like its former, The Oleander Sword elicits a slow pace, that culminates in an ending that left me thoroughly anguished. Intensely ruthless and brutal at its core, The Oleander Sword is an astonishing sequel that blooms with betrayal, romance, and unintended sacrifice. Tasha Suri's Burning Kingdoms is an exemplary fantasy series, and I’ll be waiting patiently for its finale in the coming year.

Trigger warnings: death, violence, war, suicide

My full review will be posted on my blog closer to publication