Author of Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess’s traitor brother.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters — but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.

But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.

The Jasmine Throne came out this month, and as soon as my copy arrived I couldn’t wait to start it! As soon as I started reading, I knew I would love this book. I haven’t read much adult fantasy recently, so I wanted to get back into it, and The Jasmine Throne was perfect for that. I realised how much I missed reading about epic stories with royalty, politics, and magic! If you’re looking for a new fantasy series to start, I’d definitely recommend this one.

It’s an adult fantasy inspired by Indian mythology, and it has an enemies to lovers sapphic relationship between a princess and a priestess. Princess Malini is imprisoned by her emperor brother in an ancient temple called the Hirana. With mainly her own thoughts and nightmares for company, along with a hateful jailer, Malini becomes weaker and struggles to stay anchored to reality. Priya is a maid who climbs up the Hirana to help manage the temple, but one night Malini witnesses Priya’s long held secret, and their fates become entwined as they work together to destroy an empire. Beyond the main characters, there is a lot of political and religious conflict in the background of the empire.

Malini and Priya felt so distinct to me. I LOVE reading about morally grey characters, especially women, because it makes them so much more interesting to me. I also think it works really well in the fantasy genre, when it is often difficult to stick to morals because there are so many obstacles to face. Both Priya and Malini have a lot of internal character development – they have both faced trauma in their lives, and find the strength to be who they truly are. I loved their moments together: seeing tentative trust change to animosity and then go back to trust. The relationship is pretty slow-burn, with lots of yearning and intimate moments, which is literally my favourite thing because I love the build up – I’m excited to see more in the next book!

I loved the complex and wide ranging cast of characters. There are a few characters that we consistently hear from, but there are also brief chapters from various characters in the story. I love when fantasy books do this because it widens the scope of the narrative. For example, I appreciated seeing the thoughts of Malini’s brother – it allows the reader to experience his authoritarian acts, rather than just hearing about what other characters say about him. Aside from Malini’s and Priya’s POVs, I really enjoyed seeing Bhumika’s perspective. I think we get to know her character so much more by the end, and I liked seeing the development in her relationship with Priya. I was also really intrigued hearing from Rao, and I loved some of the revelations we heard from him at the end.

The Jasmine Throne comments on empire and colonisation, which I always want to see more of in fantasy books. Like a lot of fantasy books, there is an element of religion, but what I really liked about this portrayal is that Suri displays how religion can be twisted to fulfil hateful goals, but it is also an important part of a lot of the other characters’ lives in a positive way. The world-building and plot really flourished really flourished in the second half after the character focus at the beginning. The details in the plot really allowed all of the characters to have such distinct and complex personalities. What does it mean to be a monster? I’m looking forward to seeing Suri explore this more in the next book. There are a lot of names to get used to, but my edition had a list of names at the back which was really handy.

Overall, I loved this book, and I think it’s a really strong start to what I’m sure will be an epic fantasy series. It’s a long book, and I can see why some people might find the first half slow, but I love this type of narrative so The Jasmine Throne was just my type of book. I loved everything about it: the world-building, the Indian influence, the characters, the magic, the politics, and the writing style. It will be really tough waiting for the next one, but I’m really excited to see how the story will develop. There is content including descriptions of murder, death by burning, torture, trauma, sickness, pregnancy and childbirth, executions, drug use, homophobia, abuse, and suicide contemplation.