Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri

29 reviews

angstifies's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

this was such a fantastic sequel, one minor issue i had with book 1 was that i did not care for some of the narrators (Ashok, Vikram…) and their part of the story, but in this book that was not the case at all. 

i found the stories even better than the previous book and i adore how much more focus there was on both the magical side of this world and on Malini and Bhumika’s political schemes. 
loved it, can’t wait for the last book!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Violence, War, and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Body horror, Cursing, Grief, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Suicide and Torture

cameronreads's review against another edition

5.0

This book was just as incredible as the first one without a drop of middle book syndrome in sight. Everything felt so complex and realistic in a way that had me completely sucked in. All of the characters were so intricate and flawed in such an interesting variety of ways and this was reflected in the complex relationships between them. The way the world building and especially the religions were expanded on were so interesting - I loved reading about the various beliefs and the sub-sects of them as well as how they interlinked. I once again loved that we got to see from such a wide variety of perspectives and thought it was done masterfully. I can’t believe I’m going to have to wait so long for the third book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, War, Animal death, Grief, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Lesbophobia and Colonisation

booksthatburn's review against another edition

I generally have trouble keeping track of names, and the dizzying array of point-of-view characters made it too difficult to continue, especially in combination with the slow pacing. It makes it feel like too many people are talking and nothing is happening. Even the very brief battle wasn't enough to help. I tried to read it for two months but it started feeling like a chore so I stopped. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body horror, Murder, Animal death, Alcohol, and Blood

Minor: Excrement, Suicide, and Sexual content

lycanhood's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Gore, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Body horror

Minor: Kidnapping and Suicide

holyschmitz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

 In this thrilling sequel to The Jasmine Throne, three main characters must reckon with the high cost of power. Dark secrets wait at the root of a strange and powerful magic; brutal war and waning faith surround the figure of a prophesied rule; new threats arise to challenge a newly freed country. With mysteries that draw readers further into the story and twists that keep them on their toes, The Oleander Sword takes the series in exciting directions. I'm rooting so hard for Priya, Malini, and Bhumika, even as their motives differ and their paths diverge, and I'm so exciting to see where Tasha Suri takes them next.  

Themes: the impact of imperialism and war, religion, challenging misogyny and xenophobia within the context of the world, the cost of power and secrets, sapphic romance, complicated characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Alcohol, Body horror, Addiction, Racism, Misogyny, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, and War

Minor: Classism, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Animal death, Suicide, Self harm, and Homophobia

serena_hien's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Misogyny, Blood, Sexual content, Death, Xenophobia, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Homophobia

lolajh's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I wanted so incredibly to enjoy this, to fall in love with Priya, Malini, and Bhumika all over again, the casual lesbian and South Asian rep, the wonderful magic system, but I really didn’t, and am so heartbroken that that is so.

For the same page length as the first book in the series, this book was just so much more slow-paced, from start to finish. Throughout reading the book I was continuously waiting for the pacing to change, for the dramatic scenes and tension and plot points to all come together perfectly in the end, but nothing like that really happened at all.

Far too much of this book was Parijatdvipan politics, where Malini “cleverly schemes and manipulates” her subjects, when really what Malini does takes hardly any skill at all. Her character in general throughout this book fell so far down from her development in book 1. She’s just turned into this emotionless, manipulative, one-dimensional and flat character that I can hardly connect to, especially when she still acts so calculating with Priya, who acts like a practical loyal servant to Malini. Their relationship seems so incredibly unbalanced, with Malini blatantly using Priya for her gifts, which is intended, but I still disliked, and Priya is a submissive slave toward Malini, who forgives every bad thing she does and is just absolutely so blind to the darkness of her character. Both Priya and Malini in this book made me like Bhumika SO much more than the both of them; her arc and plot being so much more interesting than the main characters’ definitely says something. If this book was all Bhumika I might have actually enjoyed it more!

It is also implied that Parijatdvipa colonised Ahiranya in the first book, and that was handled so poorly in this book. The colonised (Ahiranya) are blamed and demonised by the majority of Parijatdvipa, calling “Priya’s kind” unnatural, witches, and this kind of stuff is just accepted and not classified as discriminatory and something that needs to be reversed. So adding that plot point and making the main relationship in the book between the colonised and the coloniser as some sort of “enemies to lovers” I am only now understanding after reading this book is just so weird, because, when writing a fantasy novel, you have the very obvious option to not include discrimination, yet this world has so much racism and misogyny that did not need to be added.

And the povs 😫 There were so many unnecessary character perspective chapters, like Malini’s once-mentioned maid, and Chandra, who is obviously an asshole and I didn’t need his chapters to know that. This book just seemed like such a chore to get through, and for it to not even end up being worth it in the end I am just disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Colonisation, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Death, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts

nefariousbee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Misogyny, Alcohol, Cursing, Gore, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide and Torture

laurareads87's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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.

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Blood, Death, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Xenophobia, Sexism, Misogyny, Grief, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Animal death