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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
tense
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
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
slow-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
the burning kingdoms is my favourite high-fantasy book series (if i absolutely had to choose only one) and the lotus empire was definitely a worthy finale for this trilogy
everything that has happened since the beginning of the jasmine throne somehow culminated in this ending without making it seem forced, if that makes sense. everything has been leading to this and the climax after all the build-up was just so thrilling to read - i couldn’t put down the book for the last 200 pages.
my personal favourite aspect of this series was -of course- the romance between priya and malini. i’ve never read about a love that’s so raw and beautiful and all-consuming despite being a bit harsh or even ugly sometimes. in fact, it did feel otherworldly at times but i guess that’s exactly the point. and i know it’s a cliche to have two morally grey women, who used to be in love and then turned on each other despite still loving each other and now they’re trying to kill one another, but this was done so well, because their relationship wasn’t based on this trope. and it was written so beautifully, wow, it’s always “ily” and never “If you garland me, I will love you and marry you. I will stay with you until time ends, and the green is no more, and there’s nothing but cold stars left.”
ugh i love them so much and i’m glad they got the ending they deserved (without it feeling to unrealistically happy)
but there’s all the other amazing characters as well that i’ve grown way too fond of, like rao (i hope he gets over his internalised homophobia and finds a boyfriend who doesn’t die) and bhumika (welcome back queen) and rukh (he’s so precious) and i could go on and on. yes, it’s like all the fantasy books where there’s kind of too many names to keep track of but the ones that you do manage to remember really stick with you.
usually i’m not the biggest fan of the complex political scheming and stuff, mainly because i have a hard time understanding the context and everything, but this book was quite literally based on that, so i had a lot of fun reading about that. i think something that also contributes to this is the insanely rich world building of this series with every kingdom having it’s own distinct culture that has roots in some of the cultures from our real world without seeming like it’s just that with another name slapped on it. reading this series has made me interested in learning more about ancient india (since it’s based on that) because it just seems so fascinating.
the only thing i can criticise is the fact that in the first half of this book there’s like almost nothing happening - and i know that you need time to properly develop everything, but this was slightly too slow even for that.
and also, i couldn’t care less about the yaksa’s povs but ig that’s bound to happen with a book with so many different perspectives.
lastly, something that has made this reading experience very special is that fact that i read the jasmine throne when i was in india in 2022, the oleander sword when i was there last year and on my trip to india this year, i finished the series with the lotus empire - it just makes sense to me.
everything that has happened since the beginning of the jasmine throne somehow culminated in this ending without making it seem forced, if that makes sense. everything has been leading to this and the climax after all the build-up was just so thrilling to read - i couldn’t put down the book for the last 200 pages.
my personal favourite aspect of this series was -of course- the romance between priya and malini. i’ve never read about a love that’s so raw and beautiful and all-consuming despite being a bit harsh or even ugly sometimes. in fact, it did feel otherworldly at times but i guess that’s exactly the point. and i know it’s a cliche to have two morally grey women, who used to be in love and then turned on each other despite still loving each other and now they’re trying to kill one another, but this was done so well, because their relationship wasn’t based on this trope. and it was written so beautifully, wow, it’s always “ily” and never “If you garland me, I will love you and marry you. I will stay with you until time ends, and the green is no more, and there’s nothing but cold stars left.”
ugh i love them so much and i’m glad they got the ending they deserved (without it feeling to unrealistically happy)
but there’s all the other amazing characters as well that i’ve grown way too fond of, like rao (i hope he gets over his internalised homophobia and finds a boyfriend who doesn’t die) and bhumika (welcome back queen) and rukh (he’s so precious) and i could go on and on. yes, it’s like all the fantasy books where there’s kind of too many names to keep track of but the ones that you do manage to remember really stick with you.
usually i’m not the biggest fan of the complex political scheming and stuff, mainly because i have a hard time understanding the context and everything, but this book was quite literally based on that, so i had a lot of fun reading about that. i think something that also contributes to this is the insanely rich world building of this series with every kingdom having it’s own distinct culture that has roots in some of the cultures from our real world without seeming like it’s just that with another name slapped on it. reading this series has made me interested in learning more about ancient india (since it’s based on that) because it just seems so fascinating.
the only thing i can criticise is the fact that in the first half of this book there’s like almost nothing happening - and i know that you need time to properly develop everything, but this was slightly too slow even for that.
and also, i couldn’t care less about the yaksa’s povs but ig that’s bound to happen with a book with so many different perspectives.
lastly, something that has made this reading experience very special is that fact that i read the jasmine throne when i was in india in 2022, the oleander sword when i was there last year and on my trip to india this year, i finished the series with the lotus empire - it just makes sense to me.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
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
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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:
No