Reviews with content warning for Slavery - Empire of Sand

This book was wonderful. Within moments of picking it up, I immediately cared about the main character and those she loved (her sister, her mentor). The world building and the magic infused into it was masterfully done. The pace was good, it kept the plot moving but not too fast. The love story at the heart of the book was truly wonderful, respectful and moved beautifully. The conflict and intrigue was tense between the main characters and the villain. There was strong character development from both Mehr and Amun. My only gripe was that the end wrapped itself up too quickly and that I would have liked to have seen what happens in the future with the side characters introduced to us at the start of the novel.

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rbash2391's review

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The worldbuilding was difficult for me to understand at first, but as the story progresses and we hear more about the lore from different characters, you get an understanding of the magic system. Mehr is the descendant of an exiled, persecuted, nomadic people who are blood-related to the ancient spirits and gods. They perform dances called rites with specific movements and hand-signing to communicate a story. Mehr, as a noblewoman and daughter of the governor, is able to make the choice about who and when she wants to marry. As an Amrithi, she should not marry, because vows are bonding in a way that can be painful or fatal if broken, but she is forced to choose marriage by a group of followers of the country's spiritual leader. If she doesn't choose to marry the mystic who offers to her, it could put her family and especially her child sister in danger. She chooses to marry and is ripped from her comfortable, secure noblewoman's life to travel across the desert with her new husband to the stronghold of the emperor's spiritual leader, the Maha. His keep rests upon the part of the desert where the gods sleep, and he has a plan to force Mehr into service for the empire.

This book is really fraught with familial pain and abandonment. It was very angsty and bleak but not for the sake of it. Mehr is given the illusion of choice, which is a theme throughout this story. She learns there is one person besides herself that she can trust, and consciously chooses not to take advantage of that relationship. This choice is noble and intelligent and pays off for her, as the relationship with the stranger who becomes her husband is genuine and a source of safety, comfort, and rest.

There is an obvious bias in this world against hte Amrithi people, who are darker-skinned, and the Maha has bound Amun, Mehr's husband, through magic. It is a form of enslavement, and while the Maha takes advantage of children who are outcasts, pariahs, and in need of community, none moreso than Amun. He is labeled and treated as a monster from his early years on, and the Maha brands Amun with painful vows that force him to the Maha's will. Mehr's use of Amrithi magic during a dreamfire storm identifies her as having magical abilities and therefore a perfect match for the Maha to bind to Amun, and thus to the Maha's service, through the vow of marriage.

Each character is given a choice or the illusion of such in this story and their decisions reflect what they value. Mehr chooses to marry Amun because she believes that will protect her family, without knowing who Amun is or that she will be vowed to serve the Maha who intends to use her for sacrilege. Mehr chooses to leave Amun and the Maha, and fight against her vow, although it causes her a lot of suffering to do so. Even though it's painful, she fights for her freedom and to not be used as a pawn towards the Maha and Emperor's ends. Finally, she chooses to return to Amun to protect and release him from his enslavement. Mehr uses her leverage over the Maha, who begins to physically decline after their choice not to perform the rites that keep him immortal and in power.

Amun has no choice but to obey his vows to the Maha, or die and suffer throughout eternity. The Amrithi long have a history of choosing death over this kind of servitude, but it is still a choice. He chooses to circumvent the Maha's demand to consummate the marraige, acting under a semantic loophole to protect Mehr and reduce harm. And when they are finally compelled to consummate the marriage, Amun makes the choice to do so rather than allow his vows to dictate his actions, only after Mehr gives him permission. I hesitate to say that she consented, because consent cannot be present when you are under compulsion or duress, which was the case for both of them. In the end, when Mehr insists that he choose his future apart from their marriage, he is finally free of his vows and still chooses to court Mehr in a traditional way so that their relationship isn't completely founded on the vows to the Maha and each other.

Mehr's mother chose to abandon her illegitimate children with their governor father when they were young. She leads a group of Amrithi through the desert; when Mehr finds her mother after escaping the Maha, she is able to return to the Maha to save Amun, against her mother's wishes. Her mother tried to take away that choice from Mehr in order to save their tribe.

Lalita chooses at first to live as a courtesan, hiding her identity as Amrithi, because she wants to live life on her terms. Then she must abandon that farce and return to the desert when her identity is revealed. We don't have to scorn her for hiding her heritage, because it's something she must do for survival and acceptance into the life she wants, but she still subjugates the society that rejects her by teaching Mehr the rites and being that mentor and mother figure.

The Maha takes away everyone's choices through vows, manipulation, and forced servitude. He even takes away the gods' choices by enslaving Amrithi to perform the Rite of the Bound to direct the dreams of the gods to his bidding. In this is his hubris and demise: that he would enslave and mistreat others to seek eternal life and power, but in his final moments choose to release Amun from his vows. This is perceived as a weak, mortal choice, punishable by death at the hand of the most loyal follower of his cause, who could not stand to see her sister be victim to anyone less than a cruel god. Kalini would rather his evil deeds and ambition be the fate of legacy and legend rather than a pathetic, frail mortal.

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msradiosilence's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

Tldr; I love Amun and Mehr, and I really liked how well rounded this book is.

Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/empire-of-sand/

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