Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

31 reviews

minervacerridwen's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious relaxing tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This book drew me in right away. None of the characters are purely "good" or "evil", and their motives become very clear in the story. It was a fast read, considering the length of the book, helped by the fact that almost every chapter ended in a cliffhanger - but near the end, that was also what started to bother me. Some of the emotional moments in the story could have used a little more time to breathe, but didn't get a chance because the writing style demanded you to read on, on, on. But aside from that small annoyance (I mean, it's not the worst thing to have to say about a book :P), I adored the intricate worldbuilding and the magic, and the way even plants brought both beauty and destruction.

The only thing I still don't quite know how to picture (maybe it's a fault of my own imagination or I missed something?) is the climb of the Hirana. It returned several times, but somehow my mind remained undecided on how it would look, and that distracted me a little.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body horror, Classism, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexism, Violence, and War

jessiereads98's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Excellent high fantasy and excellent feminist storytelling. This is how you create a feminist story without monologues that seem out character or long bits of exposition that are discordant with the tone and atmosphere of the story. I loved the world, politics, and magic of this book. The characters are complex and I do find it difficult at times to fully understand some of them. I may not be picking up inferences I’m meant to. I do find the romance between the two main characters to be a bit underdeveloped. I found it difficult to follow the development of chemistry between the characters and progression of the relationship. It seemed as if we were told they were here in the relationship and had these feelings for each other without really seeing that develop. It wasn’t out of the realm of believability though and did not really take away from the overall story for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Confinement, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Colonisation, Grief, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Terminal illness

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, War, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Physical abuse

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Xenophobia, Confinement, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Violence, War, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Bullying, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Colonisation, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Medical content, and Blood

karcitis's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Murder, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Grief, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Death of parent, Child abuse, Classism, Kidnapping, Vomit, and Alcohol

dreklogar's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This was a fine book, if honestly a bit too slow for my taste. It has a lot of interesting things to say about colonialism and the way it affects culture, as well as sexism and internalized homophobia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Confinement, Death, Colonisation, Classism, and Fire/Fire injury

vivavia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, War, Blood, Classism, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, Addiction, Bullying, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Vomit, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexism, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Drug use, and Hate crime

Minor: Pregnancy

rat_girly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Beginning was very slow but it built into a beautifully described world full of complex characters, mystery, and action. Themes of revolution, colonisation, feminism, queer romance, enemies to lovers set in a south Asian inspired fantasy world

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Hate crime, Colonisation, Blood, Child death, War, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Violence, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Homophobia, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Classism

lqvekanej's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Religious bigotry, Sexism, War, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Child death, Confinement, Murder, and Genocide

Moderate: Classism, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I absolutely loved the premise. There were several difficult topics to get through, especially human sacrifice including women and children, but the slow-burn romance and the high stakes political conflict had me absolutely gripped. The prose is gorgeous and lyrical. And multiple sapphic South Asian characters? Sign me up!
It was, however, a slow go for me because there was a lot going on at once. I took down one star because there were a wide amount of characters whose POVs we got to see but I felt not enough time was spent with them. When some characters were killed off, I felt nothing, and I felt like I was unsure if I was supposed to or not. I feel like having less POVs telling the story would have made for a better story but I am absolutely going to be picking up the sequel of this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, War, Body horror, Violence, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Misogyny and Classism

seabanshee's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.5

I had a lot of expectations going into this book, and a good chunk of them weren’t met, and that’s fine. This book wasn’t for me, though I had really wished it was. Every stellar review I read had me determined that this would be one of my top reads for the year only for it to get shelved for a few months at the 50% mark. And that is perfectly okay.

This isn’t a bad book by any means. Many people adore the pacing and characterizations whereas I felt that nothing was happening for 70% of the book. I rated it higher than what I intended because there were some parts that I really enjoyed, and I thought the creative execution was stunning. And subjectively, I don’t think this book deserves a 1 or 2 star rating because it’s a great book for what it is.

Characters
Priya’s a great protagonist. She’s clever, kind-hearted, determined to do what she feels is right despite others telling her she’s wrong, and just fierce. She’s a survivor with a rich yet traumatic pass, and her conflict between past, present, and future is an interesting take. She and Rao were my favorites; I felt they had the best characterizations in the book.

Malini was my least favorite. I found her incredibly unlikable despite her circumstances and unfair position (maybe that’s the point, but it’s still unclear). Every time I read her POV, I was filled with frustration and anger. She was always lying and trying to use people, and I understand that was the only tactic she had. It’s understandable. However, having her POV and witness her true intentions toward Priya, the incredibly likable main protagonist—it’s a tall order to ask me to like her. Not to mention the number of times Malini made mental notes of how Priya wasn’t lovely or pretty appearance wise. Such a turn off. Every time she said “I’ve always been my true self to you” or “I’ve never lied to you,” I rolled my eyes because she, of course, was lying. The only time I really felt any sympathy for her was when she reunited with her brother, and he was a cowardly dick to her due to his chosen ignorance of her pain.

Rao was very likable, like Priya, and I felt his setup was incredibly interesting albeit predictable. I knew from the moment I met Malini that she wouldn’t sit on the sideline; she’d rule. I feel the course of events made that very obvious, so it makes me wish Rao’s prophecy was a bit more…unpredictable or grand? But it served its purpose.

Romance
As I mentioned, I didn’t like Malini or how she constantly wanted to use Priya, so I genuinely could not care about their romance. Their interactions felt incredibly dull after knowing Malini’s perspective. Then when they finally kissed, it felt so rushed and out of place because I felt zero chemistry from them considering their situations and mindsets. It really felt like insta-love despite it happening around the 70-80% mark. I feel like Priya had more of an interesting relationship with the Yaksa.

Lore
Hands down the best part of the book for me. The lore was crafted so well, and my reaction was a mix of awe and horror. From the rot-ridden corpses to their shapeshifting abilities to the sacred wood daggers for hollowing, it was beautifully executed and was singlehandedly the only thing that kept me reading. I don’t know if I’ll continue this series, but I would love to read more on this cosmic creatures shrouded in mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Classism, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Torture, and Sexism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Injury/Injury detail