Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

102 reviews

gjkennedy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Oh this is just the best thing ever. I could go on and on but it really is amazing. I knew from the first chapter that this book would be amazing. This book is full of lush world building that is enhanced by the beautiful language the author writes with. By far my favorite prose this year. The plot had wonderful political intrigue and emotional tension, people with convergent dreams and divergent methods butting heads. I loved it so much. 

Also, I'm often really wary (as a feminist) of stories that are marketed as being such, as my typical experience has been books so caught up in the "feminist" they forget to be "stories" and undermine themselves a little in the process. This story so beautifully captured how being a woman affected the ambitions and the relations of the women characters without it being the centerpiece of the narrative. It was a constant thread of perspective, a factor of everything without being what this story is, which I think it a really good way of going about it, and I found myself underlining many passages that tied to my own experiences. I greatly enjoyed the skillful subtlety of it. 

Absolutely adored this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Misogyny, and Confinement

Minor: Death and Grief

mar's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Child death, Confinement, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

Moderate: Homophobia, Body horror, Colonisation, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Blood, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

stellar_hunt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Body horror, Violence, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Colonisation, Confinement, Pregnancy, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

unwise_samwise's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

It was hard for me to read as I am afraid of fire but it was definitely a great book and I'm glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Death

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Xenophobia, Confinement, Pregnancy, Genocide, Religious bigotry, and Misogyny

Minor: War, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, and Murder

kathleencoughlin's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

My final and favorite of last year's sapphic trifecta. The magic system was interesting and the characters were dynamic and complex. Good stuff 👍

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

Minor: Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

i rly wanted to like this book, but ultimately we just didnt click. one thing i highly value in my reading experience is a book's ability to make me feel things, and unfortunately the jasmine throne lacks in this department.

while this book is suffused w/ much needed and appreciated diversity, whether it be in terms of south asian-influenced worldbuilding, characters, AND sapphic characters (desi sapphics, cmon!!!), i didnt feel connected to the characters: even when they were in peril, i didnt feel too affected, knowing that they would be fine eventually (idk if this is bc of the third person pov, but other similar books worked fine for me??). this might also be borne from a lack of urgency and any sense of danger--i just felt disconnected from it all, like i was being bouyed by the ocean wave that was the book, but didnt rly care where it took me. 

and while the worldbuilding is lush and at times unique (esp the hirana-related magic, sangram, the rot, etc.), it feels incomplete, and esp small for a supposed epic fantasy, and the maps certainly dont help. my issue is the scale of  parijadtvipa isnt clear; we dont know how far each city-state is from parijat and one another, and rn it feels like the empire is composed of 5 cities, which idek whether is the case bc everything feels incongruent and unexplained. although the history and lore of the world are strong, i wouldve liked a clearer picture of the empire's scale itself. 

nevertheless, i do like the feminist take on this, and its exploration of issues, like how religion is wielded to  further ppl's own ends; the patriarchal and misogynistic view of the montrosity and mediocrity of women; fate vs independent action; means vs ends, etc. the desi sapphic rep is also much appreciated. i truly wish i liked this more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, and Sexism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

andromeda_1998's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-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

The jasmine throne is one of the books from my Illumicrate book box subscription. And it’s one of those books that I was really hyped for. I expected a great deal since it started to gape on TikTok and well they aren’t wrong. It’s a great book, with a big fantasy setting, a lot of representation and a great story. 

The characters 
This book has multiple pov’s but it focuses the most on Malini and Priya. I really enjoyed these characters. They are strong female leads with a bit of a morally gray side to them. One thing I liked less though is that is didn’t really ship them. I shipped Priya more with Sami. But that is just my opinion. 

Plot 
The story is fun to read but a bit predictable at some points. Not that that is a bad thing persé but I would have liked more plottwists. 

Worldbuilding 
The worldbuilding is beautifully done. The world is rich with magic, beautiful history and mythology and it is really detailed. We haven’t learned everything this world has to offer so I’m waiting for the next book in this series. The book is slow in the beginning though. It picks up the pace at around 150/170 pages.  I have to admit that this is one of those books I almost put down, which would have been a shame. 

Storytelling 
This book is beautiful written, but to the point. It has some magical quotes but the beginning of the book felt really dry to me. 

Recommendations 
I would recommend this book to lovers of the unbroken and the deavabad trilogy. Check the triggerwarnings before reading! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Body horror, Blood, Confinement, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, War, Violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Torture

Moderate: Pregnancy and Lesbophobia

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

this was such a great read. I really enjoyed the world and if I am correct, the huge Indian history/mythology element to the fantasy, it was very refreshing and written beautifully. 

the characters were super complex and nuance and I just loved their motives and development. I really liked their sweet/side romance, it was a good touch to the story, not over powering nor ridiculous (no insta love thank god). 

the pacing was definitely slow and it felt like the book kept going, instead of being less of a plot book because it was slow, it just kept having a new event but I also really enjoyed all of the events, so I can't complain that it kept going.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Misogyny

blue_bird31's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Genocide and Violence

Minor: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Grief

starccato's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Murder, Blood, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, Terminal illness, Slavery, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Torture, Child abuse, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, War, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia