Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

172 reviews

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Violence, War, Blood, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Racism, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Colonisation, Body horror, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Starvation, homelessness, brothels.

sapphic_reader'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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Violence, Body horror, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Homophobia, Self harm, and Misogyny

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

cjreadstoomuch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, War, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Blood, Suicide, and Addiction

wifi_bifi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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: Violence, Death, and Misogyny

Moderate: Homophobia

flowingleaves's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, War, Confinement, Violence, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, and Colonisation

Moderate: Blood, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Terminal illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Homophobia

dragongirl271's review against another edition

adventurous 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, and Body horror

Minor: Child death and Suicide attempt

kshertz's review against another edition

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? No

4.0

It was definitely a wild ride! There was a lot to set up for this fantasy novel so it took me a minute to get into it. But I did get into it eventually! When I did, I was mostly interested in the two main characters and their love story. But that’s not actually what the majority of the book is about 😆. I wish it was! There’s no spice, but they’re together in the fight to get to the top and be in power which was interesting to follow. I probably won’t keep going in the series but I did enjoy the story and would recommend for those that love fantasy. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Violence, War, Abandonment, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Murder

cassieslibrary'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and War

Moderate: Misogyny

kaiju_krispies's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Ehhhh. I wanted to like this book more than I did. There's been a few of these sapphic takes on epic fantasy novels in the last few years, and while this one is written competently and has a far more interesting and cohesive take than something like Priory of the Orange Tree, it still fell flat for me. When it was time to bounce back into the library I had no problems letting it go and waiting months before picking it back up again, getting through some more, then repeating the cycle. There was just nothing about it that grabbed me hard enough to want to tear through it.

I don't love the jumping back and forth between multiple characters' points of view; it can be done well, but rarely is, and this isn't an example of a time it was. Knowing every character's thoughts at all times has a tendency, here and elsewhere, of flattening those characters into uninteresting caricatures and removing any possible mystery for the reader. With no discernible reason for feeling the way that the reader is told they feel (why is Priya adopting this particular cursed street urchin? why is Chandra just straight-up evil in ways that destabilize his power?), they are left with only one logical assumption, which is that a character is doing something because it was most convenient for the narrative. Each character feels relegated to one particular trait (ambitious Malini, passive Aditya, nurturing Priya, practical Bhumika, evil Chandra, Rao and Rukh are just... there, for narrative purposes, as far as I can tell, they have no discernible traits beyond their relationship to one or two other characters), and this is confirmed as soon as their next chapter invites you into their head. How does Malini really feel about Priya? Who cares, you'll find out exactly, in her own words, in the next chapter.

The only character I found myself caring about was the Hirana itself. What a cool setting, this dangerous labyrinthine temple of statues with its own desires and mysteries. Unfortunately I feel like this too loses its mystery by the end, relegated to a stable, fully understood entity by characters whose heads we get to look inside. And you know, I'll take it back a little, I did enjoy early scenes with Priya and Malini, because there was some tension in those moments! Everything else falls into a fairly predictable epic fantasy slog; the pieces have been set up, you know exactly how everything is going to fall out, but it's going to take 400 pages to do it.

I think it will be a great starter sapphic fantasy trilogy for teenagers, and that's great and I'm glad that it exists for them, but this adult just couldn't find purchase.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Death

mossylibra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Misogyny, War, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse