Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The Jasmine Throne

The Jasmine Throne blew me away in such an unexpected but pleasant way! The Jasmine Throne is about Priya, a young maidservant trying to survive day to day while maintaining her steel wall around herself. She does this to protect herself from others hurting her like she has been before. When a traitorous princess arrives at her city she jumps at the opportunity to take the job as one of the princess’s servants. Unknowingly Priya steps foot into a world of politics and rebellion as she struggles to recover her memories of a fated terrible day that changed her life forever.

One of the things I loved about The Jasmine Throne was the writing, at times it did slow down but the time that it was slow it used it to develop certain characters or situations. I enjoyed these moments as it gave more identity to the characters making them more realistic. The world being described was super rich and vibrant with different locations and settings. The magic system and politics of this world was well done, I enjoyed reading about how the magic works and how a set group of people were different from the rest of the people in the world.

The plot revolves around Priya, a young maidservant trying to survive while keeping her trust and heart in tact. It also follows other characters points of view while moving the story forward. What I really enjoy about the plot was the world and politics this world had, an emperor feared by certain people and a group of them wanting to de throne him. It also showed a group of temple children who were feared and mistrusted by the world for what they could do.

This book follows several characters, Priya a young woman with a good nature but a wall built tightly around her. Bhumika, a general’s wife with a secret agenda for herself and others and Ashok a rebel leader trying to overthrow a kingdom to give it back to his people. It also follows a man named Rao a man trying to find and rescue the princess held captive in the city. Malini was the princess who performed acts of treason against the emperor and was sentenced to a prison called the Hirana. What made these characters so enjoyable for me was the moral greyness of each and every character. Priya no doubt had a great heart and kind nature, while she cared mostly for her survival she did do things for other’s she generally cared a lot about. While Malini was a truly morally grey character as she only known how to do things for her own self serving needs but began to slowly start to care for others but herself. Both of these women were not opposed to using each other for their own gains, however they grew more and more attracted to each other over their shared trauma. The author did a smart decision by building up the relationship between the two women during the slow points of the book. Bhumika’s motives were the most fascinating to read about as she had motives that could be seen as righteous but also ruthless.

The worldbuilding was amazing! I loved diving into this world learning about the politics and the magic system. The rot, a disease that causes the infected to start sprouting leaves and growing roots inside their body. The rot was interesting but devastating to read about as it caused the infected to be in incredible pain. The temple children and how they had special powers making them powerful but also feared by others, the class differences between the royal families and the middle class and lower class was felt in how the tension was build between them. How they didn’t trust the ruling powers and how they wanted more.

The themes of misogny were very present in this book as it shows the true struggle of woman and men in this world. Women struggling to be taken seriously as men feel superior and above them. The female characters deal with this struggle throughout the book but eventually overcome this stigma placed upon them in their own ways. This book also deals with homophobia as the two main female characters deal with feelings for each other. Priya accepts her feeling for women honestly while Malini hides her feeling for women and has had to for most of her life because of the world she grew up in. War is also prominent and class differences is a central theme as the high class often treats the lower as less then.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this high fantasy and it truly made me want to dive more into high fantasy! I can’t wait to read the sequel and the other books this series has to offer!

Content Warnings

jessiereads98's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

jjjreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

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