Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

14 reviews

thebankofbooks's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, War, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Death, Grief, Body horror, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Child death

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

kaziaroo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Colonisation, Genocide, Religious bigotry, War, Death, Body horror, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Gore, Homophobia, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit and Alcohol

dummehure's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

(this is literally just me rambling this review is so uncoordinated I'm so sorry) This book is genuinely so enticing and it somehow never fails to entertain you. I don't usually read books this long, I'm just not very good at keeping my interests up for that ling but by god this book is making it so easy to just sit there and spend a little time everyday being wrapped up in this beautiful and brutal world Suri created.

The tension between the two main characters is almost unbearable and it makes me feel like I didn't just spend almost the whole book without even a kiss. Talk about a slow burn this was done so amazingly and I adore Priya and Malini together they are so unbelievably different and fit so naturally, their chemistry is insane.

One of my favorites things about this book is the fact that we are exclusively dealing with morally grey characters and we basically have to choose the lesser evil. Also the way religion is handled in this book feels so respectful and truthful. Depending on the POV that we have atm the character is either atheist or of one or the other religion and none is considered the one correct option, every single one has truth in it and there's something so beautiful about that. 
And the plot had me in a chokehold, absolutely captivating!! 
I cannot wait to read the sequel as soon as possible!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Death, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, and Drug abuse

Minor: War and Pregnancy

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

dogearedbooks's review

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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Body horror, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and War

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

shector1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective relaxing 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Colonisation, War, Violence, Torture, Religious bigotry, Murder, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Blood

Moderate: Gaslighting, Death, Pregnancy, Cursing, Grief, and Drug use

poetry_shaman's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

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