Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Empire of Sand

I thoroughly enjoyed this.

This is a desert South Asian fantasy novel that follows our main character Mehr. She has this special magic that allows her to control spirits and gods, and after being hidden her whole life, her and her abilities get discovered and she's forced into an arranged marriage and into a life she's never known and everything that comes with it.

I really liked the writing a lot. It was really well done and generally flowed well. It was easy to fall into and just really captures your interest.

The plot was mostly secondary to the characters, but it's pretty much what I mentioned above.

The world building is definitely one of the strongest parts of the book. I loved learning about the customs and traditions of the different cultures in here and how they came together, the magic was excellent and the dancing that went with it was fantastic. The atmosphere was also great (desert setting). At the same time, I also wish we got more of the world and the history of everything. There were certain aspects I wanted more of and felt a bit underdeveloped, but I think that might be more of a personal preference than anything else.

Finally, the characters. I really liked Mehr as our main character. She was strong, kind, and incredibly smart. I really liked seeing her growth throughout the book. My favorite character though was definitely Amun and while he was always there, I wish we got to spend more time with him. The Maha was written well and I despised him. I just really liked a lot of the dynamics and themes that were explored as well (family, love, sacrifice, vows/oaths...) it was all just really well done. But like with the world, I would've liked to spend more time exploring the relationships and dynamics. It just felt like something was missing and it's hard to put my finger on what.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book despite feeling like I wanted more and that things could've been expanded on. Definitely the best desert fantasy I've read so far.

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_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Okay I did like this book though it took a big chunk of it to happen. The story takes its time to simmer introducing Mehr's life her mother's abdonment, the strife with her stepmother over her little sister and how she does everything in her power to still be near her, the discrimination of the Amrithi, and how Mehr has learned to survive in a lonely and secluded household. That slows it down a lot and I struggled. But I really liked Mehr as a character, she's strong willed, compassionate, doesn't feel sorry for herself, and has a strong sense of doing what is right. I liked how she is proud of what she's learned as a noblewoman and even though sometimes the uselessness of growing up as one showed up (not knowing how to sew etc) she didn't let it shame her and rather owned it.

Now, the world building, the set up to the Amrithi power and the dreamfire and the daiva, was so rich and unique. I was really in awe of the concept of dreamfire so much I'll admit I had a hard time following the writing in some points because I was so enraptured trying to imagine how it would look like. It's been a long while since I've actively tried to picture something I'm reading in my mind bc usually it's just words but blank in my mind. Once we get to the crux of the story and Amun is introduced the story finally takes way and I immediately started to get attached to him. He's literally dreamy. Now as for the villain, the Maha took a while to creep me out but the writing makes sure he bore into my bones and when he confronted Amun and Mehr about the consummation he finally made my skin crawl and I wanted to throw up. Even though he's beyond human when we first meet him, the ordinariness of his violence was what made him even more sickening.

But back to lighter notes, I really loved how Mehr and Amun's relationship developed and the night they finally become one was so tender and hurting and emotional and a little traumatic bc of how it came to be but they made it their choice. Their own. It hurt but it also bloomed. I have no complaints about the ending and how the conflict was resolved. I saw Kalini killing the Maha the moment he killed Hema and though it wasn't exactly for the right reasons, I'm glad she did it and I was right. The scene with Mehr and Elder was so fantasy excellence. The description of the veil, the dagger, so incredible. And the ending was exactly how I wanted it to be. This book might not suit a lot of people's tastes; it certainly took a lot of me to keep going and not dnf it because it's in a style I don't usually read, more focused on the intricacies of the characters than a driving plot with more action. The writing pace might be off putting and there's a lot of points where it does get a little monotonous and certain phrases and words are repetitive but in the end I'm glad I got to the end and enjoyed a unique tale. I'll definitely be thinking of dreamfire for weeks to come.

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achingallover's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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aliyyah's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-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

“He was her only safe harbor in the storm.”

Empire of Sand was so addictive. I actually ended up finishing this through a headache because I just could not put it down.

This book is about a girl named Mehr, illegitimate daughter of an imperial governor who inherited her mother’s magic. Her mother’s people, the Amrithi, are outcasts descended from desert spirits and are coveted and prosecuted throughout the Empire for the power in their blood. When Mehr’s power comes to the attention of the Emperor’s most feared mystics, she becomes enslaved by their leader and uses every ounce of will to try and resist his cruel agenda.

I absolutely loved the plot of this book. It was so fast paced and kept me on my toes the entire time. I could never guess at what was coming next. This story swept me up completely within its pages.

I adored the characters. Mehr, our protagonist is amazing. I loved the way she never gave up hope, as well as her selflessness. More than anything, she’s a survivor and I admire her strength so much. She is an extremely inspiring character to me. I also loved Amun. He’s quiet and resilient and much like Mehr, extremely strong. He’s been through so much in his life and has a lot of self hatred, however, he tries his absolute best to be a good man. He’s gentle with a soft heart and I cannot explain how attached I have grown to him. Mehr’s relationship with him was such a delight to read about. I really like the quiet way they fall for each other and the deep love that they share. Their development was beautiful and they made me melt so much.

The writing in this novel is impeccable. The world building was excellent and I love the atmosphere that Suri created. The description and history and everything was so rich. The story also flowed very smoothly.

I think this is one of my favourite fantasy novels. There is not one element of this story that I did not enjoy. I am so excited to start the sequel.

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sophieink's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I love fantasy and I love a fantasy romance.

This is quite a slow fantasy but I quite enjoy slower ones at times. It is the story of Mehr as she is the daughter of an imperial governor and an exiled Amrithi mother. The Amrithi are treated poorly by society as their magic is persecuted leading to the diminishing of their community throughout the kingdom. During a night where Mehr uses magic, the emperor's feared mystics are drawn to her and after some events she is forced to join them through a marriage. We get to see her navigate all these events and what it might cost her and the kingdom.

One thing I noticed about this book was how it took a little while to get to the events, like it was 100 pages until what would be considering the main event from the synopsis to happen but through doing so we got to know Mehr, the world, the people and why this was such an emotional thing for Mehr to go through so it definitely had its strength through doing this but I think people going in should expect a slow-paced fantasy.

As we got to follow Mehr’s perspective, it meant we got to see her thoughts and plans. It really felt like you were going on this journey with her as she was faced with problems and dilemmas involving different people you could really feel her struggle with what to do and what was right to do. It was really nice to feel so close to the main character. Plus, it was high stakes as the story wasn’t afraid to take away and make it harder for her.

“Like it or not, survival was not a noble cause. It was a necessity.”
“She was no more than human, no more than that, and that would have to be enough.”

The next thing was the marriage that was forced upon Mehr, I think sometimes in these plots it can be quite hard to balance the importance of choice and pressure with the actual romance if there is going to be one so the romance can still feel natural and progressive. But I thought that this story handled all of this really well and put a lot of effect into developing not only the progression but what the situations meant for them and really valued and emphasised choice. I think the main relationship was definitely one of the strengths of this book, it kept me invested and I felt like there was an interesting dynamic between the two that continued to shift and evolve making it seem realistic and pure.

"Those were small things, but at least they were good things."

Amun was a good character and I liked seeing him open up so we could see different sides to him, especially as he always had such a strong, caring side. He was the broody male character but done really well and really sweetly so I loved that.

The villain and plot were interesting. I liked that we got some closeness to the villain even though it was horrible in our main character’s perspective. But through the use of her fear and dread it helped you as a reader to fear him too. I thought he was a really good villain who was explored throughout the novel; why he did what he did, how he wanted to be perceived, how he acts when he loses control and the different things that led to the end. It wasn’t cut down to one fight, it felt more like a descent and I really liked that. The villain was also strongly linked to the plot and Mehr as she had to deal with the consequences for the world, so I thought that was interesting and added a layer to the book.

“His evil was born from his humanity.”

I, also, really liked the magic as it used dance rites and the way you had to train made it different to what I have typically seen in books and I imagine it would be amazing to watch (so fingers crossed for an adaptation to come).

I think this book had a lot of concepts that reflect reality by the real pain and emotions that were felt due to society’s structure, so I think it definitely added a deeper level to the book.

“to be treated in large and small ways as less than entirely human…
The kind of torture had the strength to shatter anyone.”

And, finally, the writing was really stunning throughout this book. It had a kind of flawless grace to it which I admired. I loved the way it built up characters, emotions and the world with its depth. I thought the prose was really great as well, and this is a debut so I can’t wait to see more from Suri.

★★★★

A really good fantasy especially for people looking for a slower fantasy romance. I’m really glad I picked it up. The only reason it isn’t a five star is because it is a little drawn out and as much as this had some strength to it, at times it felt like I would have enjoyed it more if it had a faster pace.

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