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A review by faeriequeenlauren
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I hate that I have to write this, but this was such a let down, especially considering all of the hype it gets on BookTok.
My first issue with this was that even though the initial premise and world-building was compelling, so much of both was so vague and “hand-wavey” to the point where there was no clear explanation on many aspects of this world. There were never any rules or limits to the magic here and one of the main characters, Priya, (who seemingly has not used her powers in years) randomly uses her powers once and then is super powerful and has no issue doing pretty much anything she wants with her powers.
Another aspect that really took me out of the story was the author’s choice to have multiple POV chapters from characters that were tertiary at best, and were either never mentioned again, or were so insignificant to the story that it didn’t make sense to have POV chapters from them.
My last qualm was the romance. I love a romance subplot, but the pair here had little to almost no chemistry between the two of them. Even though we as the audience knew they had spent a great deal of time together, (and it was definitely not beyond the realm of possibilities for them to have developed feelings for each other) their feelings were told to us, rather than shown through their actions/thoughts. At the end of the day, it’s great to see sapphic rep in high fantasy, but it’s a shame that the romance here was bland and often felt forced into the narrative.
I enjoyed the writing style and much of the allusions to Western colonialism and the subjugation of women in patriarchal societies, but this ultimately just fell flat for me. This truly had so much potential, but there were some things that were just too hard to look past.
My first issue with this was that even though the initial premise and world-building was compelling, so much of both was so vague and “hand-wavey” to the point where there was no clear explanation on many aspects of this world. There were never any rules or limits to the magic here and one of the main characters, Priya, (who seemingly has not used her powers in years) randomly uses her powers once and then is super powerful and has no issue doing pretty much anything she wants with her powers.
Another aspect that really took me out of the story was the author’s choice to have multiple POV chapters from characters that were tertiary at best, and were either never mentioned again, or were so insignificant to the story that it didn’t make sense to have POV chapters from them.
My last qualm was the romance. I love a romance subplot, but the pair here had little to almost no chemistry between the two of them. Even though we as the audience knew they had spent a great deal of time together, (and it was definitely not beyond the realm of possibilities for them to have developed feelings for each other) their feelings were told to us, rather than shown through their actions/thoughts. At the end of the day, it’s great to see sapphic rep in high fantasy, but it’s a shame that the romance here was bland and often felt forced into the narrative.
I enjoyed the writing style and much of the allusions to Western colonialism and the subjugation of women in patriarchal societies, but this ultimately just fell flat for me. This truly had so much potential, but there were some things that were just too hard to look past.