A review by greymalkin
The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

What a gorgeous and fascinating world Tasha Suri has created!  I really enjoyed Jasmine Throne but I like Oleander Sword even more.  The writing is smoother and more assured, and the characters finally  have just enough power and momentum to start making really big choices.  

I enjoyed the evolution of Malini and Priya's relationship since it was always going to be complicated and messy and it's good that the book embraced that.  The only thing I didn't really like was the forced ending.  I completely get that they needed to set this up for the third book but it felt jarring and not very believable.  I wish it had been the other way around where Priya watches as the yaska puppet her body and kill Malini and the horror and grief hollows her out completely to let the yaska in.  And so Priya flees, not knowing that Malini actually lives due to the mothers keeping her alive (and of course they exact their own price from Malini- perhaps Malini's love or memories of Priya).  That would feel more in keeping with the emotional tenor of their relationship- where Malini keeps having to give away pieces of herself and Priya keeps having to bow to to a great power even as it sickens her, and this could be the "rock bottom".  Oh well.  It was still an excellent book!
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