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A review by savannahleigh2005
The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.0
"I can hurt you. I love to hurt you. Can't you feel it? All I want is your throat under my hands. One day, I will take great joy in seeing you dead."
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Not the best finale book I've read, but definitely not the worst either. I have a list of things I loved and a list of things I didn't love, so I think I'm just gonna do a paragraph for each to avoid rambling too much in this review.
Things I loved: I've loved these characters for this whole trilogy, and that definitely didn't change with this book; I definitely left this series feeling the same way I did about them as I did in the start. Malini is still my absolute favorite; she's so selfish in the best, most interesting way and just overall a very fun character to read about. But I also just adore the rest of the cast, specifically Bhumika, Jeevan, and Rukh, I ADORE them. And while we're talking about Bhumika and Jeevan, I am VERY obsessed with their ship, like they're so good, and for what?? They don't actually get that much "screentime," but I love them anyways. And obviously Priya and Malini are still great, though I do have a couple complaints about their progression and relationship in this book, but I'll get to that later. And lastly, the yaksa and their plot were still equally as insane and interesting in this book as they were in the first two, they are definitely one of my favorite parts of this trilogy. Now onto things I disliked.
Things I disliked: I feel like in general I just wasn't as interested in the plot in this book as I was the plot in the first two. That might be more of a me problem cause I tend to struggle with very political, war, fighting, etc parts of books cause I lose focus and space out so much reading it and inevitably never really know what's going on. Again, definitely a me problem, but alas there was in fact a large portion of the plot throughout this devoted to those plot elements, and it just caused me to be a little uninterested reading this and made me really want to just get this book done with as quickly as possible. I think that Malini and Priya's betrayal/hatred arc was a little too back and forth and also pulled a 180 into love again a little TOO quickly; I would've liked to see a little more of a gradual shift there. And there were certain things about the finale that I did not LOVE. Not going to get into spoiler territory, but it just felt like things wrapped up too quickly or moved too quickly in general. The time skip section should've been a little longer. And I just think the finale quickly solved a lot of problems in a way that made those problems and the consequences that characters had to deal with based on those problems seem kind of pointless.
With all that said, though, like I said before, this was not the worst finale I've ever read. I think it was a pretty decent conclusion to the trilogy, but I do wish some things plot wise went down differently than they did. Still though, I really loved reading this trilogy and am very glad to finally have it done and checked off of my neverending tbr :)
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Bonus quotes 🪷
"Sometimes the places you have not been are a hollow, an absence with a shape."
"'You really want to help me,' she said. 'One good thing,' he said curtly. She raised her head. He swallowed. 'I want to do one good thing,' he said. 'In a sea of shit.'"
"'I knew I loved him,' he admitted. 'When he was alive, I knew I loved him... more than I should have. But the shape of it---that wasn't something I let myself see. I didn't know.' 'Did you really not see?' 'It was like staring at the sun,' Rao said. A shaky laugh. 'Really looking at it would have destroyed me.'"
"'You deserve so much more grief than I can give you.'"
"'Divyanshi was a woman of great faith,' said Malini. 'All the mothers were. They prayed and reached for a greater power---and the power served them and obliterated them. I have no such faith.' She leaned forward. 'My blood would be far less worthy than the blood of priests who believe in their gods. Priests who have opened their souls to a greater power. I have never done such a thing. I'm not even sure I love the mothers. Divyanshi gave me her blood, but she also condemned me to always be a sacrifice in waiting---no more than my organs, my bones. I do not thank her for that.' She kept her eyes fixed on Hemanth, unblinking. 'Does that fill you with revulsion, Hemanth? it should at least make you pause.'"
"The sacrifices made in this war would have to be enough. Malini was monstrous enough to seize the throne and murder a brother. She was monstrous enough to continue the glorious, bloody cruelty of empire. She had made herself so. She would choose now to be monstrous enough to let an enemy live, for the sake of keeping what was hers. She would choose love over goodness. 'Let future generations face the yaksa once more. Let the rot continue. Only, let me have her.'"
"'Coming with me won't save me,' Priya said. 'It will just---condemn you too. I can't bear that, Malini.' 'Then live. I won't allow you to die,' Malini said, her voice low. 'I have no better leverage to use against you than my own life. If you die, then I die. So you will have to live.'"
"'I know you dream as humans dream,' he said quietly. 'I know how it hurts you. I know how your bodies ache and twist around you. I know the agony of being mortal.' A breath. 'I miss the stars. I yearn for the great void. But I will accept the quiet of death, if it will spare me the pain of living.'"
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Not the best finale book I've read, but definitely not the worst either. I have a list of things I loved and a list of things I didn't love, so I think I'm just gonna do a paragraph for each to avoid rambling too much in this review.
Things I loved: I've loved these characters for this whole trilogy, and that definitely didn't change with this book; I definitely left this series feeling the same way I did about them as I did in the start. Malini is still my absolute favorite; she's so selfish in the best, most interesting way and just overall a very fun character to read about. But I also just adore the rest of the cast, specifically Bhumika, Jeevan, and Rukh, I ADORE them. And while we're talking about Bhumika and Jeevan, I am VERY obsessed with their ship, like they're so good, and for what?? They don't actually get that much "screentime," but I love them anyways. And obviously Priya and Malini are still great, though I do have a couple complaints about their progression and relationship in this book, but I'll get to that later. And lastly, the yaksa and their plot were still equally as insane and interesting in this book as they were in the first two, they are definitely one of my favorite parts of this trilogy. Now onto things I disliked.
Things I disliked: I feel like in general I just wasn't as interested in the plot in this book as I was the plot in the first two. That might be more of a me problem cause I tend to struggle with very political, war, fighting, etc parts of books cause I lose focus and space out so much reading it and inevitably never really know what's going on. Again, definitely a me problem, but alas there was in fact a large portion of the plot throughout this devoted to those plot elements, and it just caused me to be a little uninterested reading this and made me really want to just get this book done with as quickly as possible. I think that Malini and Priya's betrayal/hatred arc was a little too back and forth and also pulled a 180 into love again a little TOO quickly; I would've liked to see a little more of a gradual shift there. And there were certain things about the finale that I did not LOVE. Not going to get into spoiler territory, but it just felt like things wrapped up too quickly or moved too quickly in general. The time skip section should've been a little longer. And I just think the finale quickly solved a lot of problems in a way that made those problems and the consequences that characters had to deal with based on those problems seem kind of pointless.
With all that said, though, like I said before, this was not the worst finale I've ever read. I think it was a pretty decent conclusion to the trilogy, but I do wish some things plot wise went down differently than they did. Still though, I really loved reading this trilogy and am very glad to finally have it done and checked off of my neverending tbr :)
-------------------------------------
Bonus quotes 🪷
"Sometimes the places you have not been are a hollow, an absence with a shape."
"'You really want to help me,' she said. 'One good thing,' he said curtly. She raised her head. He swallowed. 'I want to do one good thing,' he said. 'In a sea of shit.'"
"'I knew I loved him,' he admitted. 'When he was alive, I knew I loved him... more than I should have. But the shape of it---that wasn't something I let myself see. I didn't know.' 'Did you really not see?' 'It was like staring at the sun,' Rao said. A shaky laugh. 'Really looking at it would have destroyed me.'"
"'You deserve so much more grief than I can give you.'"
"'Divyanshi was a woman of great faith,' said Malini. 'All the mothers were. They prayed and reached for a greater power---and the power served them and obliterated them. I have no such faith.' She leaned forward. 'My blood would be far less worthy than the blood of priests who believe in their gods. Priests who have opened their souls to a greater power. I have never done such a thing. I'm not even sure I love the mothers. Divyanshi gave me her blood, but she also condemned me to always be a sacrifice in waiting---no more than my organs, my bones. I do not thank her for that.' She kept her eyes fixed on Hemanth, unblinking. 'Does that fill you with revulsion, Hemanth? it should at least make you pause.'"
"The sacrifices made in this war would have to be enough. Malini was monstrous enough to seize the throne and murder a brother. She was monstrous enough to continue the glorious, bloody cruelty of empire. She had made herself so. She would choose now to be monstrous enough to let an enemy live, for the sake of keeping what was hers. She would choose love over goodness. 'Let future generations face the yaksa once more. Let the rot continue. Only, let me have her.'"
"'Coming with me won't save me,' Priya said. 'It will just---condemn you too. I can't bear that, Malini.' 'Then live. I won't allow you to die,' Malini said, her voice low. 'I have no better leverage to use against you than my own life. If you die, then I die. So you will have to live.'"
"'I know you dream as humans dream,' he said quietly. 'I know how it hurts you. I know how your bodies ache and twist around you. I know the agony of being mortal.' A breath. 'I miss the stars. I yearn for the great void. But I will accept the quiet of death, if it will spare me the pain of living.'"