msradiosilence's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
4.5
Tldr; I love Amun and Mehr, and I really liked how well rounded this book is.
Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/empire-of-sand/
Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/empire-of-sand/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Infertility, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, War, Abandonment, Colonisation, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts
themidnightritual's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, War, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Racism
hannahollihan's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Slavery, Torture, and Racism
mizu's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Murder, Physical abuse, and Racism
Minor: Genocide, Child abuse, and Misogyny
nabecker13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Murder, and Racism
Minor: Rape
bookishbutch's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Confinement, Death, and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual content and Suicide
mintmousse's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Racism, Physical abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Bullying
Moderate: Blood, Genocide, Death, and Colonisation
Minor: Abandonment and Alcohol
griffinthief's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Grief, Physical abuse, and Racism
Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, Confinement, Murder, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Violence
pushingpages's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
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
For the full review, see the review on my blog: https://pushingpages.wixsite.com/index/post/review-empire-of-sand-by-tasha-suri
The Plot
Empire of Sand doesn't have a bombastic story. If you're looking for the next epic, you won't find it here. What this story does provide is enticing world-building, a dynasty of cultures, a slow burn of a romance, and a story about one woman's journey to finding her own cultural identity and taking control of her life. The story follows Mehr—a nobleman's daughter and Amrithi—who spends most of her time concealing part of who she is for her own safety. The Amrithi were a colonized and disappearing clan, migrating across the sands to escape the empire's clutches and mire. Meanwhile, there is Maha, the godlike force in this world, keeping the remaining Amrithi, the mystics, and the empire's city-state on a short leash.
[...]
The Characters
Mehr's mother, father, and stepmother. Okay, I'm going to say something controversial about all three, but I actually didn't fault any of these people.
[...]
Mehr is a sympathetic and competent protagonist. When we meet her, she's practicing her own rituals in private before leaving her room to tend to her younger sister where we see a mixture of who she is as a friend, family member, and protector. Her life has been a cycle of conceal and survive, and that informs how she interacts with the world and submits to the worst throughout the story. She's a perfect representation of how colorism and caste are cemented forms of oppression in this fantasy world.
[...]
Amun. Oh, Amun. I've seen some reviews say he's "boring" or "too stoic," but I fear those readers are missing the entire point. Amun has hardly known a life where he is allowed to flourish or have a voice. He's a man with his head low—not to keep from looking ahead, but to avoid Maha's gaze. He wants nothing more than to be his own person, but he knows he has to tread lightly. He's the embodiment of the oppressed. I appreciated so much how patient, respectful, and strong he was either in spite of or for Mehr throughout the story. It felt very much like a man who's lived a life of enslavement buying his time.
The Worldbuilding
The worldbuilding was so easily accessible. You're met with the magic and caste system within the first chapter. And Suri introduces both without needling, exhaustive exposition. Her story takes you through every relationship Mehr has—from her family to the expanse of sands beyond her bedroom window—and opens the world up to you bit by bit. The layered politics of the governor to emperor to Maha all fold into each other to convince you of its complexity and drama. Everyone feels unsafe, but no one feels as unsafe as the person beneath them.
Dance being a major form of power to the Amrithi was such a delightful change to the usual fantasy magic system. It's something that feels organic to a tribal, nomadic culture. Dance is a language that transcends all tongues, and using that as a means of communing with the world and the gods just works so well for this story. The descriptions for the dances felt fluid and mystical, moving with the sands.
The Romance
Mehr and Amun have such a slow burn. Mehr is lost and distrusting of everyone around her. She isn't keen on the farce of an engagement that they are united into, but she recognizes that if Maha has come to fetch her that she has to abide to protect her family. Amun takes his time being mindful of the space between them, not letting slide any of his true feelings about the situation they're both in. He carefully and considerately finds companionship with her. His motivations come in small gestures—warning her against the strange pull of Maha, giving her space until she wanted to be with him.
I honestly think that anyone who couldn't appreciate how stoic Amun was—when they were given a bevy of reasons as to why—or how he wasn't ready to sweep Mehr off her feet the moment they were together, sincerely missed the point of how much was working against them.
[...]
Conclusion
I'm pretty interested to see where this story goes in the next book. The climax may not peak quite as high as the typical fantasy story, but the tension is there. It's believably grounded in the world that Suri has created.
The Plot
Empire of Sand doesn't have a bombastic story. If you're looking for the next epic, you won't find it here. What this story does provide is enticing world-building, a dynasty of cultures, a slow burn of a romance, and a story about one woman's journey to finding her own cultural identity and taking control of her life. The story follows Mehr—a nobleman's daughter and Amrithi—who spends most of her time concealing part of who she is for her own safety. The Amrithi were a colonized and disappearing clan, migrating across the sands to escape the empire's clutches and mire. Meanwhile, there is Maha, the godlike force in this world, keeping the remaining Amrithi, the mystics, and the empire's city-state on a short leash.
[...]
The Characters
Mehr's mother, father, and stepmother. Okay, I'm going to say something controversial about all three, but I actually didn't fault any of these people.
[...]
Mehr is a sympathetic and competent protagonist. When we meet her, she's practicing her own rituals in private before leaving her room to tend to her younger sister where we see a mixture of who she is as a friend, family member, and protector. Her life has been a cycle of conceal and survive, and that informs how she interacts with the world and submits to the worst throughout the story. She's a perfect representation of how colorism and caste are cemented forms of oppression in this fantasy world.
[...]
Amun. Oh, Amun. I've seen some reviews say he's "boring" or "too stoic," but I fear those readers are missing the entire point. Amun has hardly known a life where he is allowed to flourish or have a voice. He's a man with his head low—not to keep from looking ahead, but to avoid Maha's gaze. He wants nothing more than to be his own person, but he knows he has to tread lightly. He's the embodiment of the oppressed. I appreciated so much how patient, respectful, and strong he was either in spite of or for Mehr throughout the story. It felt very much like a man who's lived a life of enslavement buying his time.
The Worldbuilding
The worldbuilding was so easily accessible. You're met with the magic and caste system within the first chapter. And Suri introduces both without needling, exhaustive exposition. Her story takes you through every relationship Mehr has—from her family to the expanse of sands beyond her bedroom window—and opens the world up to you bit by bit. The layered politics of the governor to emperor to Maha all fold into each other to convince you of its complexity and drama. Everyone feels unsafe, but no one feels as unsafe as the person beneath them.
Dance being a major form of power to the Amrithi was such a delightful change to the usual fantasy magic system. It's something that feels organic to a tribal, nomadic culture. Dance is a language that transcends all tongues, and using that as a means of communing with the world and the gods just works so well for this story. The descriptions for the dances felt fluid and mystical, moving with the sands.
The Romance
Mehr and Amun have such a slow burn. Mehr is lost and distrusting of everyone around her. She isn't keen on the farce of an engagement that they are united into, but she recognizes that if Maha has come to fetch her that she has to abide to protect her family. Amun takes his time being mindful of the space between them, not letting slide any of his true feelings about the situation they're both in. He carefully and considerately finds companionship with her. His motivations come in small gestures—warning her against the strange pull of Maha, giving her space until she wanted to be with him.
I honestly think that anyone who couldn't appreciate how stoic Amun was—when they were given a bevy of reasons as to why—or how he wasn't ready to sweep Mehr off her feet the moment they were together, sincerely missed the point of how much was working against them.
[...]
Conclusion
I'm pretty interested to see where this story goes in the next book. The climax may not peak quite as high as the typical fantasy story, but the tension is there. It's believably grounded in the world that Suri has created.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Racism, and Slavery
booksthatburn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
EMPIRE OF SAND is a transformative story of vows, agency, and choice, a slow-burn romance between two people who didn't get the chance to freely say yes, and the cruel power of a man bending even gods' dreams to his will.
The main character (Mehr) is biracial in a fantasy setting, and part of the story is how this combination of identities is distinct from being merely half of one identity and half the other, but is also/instead its own thing. Her father is from the main ethnic group in the ever-expanding empire which is slowly devouring the desert while exploiting the gods' dreams, her mother is from a nomadic people who are used for the magic in their blood. Often the characters who seek to use her are trying to exploit one part of her heritage rather than treating her as a unified whole, and her narration shifts in how she describes herself throughout the text as her relationship with and self-conception of her identity changes.
The world building is really good, it focuses on the people in a way that highlights the space, and whole effect comes off wonderfully. Information about the setting comes up as it matters to Mehr and the people around her, like walking through a space slowly which is being illuminated as it's described by someone who cares deeply about it.
The villain is genuinely chilling, taking advantage of how easy it is for powerful abusers to control how much of their cruelty is on display to any one person. There's a sense of helplessness (frequently explicit) that Mehr is surrounded by people who wouldn't believe her if she truthfully claimed that the marks on her skin were caused by the Maha, it's made worse when some of the women at the temple keep trying to save her... from the husband she didn't choose but is slowly getting to know. They can clearly see that she's being abused, but because of how totally the Maha has enthralled them they wouldn't believe the truth. Mehr has a lot of compassion for the servants and mystics around her, referring repeatedly to the way that it makes sense that they would love so completely this person, the Maha, who has done nothing but hurt Mehr. The slow pacing helps convey the tension and uncertainty of living around someone who has been unspeakably cruel and might be so again, sometime, but not necessarily right now.
One of the strongest messages around choice in this book is that finally getting to choose doesn't have to mean avoiding something you were previously forced to do. If it did, then it wouldn't really be free, because then every action would still be dictated by that prior lack of agency. I love the slow burn romance, every quiet moment and intimacy has so much feeling behind it, they care so much about consent even though their abuser is contriving to remove all their choices, it's just done so well.
I'm definitely reading the sequel, I want to see what they'll choose to do next!
The main character (Mehr) is biracial in a fantasy setting, and part of the story is how this combination of identities is distinct from being merely half of one identity and half the other, but is also/instead its own thing. Her father is from the main ethnic group in the ever-expanding empire which is slowly devouring the desert while exploiting the gods' dreams, her mother is from a nomadic people who are used for the magic in their blood. Often the characters who seek to use her are trying to exploit one part of her heritage rather than treating her as a unified whole, and her narration shifts in how she describes herself throughout the text as her relationship with and self-conception of her identity changes.
The world building is really good, it focuses on the people in a way that highlights the space, and whole effect comes off wonderfully. Information about the setting comes up as it matters to Mehr and the people around her, like walking through a space slowly which is being illuminated as it's described by someone who cares deeply about it.
The villain is genuinely chilling, taking advantage of how easy it is for powerful abusers to control how much of their cruelty is on display to any one person. There's a sense of helplessness (frequently explicit) that Mehr is surrounded by people who wouldn't believe her if she truthfully claimed that the marks on her skin were caused by the Maha, it's made worse when some of the women at the temple keep trying to save her... from the husband she didn't choose but is slowly getting to know. They can clearly see that she's being abused, but because of how totally the Maha has enthralled them they wouldn't believe the truth. Mehr has a lot of compassion for the servants and mystics around her, referring repeatedly to the way that it makes sense that they would love so completely this person, the Maha, who has done nothing but hurt Mehr. The slow pacing helps convey the tension and uncertainty of living around someone who has been unspeakably cruel and might be so again, sometime, but not necessarily right now.
One of the strongest messages around choice in this book is that finally getting to choose doesn't have to mean avoiding something you were previously forced to do. If it did, then it wouldn't really be free, because then every action would still be dictated by that prior lack of agency. I love the slow burn romance, every quiet moment and intimacy has so much feeling behind it, they care so much about consent even though their abuser is contriving to remove all their choices, it's just done so well.
I'm definitely reading the sequel, I want to see what they'll choose to do next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Slavery, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Racism, Misogyny, Self harm, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Suicide
CW for rape threats, major character death (graphic).
More...