Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The jasmine throne. Il trono di gelsomino by Tasha Suri

54 reviews

searchingforhappilyeverafter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri is the first book in the Burning Kingdoms trilogy, in which a captive princess and a maidservant with forbidden magical powers form an alliance in a world inspired by ancient India. 

 

There are five major character perspectives and a few minor ones in this book but all are so well done and engaging. Princess Malini is being held captive by her brother, the sadistic emperor of Parijatdvipa, in an ancient temple in the subjugated city of Ahiranya. She wants to do whatever she can to depose him and bring down his tyranny. Malini is a formidable strategist and will use whatever means necessary to achieve her goals. Priya, on the other hand, works as a maid in the regent’s staff and helps children suffering from the rot and starvation. She goes on a journey to rediscover her roots and learn how she can use her powers to better the lives of her people. Malini and Priya’s lives become entwined as they, along with several other characters, embark on an intriguing path to save their land. 

 

The romance between these two is a deliciously sensual slow burn, filled with lots of yearning. Their relationship progresses at an appropriate pace while balancing the power dynamics of their positions and the fact that Malini is, at first, completely dependent upon Priya to stay alive. 

 

Suri’s writing is evocative, with an exquisitely crafted plot, a full cast of well-developed characters, and an incredible magic system. The worldbuilding is impeccable and unlike anything I’ve ever read. Suri deftly explores themes of colonialism, oppression, and power. She weaves in the history of Ahiranya and the Parijatdvipan empire, while sensitively portraying the brutal effects of colonization, in particular how colonization decimates cultures in the name of religious fanaticism and misogyny. The author also examines power and what different people are willing to do with the power they hold and at what cost. This story is told through multiple POVs, allowing readers to experience all of these themes through a diverse range of characters and making this a very thought-provoking and nuanced read. 

 

I don’t have enough words to express how much I loved this book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

refrejarator's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

This book is so beautiful holy fuck. The writing is gorgeous and colourful, and the magic and world building is on a whole other level. Highly recommend to anyone who loves political fantasy stories (think Game of Thrones but better). 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and War

lauraloveslemons's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Genocide, Vomit, and Deportation

themdash's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mumitrolly's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

enjoyed this a lot, though i feel like it took 200 pages to really get the story moving. some of the feminist talks are a little too on the nose for my tastes. 

i love malini and priya's differences and the tension between them was great. i wish we had more time with them. malini especially i felt like didn't have as much characterization until closer to the end (which i get that bc she's supposed to be myserious). i also did feel like her feelings for priya felt flip-floppy at times. not in the tense way the book wants you to think though, i geniunely am a little unsure of her feelings.

i like the world a lot, i love how the different cultures interact together. i really like the name reveal at the end. 

overall i really hope the series continues to be good. but i would prefer if it gets better from here.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, and War

Moderate: Genocide, Racism, Murder, Pregnancy, and Classism

vivelarevolution's review against another edition

I kind of enjoyed the main characters and I really was intrigued by a good bit of the worldbuilding, but there were two things that just slowly made this book less and less readable for me.

The first, and less egregious, was the constant introduction of new pov characters. It felt like, every five chapters or so, I had to learn a new name and backstory and mindset and read about some technically related but entirely new context and storyline and perspective. These random characters don't really seem to reappear;

one of them even died

.

The one thing about the book that I absolutely could NOT stand was its absolutely insane overall narrative regarding armed resistance to occupation. The book is pretty heavyhanded in portraying the severity of violence and abuse enacted by the ruling regime, but it constantly whines about how violent the armed resistance is. From what I can tell, all they really do is assassinate key political players who are directly responsible for their oppression, and they take extreme personal risks in order to do so. But the narrative constantly harps on how they are too violent, too extreme, too radical to see that they're somehow bringing violence on their own people.

I kept reading in hopes that this narrative was introduced in order to refute it, but as far as I can tell, that is not going to happen. Every new chapter I read finds some new way to try to explain to me that, akshually, revolution is bad, and it's just getting old.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Colonisation

There isn't a tag for this, but one character is repeatedly forced to take a psychoactive sedative that severely impacts her psychologically and physically and which is intended to eventually kill her.

lightthebeam's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense 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? No

5.0

I cannot stop thinking about this book. The world building is incredible and I keep wanting to be back in it. The strong female leads are amazing and you get three of them. I really enjoyed the dialogue, the fantasy and the world. It has major Star Wars vibes. Jedi temple, order 66, and the living waters of Mandalor but in a completely different setting and focused on women of color. I love it. My main issues were I felt like it took a long time to weave in certain characters - we get chapters of their POV but they’re not relevant at all until later so you’re almost wondering why you’re reading about this person in the moment. Looking back it’s cool once you know how the characters relate to the main story - but with so many characters already it can be confusing. My other issue is the pacing/payoff. There really is no ending or big moment. The book really feels like it ended just because it had been so many pages but pacing wise I feel like the first and second book should really have been just one giant book. It didn’t make sense for the book to end where it did, and it wasn’t satisfying. It wasn’t a “bad” ending - it was just not really an ending in any real way. It felt like the end of a chapter rather than the end of a first book. I wanted more I wanted a bigger moment. Other than these small things, I loved the book and can’t wait to finish the series. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Vomit, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

mj1588's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

eidiya's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Xenophobia, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

secretsoup's review against another edition

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, War, and Injury/Injury detail