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Pricey Tasha Suri,
It pains me to write down this evaluation of The Oleander Sword (guide two within the Burning Kingdoms collection, which started with The Jasmine Throne), as a result of whereas this isn’t a horrible guide, The Jasmine Throne was my favourite guide of 2021, in addition to essentially the most romantic and lyrical guide I learn in final yr, and I had such excessive hopes for its sequel.
The Oleander Sword begins with a prologue within the POV of a brand new facet character, Kartik, who’s sweeping a courtyard within the Parijati imperial palace in Harshinghar when he overhears a dialog between Prince Chandra, the “spare” to the inheritor to the Kingdom (Aditya), and the excessive priest, Hemanth. Hemanth tells Chandra to guard his sister, the royal princess Malini, asking “Have you ever ever seen a woman of larger purity, my prince?” Although Chandra doesn’t reply the query, Kartik does, in his coronary heart. Malini is the purest lady he’s ever seen.
Chapter One then begins and the story shifts to the current day. Once we final noticed Malini, she had simply used an opportune second—Rao’s revelation of the prophecy that she can be the one to call Parijadvipa’s subsequent chief—to crown herself as Empress. Now Malini travels with a military comprised of troopers and princes from all of the kingdoms of the empire. All of the kingdoms besides Ahiranya, Parijatdvipa’s oppressed former enemy.
Malini misses Priya always from an awesome distance, however she has to maintain her emotions a secret. Once they final parted close to Ahiranya, Malini promised Priya and Priya’s childhood sister, Bhumika, that if she succeeded achieve energy for Aditya and deposing Chandra, she would free Ahiranya in return for Ahiranya’s help now. Bhumika and Priya agreed, and as this guide begins, Bhumika permits merchants from Malini’s retinue into Ahiranya’s borders, whereas Chandra, whom Malini is battling for the crown, loses his personal merchants by magical means.
Malini believes in retaining her guarantees (not simply to Priya and Bhumika, however to everybody she recruits); her phrase is her bond. However she can not categorical her craving for Priya besides in unsent letters (all however one—Priya’s revealing response places a cease to Malini’s personal communications together with her). Queer relationships are forbidden within the Parijati empire, and an empress is the final one who can break such a taboo.
As for Priya, she is now a temple elder in Ahiranya, with appreciable magical powers together with the power to halt the unfold of the rot that plagues Ahiranya’s folks and its crops. She leaves the politics to Bhumika, who is way more proficient at them, and focuses on that. Whereas she misses Malini badly, she accepts that life has taken them down two completely different paths. Even when Malini requested her to hitch her, Priya doesn’t really feel she may abandon her folks once they want her support.
Again in Harshinghar, Chandra and Hemanth debate how finest to steer their warfare. Chandra has burned many ladies to supply magical fireplace, however the priest is satisfied that the burning of a scion of Divyanshi—equivalent to Malini—would grant them larger energy, significantly if she rose to the pyre willingly. Chandra desires to kill Malini quite than win her consent, and whether or not he will be persuaded in any other case isn’t clear.
There’s additionally a debate amongst Malini’s generals, this one about deal with the Excessive Prince of Saketa, the one holdout kingdom chief who refuses to cooperate with Malini. He’s firmly allied to Chandra as a result of Saketa’s crops are infested with rot and his folks due to this fact rely upon meals provides from Parijatdvipa.
The excessive prince and his folks reside in a maze-like fortress. Nobody who leaves ever comes out. Malini doesn’t assume there’s some extent to a siege, however she concedes to her basic, Lord Mahesh. She wants Mahesh’s help too badly, and it’s evident that he would quite comply with Aditya, who’s now a part of Malini’s retinue however nonetheless a retiring priest of the Anonymous religion. Mahesh and others among the many princes and lords who’ve joined Malini are sexist, and it’s straightforward for him to undermine her.
The siege goes very badly certainly. Malini’s military is attacked by a military of monks wielding unnatural fireplace—flames that bounce to folks and assault them. Many in Malini’s military consider it to be the holy Moms’ fireplace, the sort that resulted from the immolation of Malini’s ancestor Divyanshi and two different royal ladies and defeated the Yaksa in the course of the Age of Flowers (a long-ago time when Ahiranya was Parijatdvipa’s oppressor). Malini disputes this however a lot of her males, together with Mahesh, consider it, and that deflates everybody.
Malini herself survives the battle—surprisingly, she is saved by a tattooed priest. The priesthood is firmly on Chandra’s facet (he has elevated them to energy) so this can be a thriller. Within the wake of the battle, Malini sends a coded message to Ahiranya. Not a love letter to Priya, however a request for support.
In Ahiranya, Bhumika is waging diplomatic battles on a number of fronts. The excessive born, who supported the insurgency in opposition to Parijatdvipa, now grumble in regards to the loss in commerce with the empire and wish her to open the borders to Chandra’s merchants. They don’t consider that Malini will defeat him. In the meantime, the late Ashok’s rebels, now self-dubbed the masks keepers, demand to cross by the deathless waters once more.
Bhumika and Priya confer on this final subject. The masks keepers aren’t biddable and never all are of the identical thoughts about Ahiranya’s future. Then again, Bhumika and Priya want extra temple elders to assist them maintain again the unfold of the rot. And that want turns into extra pressing as soon as Bhumika persuades Priya to go assist Malini as Malini has requested.
There’s additionally some consideration to Priya’s tightness together with her longtime good friend, Sima. It’s vital to Sima for them to be extra equal, to really feel helpful and included, so Priya invitations her to hitch her on the journey to Saketa.
Once they attain Saketa, Priya and Sima encounter quite a few challenges. The largest is gaining acceptance from Malini’s folks. As Ahiranyi, they’re hated and feared (particularly Priya, together with her magical powers). Additional, Malini can’t acknowledge her closeness to Priya in public, and to assist her, Priya should take a extra subordinate place, one that permits Malini to command her to bow to effigies of the Moms at a temple they cease in. It’s the one solution to even half persuade Malini’s males that Malini hasn’t made a grave error in allying herself to the Ahiranyi.
Priya and Bhumika had deliberate to speak within the Sangam (a mystical realm the place three rivers meet) however the skill disappears, and that alarms each of them. Communication resumes later, although, and Priya is far relieved. However that’s not the top of their troubles, solely the start. As a result of Priya was “hollowed” by her passage by the deathless waters, and solely now could be she beginning to study what that hollowing means.
As I mentioned, I used to be disillusioned on this guide. My greatest situation is that the romantic relationship stays in a holding sample for a lot of the guide. Priya and Malini don’t reunite till a 3rd of the way in which by the guide, after which the presence of Malini’s folks prevents Priya and Malini from having a lot privateness, so for a very long time the one important factor that occurs from a romantic standpoint is that they need they may have time alone collectively.
I really feel that their romantic emotions may have been strengthened extra if their commonalities had been persistently highlighted as they have been within the first guide. The 2 of them are elsewhere in life now than they have been in The Jasmine Throne, so I wanted to be proven why they have been nonetheless meant to be. I didn’t really feel the romantic stress practically as a lot as I had within the earlier guide.
When it comes to their relationship and when it comes to Malini’s general arc, this reads very very like a bridge guide, written to arrange a stronger guide three. Within the final 25% of the guide, vital developments happen within the Priya/Malini relationship (in addition to within the bigger political arc). However a lot of the previous 75% drags romance-wise and that makes the ending really feel like too little too late. Nearly each different relationship within the guide—Priya/Sima, Rao/Aditya, Rao/Lata, Bhumika and nearly everybody in her world—is extra participating than the central one.
One other situation I had was that there was SO MUCH concentrate on the military. Studying about armies is simply not my factor. I saved wanting to return to Ahiranya, the place the whole lot is lush and inexperienced, and go away this dusty military of stodgy males.
What saves this guide—to the diploma that it’s saved—is Bhumika. I by no means thought I might say this, however her storyline was a lot extra fascinating and absorbing. Her scenario was crammed with excessive stakes and transferring scenes, and her interactions with nearly each particular person we noticed her with—Rukh, Jeevan, Kritika, Ganam, her daughter Padma, and ultimately others—created indelible scenes and highly effective conditions. The Ahiranya sections of the guide jogged my memory why I cherished The Jasmine Thorne a lot, and the way gorgeously Tasha Suri can write.
There’s a lot else occurring within the guide that I don’t need to spoil, however I’ll point out a number of issues in short. Rao is combating regard to his loyalty to Malini, since she doesn’t recognize simply how vital she is to him when it comes to his Anonymous tradition and religion. Chandra can also be struggling, and boy, is he evil. However Suri made me perceive the place that got here from to a level, so he wasn’t fairly as cardboard as he may need been. Chandra additionally will get married on this guide, and I felt for his spouse. As well as, Kartik’s function within the story is ultimately revealed.
Yet another factor readers ought to know: this guide is darker than The Jasmine Throne. There’s some eerie and disturbing stuff that occurs. Although I typically hate scary issues in books, I really cherished it right here. It was so atmospheric and magical, in a darkish approach.
What can I say to sum up The Oleander Sword? It’s the weakest of Tasha Suri’s 5 books for me, however based mostly on the way it’s arrange, I anticipate that guide three might be quite a bit higher. I’ll learn it, positively. Nonetheless, I’m bummed. C+.
Sincerely,
Janine
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