The Jasmine Throne

This is one of those books with lots of characters, lots of names, lots of viewpoints, and complicated plot including political shenanigans. Sometimes a new viewpoint character is introduced (along with everyone in their vicinity at the time) only to die at the end of the chapter; sometimes a new viewpoint character is introduced and turns out to be very important and not someone to forget. All of which is to say: if you read very slowly or have trouble with concentration and memory, this is maybe not the book for you.

It has a lot going for it, though: excellent worldbuilding, complex characters and relationships, revolutions, a rot and a religion that combine blood with foliage (and personally I'm always going to be interested in something that involves bleeding trees or, for that matter, flowering veins. This has both). I don't have much specific to say about it right now, but I'm certainly looking forwards to the next one.

Selling points: lesbians; desi-based fantasy; excellent worldbuilding

Warnings: imprisonment, nonconsensual drugging; sibling abuse; lots of violence

4,5 stars. This was an excellent story, with all the ingredients that make a good fantasy. Although anyone that has some experience with fantasy novels could see from the start how the two leading ladies would end up (and I'm not talking about the romance here).

It would have been 5 stars, but I was not really a fan of how the book was written. There are a lot of different POV's, and I understand that was necessary to explain the plot, but I'm not a fan of this style. What I did not like was that there were a couple of chapters where a random character was introduced, with all their thoughts and actions, only to have that character die at the end of the chapter. I think there are better ways to handle that, but that's an entirely personal opinion.

Also, why does it say TikTok made me buy it in the title (Kindle version)? Wtf has TikTok got to do with it?

I can't wait for the next installment, though.