The Burning Kingdoms Trilogy
By Tasha Suri
Book 1 - The Jasmine Throne
Book 2 - The Oleander Sword
Book 3 - The Lotus Empire.
Genre - Fantasy
I read a decent about of fantasy but I have never read fantasy based on India. Tasha Suri's Burning Kingdoms is a refreshing read, it takes the genre and contextualizes it in Indian culture. Here the two women protagonists are fighting but they wear saris, wear flower garlands. The food mentions rotis, halwas. The worship/religion is similar to Hindu religion but never explicitly stated. The place and other references are based on Indian lingo, examples - Parijatdvipa, Malini, Priya and Yaksa. The feel of this book is Indian and that is what motivated me to pick it and I would recommend the series.
The Jasmine throne starts when Malini is exiled by her brother to a remote place in the empire because she would not burn herself, that is sacrifice herself, for a prophecy that was foretold many eons ago. It is a form of imprisonment. The book touches a lot of patriarchal subjects without making them obvious. In this prison, Malini meets Priya who is assigned to take care of her. Priya is part of a old tribe who had magical powers and she can still feel the magic in herself.
The magic system of Burning Kingdoms is really well done. It is based on nature. People are infected by a rot - that is they are turning into trees. Skins gets converted into tree-bark like texture, veins into plant-veins, leaves and flowers sprout from body's spores. It is wholesome, easy to visualize and builds nicely. Then there is deathless water, a secret place where you take three dips, each dip either kills you or gives you stronger magical powers. There is training to improve your strength to pass these water-tests.
Tasha Suri builds the magic system gradually and her prose is awesome. Pages flip faster. The book is part of Sapphic fantasy genre - a subgenre of speculative fiction that features women-loving-women (WLW ) or nonbinary people in prominent roles. (I learnt about it recently). It is a love story of Priya and Malini against this backdrop of this magic system and evil logic of burning women.
Fire and water occur frequently and play the role of power/revenge vs strength through the book. There are a lot of good subtle touches throughout the book - nameless gods, prophecies and a lot of politics, and diplomacy weaved in.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and that convinced me to read the trilogy.
As trilogies go, books 2 and 3 expand on the world building. Where does the magic system come from? Why does the rot happen? As our main characters are going through their journey of self discoveries, sometimes, they find success, sometimes they hit roadblocks. Patience is tested, plans are re-drawn. And in between all of this, there is a longing between the two characters when they are not together and more so, when they are. The society has not accepted woman-woman relationship and they have to hide. Then, there is also the power dynamic - one wants to become an empress, other is a citizen of the empire. Tasha Suri, weaves all these into the plots neatly - the story keeps developing as these themes are explored.
I really liked the world building expansion. The magic system comes from these god-like beings called Yasksa who are celestial beings who once ruled the earth but were killed. Now, they are coming back. As they come back, they have to take human bodies and there are nice inner-monologues on the meaning of human forms for celestial beings. The magic system goes from a celebrated power to a curse because Yaksa are the new threat - they want to rule the world.
I also really liked the politics that goes. A woman to become an empress in the man's world - that does not go well. And there are different shades of it. They are those who support her claim unconditionally. Then there are those who want to remove the evil brother but are not sure of her claim. There are those who support her claim but are not ok with her proximity to the magic system/Priya, Each of these factions have their own political games and Malini dances around them.
By the end of book two, Malini has become the empress and Priya's magical powers are at its peak. But Priya has tried to kill Malini unsuccessfully, So, they are apart now. Book three is about how they eventually come together to destroy the Yaksas.
Book three opens with a strong velocity and I was gripped. But once they hit the early failures, the book takes time gets its pieces back. Somethings work - the Yaksa and anything related to them works for me. But the other things feel ingenuine - example - a character leaves to search for a way to kill or slow down Yaksa and then finds something as the very first thing. No struggle, no challenge. It is the very first thing they stumble into. Some characters who were introduced in book 2, do not show up strongly in book 3.
Tasha Suri manages to conclude nicely. The conclusion is logical, ties many plot points, bring closure and also our two characters end up together. It is a happy fantasy ending - one that is meant to be.
Overall, the writing is tight, good pace and very relatable. I think for the first time, I felt that I am reading fantasy and I can relate to the universe of this. It feel personal and real. That the Indian culture can be used as the base was known but no one had done it (at-least I had not read so far) . I liked the books and I would definitely recommend.
Ratings -
Book 1 - The Jasmine Throne - 3.5/5
Book 2 - The Oleander Sword - 3.5/5
Book 3 - The Lotus Empire. - 3/5
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