Same things I loved about Jasmine Throne are true for the sequel as well. This one gets darker and sadder though. 

The ENDING?!?! oh the pining the yearning the betrayal the love the grief. This stupid lesbians and their goddamn devotion and the entire world against them. I can’t even put together anything coherent for an actual review. 
I will say that the political maneuvering does appear prominently in this book, which got a tad boring for my taste. And I’m still unsure about the plant magic. The idea of it is compelling but I’m not sure the execution rises to the occasion. 

 

After the conclusion of The Jasmine Throne, I knew the tone and plot of The Oleander Sword were going to be different. At the end of The Jasmine Throne Malini escapes her imprisonment and begins her quest to overthrow her brother Chandra, the emperor of Parijatdvipa. Meanwhile, Priya remains in Ahiranya to rule alongside Bhumika as temple elders. With the separation of our two main characters and the expansion of the plot beyond Ahiranya, The Oleander Sword promised high stakes and a bloody battle for the Parijatdvipan empire.

One of my favorite parts of The Jasmine Throne was the development of Malini and Priya’s relationship, so I was worried about how their separation would affect my enjoyment of the sequel. I was also curious to see how the overall feel of the story would change as the focus moved from the characters’ relationships to the war for the empire. It turns out my worries were unwarranted. The Oleander Sword continued to revolve around its characters and their conflicts, even as the plot expanded.

Although The Oleander Sword continued to develop its characters and relationships, there’s no doubt it drifts further into epic fantasy than The Jasmine Throne with its widespread worldbuilding, epic battles, and the introduction of world-ending conflict. In my opinion, The Jasmine Throne toed the line between epic and high fantasy, because even though the conflict and worldbuilding spanned across an empire, most of the focus was aimed at Priya and Malini’s budding relationship. The story was always going to expand, but it does give The Oleander Sword a different feel than The Jasmine Throne.

Malini’s path of conquest was the main source of conflict in the story. I’m going to be honest, I usually don’t pay attention to large battles far beyond “swords, yay!”, and The Oleander Sword delivered in that area. What I loved most about this plotline was getting to see the conflict and tension between Malini and her allies.

Malini wasn’t the first in line for the throne, and unlike Chandra, she didn’t have powerful priests to back her claim to the throne. The only way she had any chance of defeating Chandra was by gaining powerful allies. We learn in The Jasmine Throne that Malini spent her time before being banished gathering allies, and The Oleander Sword is really where we get to see the results of her networking. Unfortunately, the promises she made to gain those allies were the promises of an emperor. Throughout the story, Malini must plan assaults against her brother’s armies while placating the allies she needs to defeat him. The tension this created made for an exciting story. I loved seeing the decisions Malini was forced to make, and the different side of her character it brought out.

I was incredibly impressed by how well Tasha Suri continued to weave together all her characters’ motivations and stories into the narrative. I enjoyed the multi-pov style in The Jasmine Throne, but I think The Oleander Sword is a much better example of how this writing style can bring empire-wide plotlines to life. While The Jasmine Throne mostly focused on Malini’s imprisonment with a few “side” plots, The Oleander Sword follows multiple conflicts that will determine the fate of the Parijatvipan Empire.

Tasha Suri also has a very vivid and elegant writing style that gives her stories a magical feel. It makes the story flow at a very gentle pace without getting boring. I also love how her depiction of certain scenes makes them linger in my mind like my own memories. When I think back to my favorite moments in the book, it feels like I was actually there.

When I finally decided to pick The Oleander Sword back up after classes ended, I decided to get the audiobook because I thought Suri’s writing would be best to listen to. I was right. Listening to The Oleander Sword audiobook was like being wrapped in a warm blanket and being told a bedtime story (albeit, a very dark and bloody one). After I finished listening to The Oleander Sword I decided I needed to go back and read the series from the beginning as audiobooks. 
 

In terms of characters, The Oleander Sword continued with The Jasmine Throne’s themes of unlikely allies, the sacrifices it takes to gain power, and the development of our favorite sapphic power couple: Priya and Malini. There really wasn’t much room for improvement, in my opinion, but one difference between the first and second books was that the side characters felt more compelling. Bhumika was an especially interesting character to follow as she faced the consequences of seizing the power she needed to reclaim Ahiranya. I also really enjoyed seeing more of the relationship between Rao and Aditya. I wasn’t expecting there to be such a close, loving bond between the two, so it was a pleasant surprise. Whenever I reread the series, I want to pay more attention to Rao’s perspective because I missed some of their relationship dynamics just because I wasn’t looking for them. I was more focused on Priya/Malini, Priya/Bhumika, and Priya/Sima.

Speaking of, I loved getting to see more of Sima in The Oleander Sword. She got sidelined in the first book, but she has a lot of potential as a character. In this sequel, Sima demonstrated that she is exceptionally loyal and charming. One of the saddest parts of the book for me was seeing Sima struggle to hold on to her relationship with Priya as Priya continued to become more powerful and untouchable. Sima wanted to be the one to protect Priya, but how can you protect one of the most powerful humans in the empire? As the series continues, I’m really interested to see how Sima changes as a result of Priya’s choices. I think she has the potential to become a key player in the third book of the series.

Another thing that stood out to me in The Oleander Sword was just how perfectly it acted as the second book for a trilogy. This sequel reached an exciting climax for the original conflict while seamlessly weaving in new antagonists to set up the finale. In my experience, sequels often transition the original conflict to the third book for the finale or they only focus on setting up new conflict for the finale. In both cases, the second book in a trilogy can become dull because all it does is act as a transition between the first and third books. But The Oleander Sword managed to set up the final conflict without taking away from its own plotline. 
 

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book. 

what did i just read

"I hope it wasn’t too traumatic." Tasha Suri says in the acknowledgments... Well, I have never been more traumatized in my life.

This book contained the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It made me the happiest person on earth and the saddest at the same time.

If you thought The Jasmine Throne waw great, oh you're in for a treat. Tasha Suri steps it up about 100 notches in this one. The Oleander Sword truly had me on the edge of my seat the entire book.

In book one, I had many questions about the world and why it was the way it was, but I read this, and it just clicked. There was literally a light bulb moment halfway where it all made sense. A genius wrote this book, I am telling you.

Priya and Malini. It hurts. There was a terrible sense of foreboding throughout the novel. They really are THAT morally grey power couple. 

OH bhumika! rao! their point of views I love. Especially Rao, him finding himself and his path this book was great. Someone give that boy a break. Bhumika's pov was genius. Her relationship with Jeevan was a work of art. 

How many times can I say that I love this book without getting annoying? I don't think I can wait long enough for book three.

 In this thrilling sequel to The Jasmine Throne, three main characters must reckon with the high cost of power. Dark secrets wait at the root of a strange and powerful magic; brutal war and waning faith surround the figure of a prophesied rule; new threats arise to challenge a newly freed country. With mysteries that draw readers further into the story and twists that keep them on their toes, The Oleander Sword takes the series in exciting directions. I'm rooting so hard for Priya, Malini, and Bhumika, even as their motives differ and their paths diverge, and I'm so exciting to see where Tasha Suri takes them next.  

Themes: the impact of imperialism and war, religion, challenging misogyny and xenophobia within the context of the world, the cost of power and secrets, sapphic romance, complicated characters

I wanted so incredibly to enjoy this, to fall in love with Priya, Malini, and Bhumika all over again, the casual lesbian and South Asian rep, the wonderful magic system, but I really didn’t, and am so heartbroken that that is so.

For the same page length as the first book in the series, this book was just so much more slow-paced, from start to finish. Throughout reading the book I was continuously waiting for the pacing to change, for the dramatic scenes and tension and plot points to all come together perfectly in the end, but nothing like that really happened at all.

Far too much of this book was Parijatdvipan politics, where Malini “cleverly schemes and manipulates” her subjects, when really what Malini does takes hardly any skill at all. Her character in general throughout this book fell so far down from her development in book 1. She’s just turned into this emotionless, manipulative, one-dimensional and flat character that I can hardly connect to, especially when she still acts so calculating with Priya, who acts like a practical loyal servant to Malini. Their relationship seems so incredibly unbalanced, with Malini blatantly using Priya for her gifts, which is intended, but I still disliked, and Priya is a submissive slave toward Malini, who forgives every bad thing she does and is just absolutely so blind to the darkness of her character. Both Priya and Malini in this book made me like Bhumika SO much more than the both of them; her arc and plot being so much more interesting than the main characters’ definitely says something. If this book was all Bhumika I might have actually enjoyed it more!

It is also implied that Parijatdvipa colonised Ahiranya in the first book, and that was handled so poorly in this book. The colonised (Ahiranya) are blamed and demonised by the majority of Parijatdvipa, calling “Priya’s kind” unnatural, witches, and this kind of stuff is just accepted and not classified as discriminatory and something that needs to be reversed. So adding that plot point and making the main relationship in the book between the colonised and the coloniser as some sort of “enemies to lovers” I am only now understanding after reading this book is just so weird, because, when writing a fantasy novel, you have the very obvious option to not include discrimination, yet this world has so much racism and misogyny that did not need to be added.

And the povs 😫 There were so many unnecessary character perspective chapters, like Malini’s once-mentioned maid, and Chandra, who is obviously an asshole and I didn’t need his chapters to know that. This book just seemed like such a chore to get through, and for it to not even end up being worth it in the end I am just disappointed.