This book was kind of a disappointment compared to the first. It was quite repetitive during the first half, nothing interesting really happened. The characters were pretty boring compared to The Jasmine Throne. Bhumika was the only interesting character, I loved her story line. But the majority of this book was just telling, I wish we could have actually seen Malini be a badass Empress and scheme her way to winning against Chandra. I will read the sequel because I got the ARC on Net Galley.