Excited to dive back into Tasha Suri's Burning Kingdom's Trilogy? Need a refresher before you get reading? Never fear, Mel is here to give you all the deets you need!
Hello again! I’m back with another Tasha Suri book review in anticipation of her final installment in the Burning Kingdoms Trilogy. Last time, we left off when Princess Malini declared herself Empress and vowed to remove her treacherous brother Chandra from the throne. There is plenty of political intrigue, slow-burn sapphic romance, and high-stakes battles. So let’s dive in, shall we?
The Oleander Sword takes place a year after Malini declared herself Empress and has been building up her army with the surrounding city-states that have not yet pledged themselves to her brother, Chandra. Her position of power is still very precarious in that her generals are still hoping to persuade her elder brother,
Aditya, to reclaim his birthright because a male heir is “stronger” in their eyes. To better solidify her power, Malini has decided to rebuild her court from among the noblewomen of her new army. She knows they could never replace her fallen heart sisters, but she still longs for feminine companionship. She is also very much aware how crucial it is to make connections that she can use to keep her generals in check by offering higher status through said women, have eyes and ears in places that she can’t be present, and through Lady Raziya specifically, a trusted guard to protect her at all times. Lady Raziya’s character is that of a strong-willed and capable warrior. While she is ultimately loyal to her husband, Raziya leads a troop of women warriors trained in archery and the sword fearlessly. She has also taken a liking to Empress Malini and has proven to be loyal time and again, whilst holding her liege to the promise of a greater fortune and position for her people within the empire. These fearsome women have no qualms about challenging any misogynistic behavior either, which we love to see. It’s very Amazonian. It doesn’t take long for Malini’s court of women to be filled, and yet none of them can hold a flame to the woman who holds her heart, Priya.
Both women have been busy leading and providing for their respective peoples, but as much as they try to move on, the time apart has only strengthened the pull toward each other. Malini knows her letters are read before being passed on to a rider, but the empress can no longer bear not to let Priya know—if only in a short, coded message—how much she still means to her. Priya is surprised Malini would be so bold as to write to her, an Ahiranyan “witch” not to be trusted by the empire, but she quickly responds in kind and offers to come to Malini’s aid should the campaign ever become dire. If only she knew how soon her offer would be called upon.
As a reader, it was endearing to see these two women have moments of inner monologue directed toward each other. It shows the depths of feelings that burns within them for each other despite the politics or distance. Malini even goes so far as to write more in-depth letters to Priya that she has no intention of sending and instead hides them where no one can discover them. It’s the only way to get her feelings out and maintain her peace of mind. It’s very relatable and classic sapphic longing. Tasha Suri is a master at writing sapphic pining and building tension.
The main obstacle to Malini’s campaign is the Maze Fortress of Saketa which lies between her and the capital city. Unless she can gain the fealty of Saketa’s High Prince, Malini risks her army being open to attack from behind. She is hopeful that negotiations will proceed successfully when her army marches to the Maze Fort’s gates in all it’s might. However, when she is greeted by the head priest of the Mothers, Hemanth, her worst fears are realized. Hemanth is loyal to Chandra and tells her that unless she is willing to surrender and rise to the pyre, her army will fall. The High Prince’s army floods out of the fortress with what appears to be Mother’s divine flame alighting their weapons. The unnatural flame jumps from soldier to soldier, burning through Malini’s army, and she is forced to call for a retreat in order to save as many as she can. She has the priest taken prisoner as well. Her army suffers many losses and a majority of her remaining forces believe that the presence of Mother’s flame is an omen that Malini’s claim to the throne to be against the Mother’s will. The empress is horrified by the battle but adamant that the flame Chandra has unleashed is a false flame somehow. With her army losing morale and this false flame holding them in limbo, Malini’s only hope is sending a missive for Priya to join her campaign and help tip the scales in their favor with her magic. Part of her hates that she has to put Priya at risk, but at the same time, her ambition to overthrow her nefarious brother compels her to use anything and anyone to achieve her goals, however much she may care for them. Chandra cannot be allowed to remain on the empire’s throne.
Meanwhile, back in Ahiranya, Elder Bhumika has been trying to keep the country running, patrolling with Priya to take out any remaining enemy soldiers, raising her infant daughter, and welcoming the ever growing convoys of pilgrims wishing to pay their respects to the Yaksa on the Hirana. It seems her daily tasks never end but she is happy to do whatever it takes to bring her country back to its former glory. When she receives empress Malini’s letters to Priya, she passes them along but makes it clear that she doesn’t trust the woman and cautions her temple sister to be careful with her heart. Priya reassures her that Malini will uphold her promise to grant Hiranya its independence. The sudden official request from the empress for Priya to join her campaign comes as a small shock but a welcome one to the temple elder. She can’t help but feel a little anxious excitement at the prospect of seeing Malini again and hopeful that what they had a year ago hasn’t died after all. She then heads out with her best friend, Sima, and a small retinue of guards for the front.
I didn’t mention Sima’s character in the Jasmine Throne review because she was more of a background character, but she plays much more of a role in Book Two. Sima is around the same age as Priya, and they’ve been close friends since working together on the Regent’s estate. She’s the Samwise to Priya’s Frodo and acts as a moral foil for Priya, keeping her grounded. She knows how Priya feels about Malini and wants her friend to be happy, but like Bhumika, she counsels her friend to be cautious. Since the uprising at the estate, she’s been training with the bow to take out enemy patrols, and though she has no love for fighting, Sima is willing to do what it takes to protect her loved ones. Priya’s group is treated rather poorly by Malini’s army due to their superstitions about Ahiranyans and the Yaksa’s Age of Flowers. That being said, Sima does find a camaraderie with Lady Raziya’s warriors after showing her archery skills.
Malini is constantly being underestimated and undermined by her generals, so having Priya by her side again is a major morale boost. That being said, they’re once again forced to maintain the mask of a purely empress/subject relationship, which only causes more pining, longing glances, and lingering touches.
Priya and Sima getting into a physical altercation with a group of soldiers doesn’t help the situation. Their commander, Lord Mahesh, has been a thorn in Malini’s side for much of the campaign, so when he demands justice, she is put in a tough spot. She can’t show favoritism to Priya, but she also knows his men were at fault. Being the quick-witted strategist that she is, Malini gives him a choice: public caning or let Priya use her magic to halt the rot within the soldiers in his care. He reluctantly chooses the latter. At first, the men are hostile toward Priya, but once the healing takes hold, they slowly warm up to the two women.
Their reverie is short lived, however, as the High Prince launches an arrow attack on their camp. The false flame burns through the tents and men alike, and everyone scrambles to form ranks. Priya tries using her magic to help, but ever since she left the borders of her homeland it hasn’t felt as strong, and when she’s reached into the sangam [the eternal waters] Bhumika doesn’t act like herself. One of the flames burns through the vines she manages to raise like it’s nothing and catches her in the side, the pain of which causes her to black out. Priya wakes up in the sangam, wound still raw, and is face-to-face with Bhumika.
Normally when astral projecting their bodies are ethereal. This time, they are fully flesh, though Bhumika’s eyes are oddly golden like a yaksas’ and her voice devoid of emotion. She heals Priya with her magic, which should not be possible even for an elder, and admonishes her to show more respect. Priya wakes up to a distraught Sima leaning over her making sure she’s alive. The battle ended quickly, though the damage was costly. Priya eventually makes it to Malini’s tent. Malini rushes to hold her face and ask if she’s alright. Priya is relieved to see her and reassures her that she’s fine ,and they have a sweet moment just holding each other. It’s obvious both women want nothing more than to be with each other and let the rest of the world fade away for awhile, but the war waits for no one. Priya insists that she’s there to use her magic for the empress and so asks that Malini use her at the front. Malini fears for Priya more than she ever thought possible, but she knows the elder is right. It’s time to use all the power available to her and end this once and for all. She makes the decision to risk moving the main part of her army forward towards the capital while Aditya volunteers to lead a smaller contingent against the fort buying them time. Most of her army will cross at the main ford while Priya and a smaller contingent can cross at a smaller ford further down river in the hopes of flanking Chandra’s army where they won’t expect and catching them in a pinch maneuver.
We do get a few Chandra POVs, but they are thankfully short. He is haunted by nightmares of the Mothers taunting him. He has been burning women and using the flame born from their ashes to attack Malini’s army. He truly believes that it is Mothers' flame, despite the nightmares that plague him. The only soft spot in his heart is for the high priest Hamanth. The priest has been the sole person to understand him and his beliefs and so Chandra trusts him completely. So when Chandra voices his desire to kill Malini himself, only Hamanth’s fatherly voice can persuade him to wait until Malini is captured and convince her to take the pyre willingly or true Mothers' flame will be impossible to create. The priest also warns him about the yaksa’s returning, which is one of the few things that can make Chandra truly nervous.
Bhumika can’t believe her eyes when she sees her elder temple brother Ashok not only alive but walking toward her with a group of pilgrims and two other former temple siblings who had died years ago. The former temple siblings introduce themselves as yaksa and explain that those who died crossing the waters had become hollow vessels for the yaksa to walk the world once more. This revelation shakes Bhumika to the core, but she instinctively lets her training take over and welcomes them into the estate. They treat her with the benevolent honor of a temple elder but make it clear that everyone must obey their will with complete faith and no one is allowed to leave or enter Ahiranya until further notice. When she asks them why she can’t communicate with Priya, they give her a cryptic response that it is not time for her to return yet. This causes Bhumika great unease, and while she remains ever loyal on the surface, she sets out to gain any information she can on the yaksa histories in case their benevolence should ever turn into something more hostile.
Bhumika soon realizes her error when, upon her return, the yaksa, in the form of her former temple siblings, are holding her young daughter in their arms. They tell her that they will take over caring for the child from now on, and she may no longer see her without their permission. Their demeanor remains “calm and serene,” but the message is clear: any more defiance will be met with deadly consequences, and her daughter is now a hostage. Bhumika’s spirit is broken, and alone with her pain, she weeps. Between how the yaksa have acted among their subjects as well as the creepy behavior of the yaksa impersonating Bhumika in the sangam, it is becoming more apparent to the reader that the yaksa spirits we thought were the victims of the Age of Flowers may actually be villains after all. It’s an intriguing twist and one that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the book.
Priya and Sima join Ashutosh’s unit at the ford, who start to make their way across. Something feels off to her, so Priya remains on the shore and reaches out with her gift to see if any traps lay beneath the water. Through the vegetation growing from the riverbed, she senses a group of hidden archers among the reeds and shouts for her escort Prince Rao to call their men back, but it’s too late. There’s no false flame present, but men and horses still fall under a barrage of arrows halfway across, and the river turns into a bloodbath. Lord Ashutosh and his men are pinned under a small copse of trees and rock growing on an islet, and Priya wades in after them to bring them back. When she reaches them, Lord Ashutosh is wounded and still doesn’t want her help. She tells one of the men holding him up to drag him onto the islet and dives under the water and reaches out with all of her power, and the vegetation finally obeys, turning into a makeshift bridge of vines across the river large enough to let Malinin’s army through. It’s construction is an amazing fete, but in the process she’s used up all her strength and sinks into the sangam.
The yaksa that’s been appearing in Bhumika’s form is there once more. She offers Priya the strength of her full power to win her war, but she must sacrifice something in return. The yaksa claims she gave away something that belongs to the yaksa and wants it back. Priya doesn’t understand what exactly she’s referring to, but she can feel her body fading and so reluctantly agrees. Now, with the full power of the yaksa, Priya can not only manipulate the plant life but the river itself. She bends the river to her will and sends it crashing into the hidden force attacking them, and it continues it’s way right into Chandra’s main force. The battle is won, and Malini’s army crosses safely to the other side of the river in joyful disbelief. Malini, of course, knows only Priya could have accomplished such an act and fears for her well-being but continues on hoping she will see her well soon enough. Priya does nearly drown again as her strength fades, but she is rescued by Prince Rao. He covers her under a blanket to hide the remaining yaksa flowers that cling to her wounds as he takes her to Malini’s tent at once.
Priya wakes, but in an almost drunken state, she stumbles into Malini’s arms and tells her how she fears she’s not human enough now as flowers continue to grow out of her wounds and hair. She even confesses that everything she did was for Malini and the love she bears for her. Malini holds her close and reassures the elder that she loves her too, though her expression may differ from Priya’s. Malini tells her that she is in fact strong enough to control the gifts given to her. They have a bit of a steamy kissing moment, and things would have gone further, but a noise outside brings them back to reality, and they reluctantly stop. Priya is able to calm down enough so the flowers stop growing and fall to the ground, and she appears human once more. Their heads still touching; they promise to try again later, when things have calmed down. It’s a heartfelt scene exploring their emotions for each other, expressing their fears and acceptance of each other, and more sexual tension building. When they do, in fact, try again later, it is all tenderness and hunger only the other can sate. There’s a difference between a sex scene and a love scene, and this is probably the best-written love scene I’ve ever read. It’s not overly explicit but shows the depths of emotion and love these two women have for one another and the exploration of that in a beautiful way.
Back in Ahiranya, the yaksa come to Bhumika and request that she gather all of the nobles together for a feast to celebrate their return. Bhumika is suspicious of their intentions but obeys. The thought of them using her daughter as blackmail is killing her, but she will not risk her safety. By the time she makes it to the feast hall, everyone has already dug in. She sits next to Ashok and reaches for some herself, but he discreetly grabs her hand and shakes his head. She looks at the food again and realizes it is filled with rot, and moments later the other guests panic as the rot takes over their bodies and many collapse to the floor in pain. The yaksa look on, smiling in their creepy way, and tell them if they bow to them, the yaksa will halt the rot; if not, they will die. Everyone fearfully bows, and Bhumika is left speechless but bows as well, knowing she must act accordingly or risk everything left she holds dear.
Later, Ashok finds her and tells the story of a yaksa long ago who loved humans, especially a young girl like a daughter. He filled her head with all of the knowledge of the yaksa, but after barely passing the waters three times, it was too much for her. She couldn’t hold the waters and was dying, so he tore the waters from her, saving her life, but at the cost of all her memories, and she will have to flee. Ashok offers her the knowledge of the yaksa and the way to destroy them, but it will cost Bhumika her memories. She asks him why he would offer her this, and he replies that Ashok the man wanted a free Ahiranya and for his sisters to live. She takes a moment to consider, but in the end she knows this will probably be her only chance to free her people from the yaksa and agrees to meet later that night. Ashok takes her daughter and gives her into the care of the servant boy Rukh since the yaksa won’t need her as blackmail anymore.
That night, Bhumika sneaks away with her trusted second, Jeevan, to meet Ashok in a tree grove. The two had grown very close over the past year, and what had started out as an elder/guard dynamic had gradually grown into something more romantic. It breaks her heart to have to give up him, her daughter Padma, and her memories, but she finds comfort in the fact that her loved ones will be somewhat safe and Jeevan will stay by her side. Ashok doesn’t have much time left before the yaksa inside him takes over completely, so they don’t waste time with the ritual. As soon as it’s complete, Jeevan leads her across the border. It was really sad to see Bhumika have to lose seemingly everything she’s ever loved for the sake of her people. She’s a good-hearted person and doesn’t deserve the trauma she’s been through, but she handles it with immense inner strength.
After the battle at the ford, Prince Rao requests that Malini let him return to her brother Aditya’s side and support him in the siege against the Maze Fort. She is loathe to lose a loyal general, but knowing the childhood bond between the two men, she relents. It seems the mother's good fortune is with him because who should he run into on the road but the High Prince’s son on his trek home? Rao and his men capture him, and upon reaching Aditya’s camp, make him show the hidden path into the fort. They make it to a large room lit by Mother’s flame and accidentally trip an alarm wire. Soldiers come storming in and Prince Rao and Prince Aditya are surrounded. Prince Aditya is oddly calm and walks toward one of the flames. Rao quickly realizes what his best friend plans to do. He begs Aditya not to sacrifice himself, but his friend smiles that this was always what the Nameless God had planned for him and puts his hand into the flames. Because Aditya is of royal blood, the Mother’s flame responds to his will and attacks the High Prince’s men as well. Prince Rao is heartbroken at the loss of his friend, but the Maze Fort has been won. We only got small interactions with them, but again, the author does a great job of showing how strong their childhood bond is and the pain each felt at having to part ways.
Empress Malini receives a message that the leader of a separate sect of priests of the Nameless wishes to meet with her to discuss an alliance. One of his priests had taken an arrow for her in the battle for the Fort, so she obliged. At the meeting, he tells her that she will have his priests take care of Chandra if, after she’s overthrown him, she will take her rightful place upon the pyre. I swear if one more man tells this woman to burn!! It’s infuriating, and Malini is rightfully furious at her lot in life. Of course she has no intention of doing so, but she plays along and tells him she will do as he asks in return for his support. In order for the plan to work, the empress must let herself be “captured” on the battlefield, let Chandra think he’s triumphed, and then the priests will take care of the rest. The battle is fierce, and even with Priya at full strength having dealt a heavy blow to their enemy forces, she inevitably used too much and just barely managed to raise a wall of earth as a shield before sinking once more into the sangam. This time the yaksa appears in her true form and demands her due. Priya asks her what she wants, and the yaksa replies with her heart. Priya is confused, having already carved out her heart in exchange for her powers. The yaksa clarifies she gave her physical heart yes, but on a spiritual level, Priya gave her heart to Malini. She demands that Priya take the knife carved from the yaksa’s body and take it back. Priya is horrified and begs her to choose anything else, but the yaksa is adamant that if she refuses, Priya will become her empty vessel and the lives of her people will be forfeited. Priya weeps in despair at her dilemma and takes the knife. When she wakes, Sima is still by her side, which is a relief, and once she brings down the shield to see if the battle is over or not,.
Earlier in the battle, the empress was quickly captured and brought before her brother. Chandra tries to keep his cool at first, but when Malini refuses to kneel to him and remain defiant, he loses it and hits her across the face. She taunts him again [love to see it], and he strikes her again. At that point someone draws a sword to his neck, and Hemanth appears before him, apologizing but making it clear that he’s been betrayed by the one person he thought loved him. Hemanth’s loyalty ultimately lies with the will of the Mothers, and it seems Malini’s “willingness” to sacrifice herself to the Mothers was enough to betray the man he treated like a son. Chandra’s world is completely broken by this and is taken away to a cell below. I’d feel a little bad for him if he wasn’t a misogynistic psychopath. Oh well, so sad moving on. Empress Malini after all these years has finally beaten the man who made her life a living hell and claimed her throne. But how long will she be able to keep it?
Once the priests and her army have settled in, she calls for a feast to celebrate their victory, and soon everyone is distracted by food and drink. She uses that time to visit Chandra in the dungeon, who is shackled but in a decent cell given his royal blood. Malini tells him, as much as she’d enjoy killing him with a blade herself, she’s thought of a much longer way to end him and places a bottle of needleflower tincture on the table. He could end it all now by drinking the bottle and having a quick death, or she will put small doses in his food and wine and kill him slowly like he tried to do to her. Ah, how the tables have turned. Once she’s left the room, he considers his fate and, full of rage and fear, decides to take the bottle and die, mind intact. It burns him from the inside out, and as death comes for him, he sees the skeletal figures of the Mothers come to claim him in their crimson finery and fire all the while laughing at him. How fitting an end for such a man. Malini stays until she knows he’s done for and heads back to meet with her advisors.
Later that night, Priya walks through the celebrations greeted by the soldiers who once hated her on sight, now with earned trust and invitations to join them in drink and games. She tries to keep a smile on her face and politely declines and looks for Sima. Sima is a little tipsy and embraces Priya out of sheer joy for their survival. It breaks Priya’s heart to ruin everything the two of them have gained in their time with the army, but her dreaded task eats at her side, where the thorn blade is hidden under her skin. She tells Sima what the yaksa have demanded of her and begs her friend to wait half an hour before going to the guards and warning them of Priya’s betrayal. It’s the only way to ensure Sima is cleared of suspicion as her accomplice, and by then Priya will be already on the road back home. They have a moment to say their tearful goodbyes, and then Priya goes to Malini.
Malini is alone in the throne room and gazes at her with open tenderness when she tells her it’s finally done. Priya can’t hide the uneasiness from her face and tells her she needs to cut the needleflower from the necklace she had given her a year before. Malini recognizes something has made Priya unnerved but hands it over in good faith. Priya removes it with the knife, but nothing happens, and in dismay, she says it’s not enough and lets it slip that a yaksa told her to take her heart back. Realizing what she means, Malini tries to get away, but Priya’s vines drag her back. They end up in a physical struggle against each other as tears stream down their faces. This scene has the most heartbreaking dialogue in the entire book. Malini begs for her to stop this and declares that Priya’s heart lives within her, not the flower, and she can’t take it from her. Priya weeps and tells her she loves her too, but she can’t betray her people and so has no choice. In the struggle, Priya manages to stab Malini in the chest but misses her heart. They both know it, but Priya whispers it has to be enough. Malini cries she will never forgive her for this, and Priya responds, “It has to be enough. Hate me and live.” She kisses Malini’s forehead and leaves through the open window. The priest of the Nameless finds Malini and helps her up, telling her now is her chance to take to the pyre that Chandra had left burning in the room for her and join the Mothers in glory. She takes the thorn blade from her chest and stabs him in the neck. Well, that takes care of that. Two guards come rushing in and tell them that he had died defending her from Priya and to call for a healer immediately. No one would steal her throne, not even the woman who stole her heart.
The book ends with Priya reaching the border to Ahiranya and is greeted by Ashok, who is no longer Ashok, and he welcomes her home.
I know this was a long review/summary, but it’s just that good! So many book twos in trilogies end up suffering from an "in-between book" slump where the plot just doesn’t hit, but Tasha Suri has written a story that somehow surpasses the first in every way. The stakes are higher, the emotions run deeper, and the lore becomes oh-so-very intriguing with every page. I don’t know how she’s going to top this, but I think it very well may become the best adult fantasy trilogy I’ve ever read! I’ve read this book twice now, and both times, I was left in tears and wanting more. My heart breaks for Priya, Malini, and Bhumika in different ways, and I’m so scared for what’s to become of them. Five out of five stars for me. I cannot wait for the final installment!
I hope you're ready with your copy of The Lotus Empire. I will be back with that review as soon as I finish reading...and done sobbing, most likely. See you next time.
Mel Katcharian is an illustrator and avid reader. She loves YA, fantasy, and comics. Most of her time is spent making art (often interrupted by her cat, Zuko), rewatching her favorite shows over and over, and daydreaming about living in the woods surrounded by nature, books, and her cat.
Instagram: @Mel_Katcharian
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