Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne is a rich, immersive and utterly engaging epic

Thanks to a multitude of delayed and rescheduled release dates, Summer 2021 is going to be an embarrassment of riches when it comes to fantasy books. You won’t be able to pass by a new release table at your local bookstore without tripping over one incredible story or another. But there’s one you should absolutely do your best not to miss: Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne.

The sort of rich, fully immersive tale that the fantasy genre was built on, The Jasmine Thone does the impossible: Balancing a complex multi-POV format that includes at least a half-dozen distinct voices; creating a rich fantasy world full of its own distinct cultures, magic, and religious systems; and centering it all around two powerful women who both seem ready to change their world.

Suri somehow makes all of these storytelling tricks look easy, and the end result is a novel you will find nearly impossible to put down. (The Jasmine Throne clocks in at over 500 pages, but trust me, you won’t feel most of them.)

A sprawling tale spread across the kingdom of Parijatdvipa, The Jasmine Throne primarily follows the story of Princess Malini, the sister of Emperor Chandra, a religious fanatic of the sort who likes to burn women to ensure their “purity”.  When Malini refuses to sacrifice her life to her brother’s whims, she’s taken to the Hirana, an ancient, crumbling temple in the conquered province of Ahiranya. There, she is held prisoner while everyone waits for her to basically decide to die. (And someone may or may not be poisoning her to ensure it.)

Priya is a former priestess of the Hirana who has hidden her old life in the wake of widespread persecution of those who possess the nature-based magical abilities gifted to people of her faith. Now a maidservant, she agrees to join the team of women assigned to look after the imprisoned princess, in the hopes of an increased income that she can use to help the city of Hiranaprastha’s poor. When she and Malini strike up something like an uneasy friendship – and the princess realizes there’s more to Priya and meets the eye – the two make a deal.

The maidservant will help the princess escape the Hirana. And in exchange, if Malini’s planned rebellion is successful, Priya will win Ahiranya’s freedom. But as the two grow closer, they must each decide where their loyalties lie and how much of their growing attraction they’re willing to sacrifice for their respective countries.

There’s obviously a whole lot more to the story than this, from family betrayals and political alliances to a secret clan of masked resistance fighters and the divided loyalties of several major players within the story.

But at its heart, The Jasmine Throne is a study of empire: Who powers it, who suffers under it, what it does to those trapped on both sides of the battle for supremacy and control. The story can feel a little difficult to get into in the early going – there’s nothing for Suri’s dense magical and cultural systems except repeated exposure to them in order to grasp the intricacies therein – but the prose is sharp, thoughtful, and propulsive throughout.

As the first novel in a trilogy, there’s a lot here that’s meant to serve as table-setting for installments to come, but by the book’s closing chapters, you’ll find yourself gasping at the payoff to its many twists and turns. There’s so much to like here, from Suri’s layered storytelling and morally gray characters who all make their fair share of mistakes and disastrous decisions to the variety of complex women, each with their own agendas and goals.

Truly, The Jasmine Throne is one of the best fantasies you’ll read this summer – so do yourself a favor and just add to your TBR right now. You can thank me later.

The Jasmine Throne is available now.