Tasha Suri
Orbit, 18 August 2022
Available as: PB, 480pp audio, e
Source: Advance copy
ISBN(PB): 978-0356515656
I'm grateful to Nazia at Orbit for sending me a copy of The Oleander Sword to consider for review. (And apologies that this review is somewhat tardy!)
Picking up the stories of Malini and Priya which began in The Jasmine Throne, The Oleander Sword is that rare thing, a sequel that is not just a continuation but is a compelling book in its own right, taking the story to new places. Yes, we came to love Malini and Priya in the first book and I personally would read anything about them, but even setting that raised, The Oleander sword gives new insights, perspectives and dilemmas.
The situation here is freighted with menace from the beginning. With supernatural aid, Priya's land of Ahiranya has risen against the empire of Parijatdvipa. With supernatural aid, Malini has challenged her deranged brother Chandra for the throne of Parijatdvipa. Malini and Priya remain allies - and would-be lovers - but the political situation is dicey, their nations deeply hostile and any likely outcome bound to put them on opposite sides.
Worse, all is not well either in Ahiranya - where the resurgent deities known as yaksa aren't exactly what their priests and worshippers expected - or in Parijatdvipa, where Chandra works unholy magic against the sister he sees as a usurper, and who he has vowed to burn alive. At the centre of this book is a complex, twisty and roiling mess of politics, religion and warfare that Malini and Priya must master, and quickly, if they are to have any chance of survival. Even further into the centre, if that makes sense, is though a burning, forbidden passion between the two women, one that may destroy both if it discovered. And the dictates of the one pull against the dictates of the other. As Empress - if she is to be Empress - Malini must be cold and haughty, sacrificing anything, anyone in pursuit of victory.
Anything.
Anyone.
Even Priya.
In turn, Priya's power derives from her truck with erratic, inhuman spirits. Call them gods, call them demons, they have their own agenda, and Priya is theirs to command, obliged to sacrifice anything, anyone in pursuit of victory.
Anything.
Anyone...
There is so much more here that I can cram into a review. The book simply drips moral compromise, corrupting as the taint called "rot" that has infected both nations. There are agendas inside agendas, Tasha Suri having transmuted the colonial politics of the first book into something much vaster, a threat that not only casts the attitudes of Parijatdvipa in a new light but which possibly threatens the whole world.
An excellent book, and one that I read both in paperback and listening to the audio. I can strongly recommend the audio experience for this one - Shiromi Arserio's narration bringing life to all, from the couple at the centre of the story to stern generals, slippery priests and otherworldly spirits.
For more information about The Oleander Sword, see the publisher's website here.
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