Can Priya balance duty and love?
One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess searching for her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.
The Burning Kingdoms is a Fantasy trilogy by Tasha Suri. Set in the fictional Parajatdvipa, the trilogy centers around the exploits of Princess Malini and maidservant Priya and their efforts to overthrow Malini's despotic brother, the emperor.
The trilogy's books so far are:
- The Jasmine Throne (2021)
- The Oleander Sword (2022)
A third novel, title unknown as yet, is scheduled to come out in 2024.
This series provides examples of:
- Amazon Brigade: Lady Raziya's all-female band of archers who join up with Malini during the rebellion. They're all shown or suggested to be extraordinary warriors, in a kingdom where men do most of the fighting.
- But Not Too Black: It's mentioned repeatedly that highborn people prefer to have light skin as being dark is a mark of the poor who are out working. They try to keep their own from tanning by being out unshaded less.
- Cain and Abel: Chandra has made it his mission to burn his sister Malini alive. Malini has made it her mission to overthrow Chandra.
- Childhood Friends: Malini and her two companions, Alori and Narina. All three were together since girlhood, and she still calls them her "heart sisters" while thinking about both. It makes their deaths all the harder on her.
- Civil War: Malini's main goal in the first book is to start one of these against her brother, Emperor Chandra. Book two has her leading that war as the self-proclaimed rightful ruler of Parajatdvipa.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: People are put to death through being crushed by elephants as one form of public execution.
- Crushing the Populace: Parajatdvipa's attitude towards Ahiranya after expelling the yaksa. They have public executions for Ahirani rebels and sympathizers with vicious methods in hopes of ending the rebellion (it doesn't work however).
- Dishing Out Dirt: Magic can be used for manipulating soil to create holes underneath people and trip them etc.
- Don't Go in the Woods: Lord Santosh's men hesitate or outright refuse to follow their query into the woods of Ahiranya, as the fear of yaksa magic still lingers.
- Fantastic Terrorists: Ashok and his band are brutal rebels who use magic while fighting the occupiers to free their country.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The setting is clearly based on ancient India, with the clothing, food and types of buildings directly from the Indian culture, along with some Hindu spirituality.
- Feminist Fantasy: Both the novel's lead protagonists and most of the POV characters are women. All main drivers of the plot are women, often working against or without the knowledge of the men in the story. Malini, one of the protagonists, has rebelled against her brother, Emperor Chandra, after he ordered that she kill herself to become "pure" or be exiled, and he has very restrictive views on what women should do. She rebels further by embracing her lesbian sexuality, something her culture views as taboo, by becoming lovers with Priya, the other protagonist.
- Green Thumb: After getting back in touch with their temple training, Bhumika and Priya can access a variety of nature-based magical powers. It appears this is a common form of magic.
- Heir Club for Men: Malini is not considered a viable candidate for the throne, even though she's far more politically adept than either of her brothers, due to her gender.
- Heteronormative Crusader: The Parijati are homophobic, and outlawed same-sex marriage in Ahriyana when they came to rule there. Malini prefers women to men, and this made her impure in the eyes of her brother, Emperor Chandra, as he knew about this. She believes it's part of why he later ordered Malini to sacrifice herself, purifying her in his mind. After she refused, Chandra had her exiled instead.
- High Priest: Hemanth is the High Priest of Parijatdvipa and mentor to Emperor Chandra, who had encourage him in his religious fanaticism, which includes human sacrifices.
- Human Sacrifice: Emperor Chandra ordered his sister Malini and her maidservants to burn themselves alive as a sacrifice. When she refused, he exiled her.
- Jerkass Gods: Neither the mothers nor the yaksa come off as nice, since the former grant magic fire in return for human sacrifices (which then gets used for killing, whether justifiable or not), the latter coerce their worship by threatening dire punishment if refused while openly saying they don't care about human life but also grant their servants magical gifts.
- Make an Example of Them: How Chandra handles the news of Malini's plotting against him at the very start of the first book.
- Muggle–Mage Romance: Priya has magic, and falls for muggle princess Malini, with their relationship getting focused on heavily.
- Mystical Plague: The rot is a mysterious disease that affects both crops and humans, turning them tree-like over time. In humans, this means they start turning partly to wood and leaves, which eventually kills them unless arrested by those with power over plants. Sacred wood also can slow but not stop it, so sufferers that can wear beads of this.
- Nature Is Not Nice: The yaksa are strongly associated with nature and nature-based powers, but their ethical code is...loose, at best.
- Nature Spirit: The Yaksa, spirits which live in the forest, water and other natural settings.
- Non-Heteronormative Society: Ahriyana was one before the Parijati came, with men marrying men or women marrying women fairly often, as recounted in their stories.
- Official Couple: Priya and Malini are the trilogy's central couple.
- Offing the Offspring: Though not a blood-related version. After the new generation of temple children begin to show worrying powers, the temple elders decide the safest thing to do is kill them all to ensure Ahiranya does not draw Parajatdvipa's ire.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The state for everyone from Alor. Their names are prophecies spoken at their birth and may only be revealed at the proper time. Rao and his sister Alori represent this trope.
- Persecuted Intellectuals: Ahirani poets and scribes who had written in support of their country being independent are viciously executed for it by the Parijati who rule them.
- Posthumous Character: Malini's childhood friends/handmaids Alori and Narina are dead when the story begins. However, they appear in her flashbacks and thoughts often, as she continues to mourn them. Their loss motivates her to fight her brother Chandra, who had ordered their deaths.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: The magic that Chandra uses against Malini's forces is fueled by human sacrifices, though they're ostensibly voluntary ones.
- Religion is Magic: All of the magic users are clergy or initiates into religious orders, whose magic is explictly connected to their gods and considered a gift from them.
- Rotating Protagonist: The chapters shift between the different characters' perspectives, though Priya and Malina, the two protagonists, have the most.
- Royal Mess: General Vikram is regent in Ahiranya, a country that Parijatdvipan rules. However, the Parijati sovereign is Emperor Chandra, whom he answers to. A regent is the title of an official with temporary authority over the monarchy, but here he seems more like a viceroy, ruling on the monarch's behalf in a territory within his empire.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Aditya and Malini are both quite active, to the chagrin of Emperor Chandra, who's their brother, as both oppose him.
- Semi-Divine: Malini and Chandra's family supposedly descend from Divyanski, a goddess who is worshipped among their people.
- A priest notes that Malini's appearance is similar to hers.
- Chandra believes being a descendant of Divyanski is why he's the emperor by right.
- Sibling Team: The temple children, though not blood related, consider each other siblings, and they do make an excellent team when they're actually working together.
- Suicidal Sadistic Choice:
- In the opening chapter of The Jasmine Throne Chandra forces Malini and her companions to choose between burning to death or being his prisoners for life. They agree to burn, but she refuses and is imprisoned.
- Later in The Oleander Sword, as revenge for this and having drugged her into submission, Malini also gives Chandra poison, saying it's his choice to drink it and die then, or be slowly poisoned over many months before he finally dies. Chandra drinks the poison.
- Switching P.O.V.: The books' chapters shift between the different characters' viewpoints, but Malini and Priya have the most.
- Tactical Withdrawal: When Malini's forces become overwhelmed after Chandra's army deploys what appears to be Mother's Fire, Malini orders a retreat to regroup and plan their next assault.
- Temple of Doom: The Hirana was not only the site of some recent brutality, the building itself is a hazard, such that people come near to dying just trying to reach the summit.
- Transflormation: The "rot" is a disease afflicting the Ahiranyi which causes plant matter to erupt from their skin. Partway through The Oleander Sword it becomes clear the rot is not affecting only Ahiranya, but the rest of Parajatdvipa as well.
- Uptown Girl:
- Priya is the maidservant of Princess Malini starting out, and they slowly fall in love.
- Bhumika, daughter of Ahiranyi nobles and wife of the governor, and Jeevan, a commoner.
- Warrior Monk: Parijatdvipa has priestly warriors who fight with great skill.
