The Oleander Sword is a sweeping sapphic fantasy epic

2022 has been a pretty amazing year for fantasy novels, and this week it’s getting even better. The Oleander Sword, the follow-up to Tasha Suri’s fantastic 2021 novel The Jasmine Throne, is out now and it’s a solid sequel to one of last year’s strongest releases. This is a story about forbidden love, about ancient nature magic and conquest set against a South Asian-inspired fantasy world, and about morally gray lesbians burning down the patriarchy. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you are probably going to really enjoy The Oleander Sword, because Suri has really upped her game with this sequel.

We’ll be keeping this review spoiler-free, but since The Oleander Sword is a sequel, there will be spoilers for The Jasmine Throne.

The Oleander Sword book review

The Oleander Sword picks up shortly after the end of The Jasmine Throne, which saw the princess Malini assume command of a joint army of various disillusioned nobles who wanted to overthrow her despicable brother, Emperor Chandra. At the same time, the former maidservant Priya has risen to become a Temple Elder due to the resurgence of the nature-based magic that suffuses her homeland of Ahiranya; and her ability to cure the rot, a type of mystical plant growth that infects crops, trees, people and more, with horrifying results.

In many ways, The Oleander Sword is a more focused book than The Jasmine Throne, which had to do a lot of the typical heavy lifting that first books in a series do when introducing a dense, populated fantasy world. Malini and Priya’s star-crossed romance is at the center of the story, and Suri does some of her best work when she’s playing up the relationship between the two. I always thought of The Jasmine Throne as a great fantasy book with enough romance that it would appeal to readers of that genre as well; The Oleander Sword flips that somewhat. Priya and Malini’s relationship feels like the main driver of the book, and the complexities of their relationship are so compelling that you can’t help but be swept along.

At the same time, Malini’s quest to overthrow her awful brother and become the ruler of the Parijatdvipan Empire is front and center. Malini remains a fascinating character, sympathetic and ruthless by turns. She’s easy to root for, especially considering how awful and skewed some of the stuff she’s up against is, from her own fanatical brother who wants to burn her at the stake to forces within her own camp that question whether it’s right to be led by a woman. But just when you start to feel comfortable with Malini, Suri does a great job of reminding readers that the Empress has gotten where she is because she’s not afraid to make hard, brutal calls when it’s necessary, or to get her own hands dirty.

Nature magic of a riveting and terrifying variety

One of my personal favorite parts of The Jasmine Throne was its magic — I am a sucker for a good nature-based magic system. Suri expands on her those elements quite a lot here. I won’t discuss how for the sake of spoilers, but suffice it to say that if you enjoyed the yaksa mythology, Hirana, and other magical elements from the first book, you’ll find plenty more to love. Through Priya and Bhumika, we learn more about the lore of this world and the magical forces that flow through it. That extends beyond Ahiranya as well, as The Oleander Sword gives a much fuller picture of the map, although we do spend less time in Ahiranya as a result.

I will say that I was surprised by just how brutal The Oleander Sword felt at times. The Jasmine Throne had plenty of hard twists and bloody plot developments, but the ones here came so hard and heavy that I felt serious dread for quite a few of the characters. This is a story with high stakes all around.

However, I will say that if there was one thing I wished for more of from The Oleander Sword, it’s a bit more of an exploration of its own scope. It doesn’t suffer from middle book syndrome, but it leaves quite a few plot threads hanging for the final book in the trilogy. This isn’t a bad thing — really, if your main complaint is “I wish there were more,” that’s probably a sign that the book was solid. But The Jasmine Throne surprised me with how full and whole its ending felt, whereas The Oleander Sword tore out my heart, shredded it to pieces, and then winked and promised we’d see if it would be put back together in book 3. The end was a relatively sharp cut-off, compared to the first book.

So yeah, obviously waiting for book 3 over here. If you enjoyed The Jasmine Throne, there’s pretty much no doubt you’ll enjoy The Oleander Sword. It ups the ante in a slew of significant ways, while never forgetting the grounded personal story of two women who want to be together so badly but find it almost impossible given their circumstances.

Verdict

The Oleander Sword is a worthy successor to The Jasmine Throne, with all the pent up yearning, magic, warfare, and mysteries that you’d hope for in a sequel to Tasha Suri’s fantasy epic. The characters are stronger than ever and the mythology of the world deepened in significant and terrifying ways. Guard your heart as you read this one, for all the good it will do.

The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri is out now from Orbit Books.

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