Just finished The Oleander Sword. I like it! Less than the Jasmine Throne, but that's the way part two of a trilogy usually goes, I find.
The Good:
- The series continues to deliver on being fantasy Indian politics. It could stand having a bit less of Malini monologueing on how good she is at manipulating people, though, and more just trusting the narration to show it.
- The magic is fascinating. I really have to look past my own biases here because I like, and I like when people can do magic without it being a hugely negative thing, and being either in thrall to eldritch gods or requiring self immolation is anything but. But damn if it doesn't deliver on the whole "magic is sacrifice" theme. Wonder what the catch with the Nameless visions will be.
- Delicious body horror, and I say this as someone who doesn't really like body horror in general.
The Bad:
- The romance didn't do it for me in this book. It takes a lot of nerve in the author's part to have a whole book of will-they-won't-they after the characters already got into a relationship last book.
- The pacing is honestly pretty odd, though I can't put my finger on what exactly bothered me about it
- The narration swings wildly between super evocative in one paragraph and weirdly modern in the next, and it did take me out of the story on some occasions.