heartbrekker's Reviews (797)

I Kissed Shara Wheeler was everything that I wanted Paper Towns to be back when I read it in middle school about a decade ago, but obviously, IKSW was 1000% more gay, honest, and powerful than the latter ever could be. I’m so thankful that this book exists, and I’m even more thankful that the generations after me can read it.

Moreover, I’ll always scream to the rooftops when LGBTQIA+ rep involves a southern setting. Casey literally made me want to cry at times because they showed the nuances of the south— of course the bad but more importantly the good. A lot of people tend to completely gloss over queer people in the south or even accuse them of stupidity since they stay in the region, but with conversations like Georgia and Chloe’s, it made me love Casey’s work even more. Obviously, there’s still major work to be done in the south, but as someone who lives in a major southern city where we have one of the largest pride parades in the country, it was joyous to see that complexity.

"Love like a future, and love like sacrifice."

I was a bit nervous going into The Oleander Sword because The Jasmine Throne was one of my top reads of 2021. I was worried that my expectations were too high to meet, but I can safely say that I loved this book with my entire heart. It does have the same dense writing and huge expanse of characters like its predecessor, but just like the first, I loved the slow build to the climactic ending. But I'll get to the ending later.

"But anyone can do harm if they have the right tools. Anyone can be a monster if they have a knife. I just wear mine under my skin. i just... cut differently."

The main distinction between this book and the former is that TOS dives deeply into war themes (one year time jump since TJT) and also the lore of Ahiranya's temple, specifically the yaksa. While these two main plots are extremely different and enrapturing, Tasha Suri finds a way to weave them together perfectly into a bow that only enhances the other. We may have two plots externally, but they are much more similar and driven by the other than we believe. The latter in Ahiranya definitely beat out the war in terms of my personal interest. I had more emotions while reading those chapters— aka pure, unadulterated terror. I even had to shut my eARC a number of times to resist the urge to run away screaming, which was not even possible because I read this on a plane. I felt just as trapped as my favs.

"I will remember what we are... I will keep the thought alight in my heart, like a candle. And when our lives darken, I will use it to guide me through. I will remember that we are not what is done to us. We are, and always will be, more than that."

Going into this sequel, I immediately thought that the romance would be pretty much nonexistent since Priya and Malini are separated, but there are some sweet surprises along the way. Tasha gave us some joy— albeit briefly—and then proceed to pull my heart clear from my chest. It certainly left me a gaping wound via this long finale wait. Morever, there's a few other romantic points of pining for other characters. Nothing as prominent as our lovely ladies but it was sweet to see those small moments of gentle flirting, protectiveness, and occasional happiness.

"Fables for children are often horrific, I've often found... And children never see the horror in them as we do."

Now this isn't truly a surprise for me because I absolutely adored Bhumika in the first book, but even with her few chapters in this book, she shined! I honestly think she may be my favorite part of the sequel besides the lore expansion. Her growth as a leader, a friend, and a mother is phenomenal. Her decisions and feelings throughout this sequel brought me further to tears than any other POV. She just felt the realest of the POVs, and all I wanted to do was sink my hand beneath the pages and pull her out into our world. At one point while reading Bhumika's chapter, I was sitting on a plane wanting to pound my freaking armrests because of the unfairness and sacrifice that she goes through. All the rebels and people around her like to say she's this heartless coward that left the temple for the empire, but she's... She's so much more than that, and I'm so happy that within this book she proves all of them wrong. I'll be screaming in Bhumika court until the end of time.

Politics and war and history all stood like a chasm between them."

I can't say much, but I think this ending may be one of the most brutal that I have ever read. Priya literally made me think I was dreaming at one point because WHAT, HOW, WHY. Bhumika only added to those feelings of misery. Chaos just hit the fan and Tasha decided to go full steam ahead with as much heartache as humanely possible. I recommend a stack of tissues for those last 100 pages because you'll be reeling from all the whiplash from every chapter.

"They say, when a statue is first wrought, it shines so brightly, any man may look upon it and see a mother divine. But all things tarnish, when the rain fall upon them."

Overall, I think if you enjoyed the first book, then you'll have pretty similar feelings on the sequel. Tasha only leans into her writing style more, which was exactly what I wanted. I don't really know how I'm going to wait for this finale. I needed it like a week ago when I was finishing TOS on the plane.

"Faith was submission. Faith was obedience to a higher power, a baring of the neck to a knife, a step into absolute darkness with no light but the heart's own foolishness."

Thank you to Orbit Books for sending me an early finished copy to review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"You may think you break yourself on loving me... That it makes you bow and makes you—you serve... But you cannot be broken by my demands. You cannot even be broken by your own. I could try and break you a thousand times, with all my weapons, with knowledge of your every weakness, and still I—"
"Try... Try and break me."

6/12: Screaming. Crying. Throwing up.