Priya and Malini’s POV chapters are mixed with the occasional chapter from the POV of someone else, and everyone has their own goals and their own preferred means to achieve them, most of them quite ruthless. What I loved the most about the book were the characters and their complexity. Each has her own reason to hate the empire. Priya is one of the maidservants cleaning her rooms and, secretly, a former temple child. And if this is not enough, she is also sick from slowly being poisoned by the servant who was sent there with her. Malini has been imprisoned in the Hirana – an ancient, decaying temple – for disobeying her emperor brother and refusing to be executed by burning. And the romance subplot is exquisite – sapphic, morally gray, with with a strong hurt/comfort element. Not only does it largely live up to the hype, it reads really really fast as well. I should not have put this off as long as I did – my fears about this book being a slow read because it was epic fantasy were baseless. And perhaps they will not be as kind to you and yours. There is only the moment when power is placed in your hands, and there is one truth: either you take the power and wield it, or someone else will. I know there is no higher power that sanctions a king or an emperor. ARC received from the publisher (Orbit) in exchange for an honest review.
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