(The Books of Ambha #1)
Publication
Date: November 13, 2018
Paperback, 496 pages, Orbit
Genres:
Adult, Fantasy
A nobleman’s daughter with magic in
her blood. An empire built on the dreams of enslaved gods. Empire of Sand is Tasha Suri’s captivating, Mughal India-inspired
debut fantasy.
The Amrithi are outcasts; nomads
descended of desert spirits, they are coveted and persecuted throughout the
Empire for the power in their blood. Mehr is the illegitimate daughter of an
imperial governor and an exiled Amrithi mother she can barely remember, but
whose face and magic she has inherited.
When Mehr’s power comes to the
attention of the Emperor’s most feared mystics, she must use every ounce of
will, subtlety, and power she possesses to resist their cruel agenda.
Should she fail, the gods themselves
may awaken seeking vengeance…
Empire of Sand is a lush, dazzling fantasy novel perfect for readers
of The City of Brass and The Wrath & the Dawn.
My Review
Empire of Sand
has been compared to S.A. Chakraborty’s The City of Brass and Renée
Ahdieh’s The Wrath & the Dawn, and I think it definitely has elements
of both. It’s a lyrical story set in a fantasy world inspired by Mughal India,
so it has all the same desert vibes. There’s also a strong heroine who makes impossible
decisions for the good of her family and her people.
Mehr, the protagonist of the book, starts out a little
arrogant and unrelatable, but she quickly grew on me, especially once the pacing
of the story started to pick up around the fifty-page mark. It helps that we’re
introduced to Amun around that time too. Mehr and Amun have a unique situation
going on that was fascinating to see unravel. Poor Amun. He’s such a
misunderstood cinnamon roll, and I adored how Mehr interacted with him and vice
versa. I also really loved discovering the magic system through Mehr and Amun’s
relationship.
What I didn’t love as much was the bad guy. Yes, the Maha
seems very evil, but I felt a little bit jipped when it came to discovering who
he was and how he gained so much power. I know that it was implied throughout
the book, but there was never a solid explanation given. This, plus the rushed
ending made me knock off a star. I still really enjoyed the book even with the
flaws, but they still disappointed me a little. Though, I will say the book
itself has an easy-to-follow magic system as a whole, which is a big plus in my
book.
Overall, it’s hard to talk about this book. It has good
world-building, good characters, and a plotline that kept me flipping pages
once things really started going. It’s simply a good, digestible fantasy read that
Renée Ahdieh, S.A. Chakraborty, Alwyn Hamilton, and Sabaa Tahir fans will
probably enjoy. I know I did.
*Note: I received
an ARC of this title at BookCon. This in no way affected my opinion/review.
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