I’m pleased to say that my review of Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri is now live on the British Fantasy Society website – pleased not just to have another review available but because it’s for a book which I absolutely adored! I generally try to choose books I think I’m going to enjoy, but this one was something quite special. Feel free to head straight over there and check out the review, or alternatively you can stick around here and read a bit more about why this is such a great book in a less formal/more rambling fashion (and then pop over to the BFS site afterwards, of course).
I’ll leave it to the review itself to give you a full synopsis and my overarching thoughts on the characters, but as a quick overview let’s call this a romantic, India-inspired fantasy about a woman searching for purpose and trying to find her own identity in a world which expects her to be something she’s not. I wouldn’t call this is a ‘romance’ novel per se, but one of its core arcs is the developing relationship between the protagonist and a man who repeatedly confounds her expectations. When you read as much military sci-fi and generally bleak fantasy as I do, it’s really refreshing to read something which handles such an interesting and rewarding relationship as well as this does.
In fact, I would say that both of the themes I just mentioned – confounding expectations (not just for the characters but the reader too) and being refreshing – really define this book for me. To try and explain what I mean, let’s quickly talk about the series that this is part of – The Books of Ambha, which starts with 2018’s Empire of Sand. I didn’t review the first book when I read it (not sure why, I must have read it at a particularly busy time) but I was enchanted by its characters and, in particular, its world building. This is a setting that’s rich in detail and atmosphere which – for me at least, raised on a diet of predominantly European-influenced fantasy – feels vibrant, exotic and absolutely – literally – spellbinding.
Most modern authors would follow a book like Empire of Sand with a direct sequel, continuing the story of the now-established characters. Not Tasha Suri; while Realm of Ash does take place after the events of book one, and features as its protagonist the sister of the previous main character, it’s much more of a companion than a sequel. It shows the same world from a very different viewpoint, exploring the changes that have taken place in the time since Empire of Sand’s conclusion rather than following on directly. By bucking the current trend for the ‘one big story told over a trilogy’ type of series, it avoids so many of the problems which can crop up in modern fantasy.
What problems are those? Well, there’s no need to try and remember everything that happened or all the character names from a book you might have read months or even years earlier; there are no narrative compromises stemming from splitting up a big story so that it neatly fits into the trilogy structure; and there’s no frustrating cliffhanger leaving you waiting anxiously for a conclusion. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good trilogy and the format can work really well – but it’s so nice to see an author do something different, and so effectively! While I would suggest it’s still best to read these books in order, the way they’re constructed means that the experience of reading them and exploring the setting in this way is much more akin to dipping in and out of the Discworld than it is the Wheel of Time (to use too somewhat extreme examples).
On top of that, this is a book which, perhaps even more so than Empire of Sand, really takes its time. It doesn’t rush straight into the action, but gives itself room to breathe and encourages the reader to relax, enjoy the world building and learn about the characters gradually as the story develops. That won’t be to everyone’s taste, of course, but for me there was a wonderful sense of enjoyment to be found in watching Arwa gradually open up and seeing how she deals with the choices she makes as the implications slowly become clear. There’s plenty of plot development alongside the character work, but it’s never rushed and so I felt wonderfully immersed in the world throughout.
So it’s a companion rather than a sequel, a slow-burn story set in a world inspired by Mughal-period India featuring a protagonist who’s strong and smart and capable but who solves her problems not through the judicious application of ass-kickery but rather an internal, self-evaluating sort of strength. Let’s face it, fantasy as a genre is still overly dominated by white male writers and action-packed adventure stories. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong about any of those things, but Realm of Ash felt to me like a total breath of fresh air and a welcome reminder of how rewarding it is to experience variety and diversity. It brilliantly fits my goal of reading more stories written by women, while leaving me very keen to read more stories inspired by the history, folklore, mythology and culture of India.
Since I read Realm of Ash the news has broken that Suri’s next project will be a brand new series starting with The Jasmine Throne, which is due out from Orbit in Spring 2021. It sounds fabulous, and I’m delighted to see Orbit committing to this so strongly, however I’ve got to be honest…I’m a bit sad that the next book won’t be part of The Books of Ambha. I really, really want to read more stories set in this world, and I very much hope there will be more in future – but considering how good both of these have been, I can only assume the new series is going to be equally wonderful! I’ve no doubt I’ll be picking up The Jasmine Throne as soon as I can!
If you haven’t already checked out my review, I’ll leave you now to click this link and have a read. I’d love to hear what you think if you’ve already read Realm of Ash, or if you read this article and/or my review and are tempted to pick it up. Drop me a line in the comments below, or find me on Twitter to let me know!