But those small chapters serve to show shifting alliances, changing sentiments in war camps, and dominos that are beginning to fall to shift the fates of certain characters. Many of the ones from THE JASMINE THRONE return, but this time, we also get smaller side characters, some of whom only get the spotlight for a chapter or two. Were these characters always destined to make these specific choices, or are they really choosing their own path? I suspect book three might shed some light on that matter.)Īs the stage for conflict in this series grows, so does the number of POV characters. (Behind it all, there’s also a lingering question of fate and destiny. There are some impossible choices made, and while the decisions made seem inevitable, it makes them no less heart-wrenching to watch. But the real agony in this book comes from choosing which thing you’re willing to sacrifice to protect something else. Chandra’s forced sacrifices of women, for instance, will never carry the same power as a woman who willingly goes to her fate for her people. And they’ll need every scrap of determination they have, as the forces working against them are slowly penning them in, until the options left to our various heroines are almost all bad.Īt the heart of it, THE OLEANDER SWORD is about sacrifices, both willing and unwilling, and the power they can have in the right circumstances. It wasn’t too long, though, before I was happy to be back with these fierce women who are ready to make bloody sacrifices to get what they need or to protect the ones they love. I’ll admit, it took me a bit to get back into the rhythm of the story, with a year long time jump and the characters scattered about the world. THE OLEANDER SWORD is a punishing sequel that has all the tension of a noose tightening around a neck. But unbeknownst to both of them, a new force is rising in Priya’s homeland, an ancient power that will threaten not just Priya’s people, but everyone on the continent. Priya’s magic might be the one thing to save Malini’s campaign, if the empress can convince her former handmaid to use it on her behalf. Against her better judgement, Malini reaches out to an ally who is also her one true weakness: Priya, the handmaid who helped her escape her imprisonment, who is now a leader of her own people. She’s closing in on the capital city, but when faced on the battlefield with a powerful new weapon, the male generals begin to question if this woman leader has the strength to carry them to final victory. A year has passed in Malini’s war against her brother, the despotic emperor Chandra.

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