The Jasmine Throne

After a lot of thought, I think I figured out why I had trouble connecting with this book and with a lot of the epic fantasy I've tried recently, and I think the answer is HBO. I feel like every time I read a newer fantasy, it's structured exactly like a multi-series HBO epic drama, and while that can be fun, and there's certainly a place for it, the story doesn't seem to need the novel. It doesn't want to be a novel at all, and so the actual writing just doesn't quite step up as high as I would like.

It has a lot of great elements: Southeast Asian setting, complicated characters, well-crafted political intrigue. But I kept seeing how I was being set up for the next volume/season two, how the visuals of the rot or the Hirana would work on a screen where the words don't really bring them to life. I don't know. Maybe I'm just a big jaded. I'm still giving it 4 stars as I don't think it's a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, and if you want to read big budget HBO fantasy, this is a perfect fit, but for me, I just never felt super connected to anything and probably won't continue on in the series.

Also, I know every pregnancy and birth experience is different... but like, no. None of that plotline worked for me at all.