The Scarlet Throne by Amy Leow.

Synopsis

A dark, heart-thumping political epic fantasy by debut author Amy Leow—full of scheming demons, morally grey heroines, talking cats, and cut-throat priests, this delicious tale of power and corruption will captivate from beginning to end.

Binsa is a “living goddess,” chosen by the gods to dispense both mercy and punishment from her place on the Scarlet Throne. But her reign hides a deadly secret. Rather than channeling the wisdom of an immortal deity, she harbors a demon.

But now her priests are growing suspicious. When a new girl, Medha, is selected to take over her position, Binsa and her demon strike a deal: To magnify his power and help her wrest control from the priests, she will sacrifice human lives. She’ll do anything not to end up back on the streets, forgotten and alone. But how much of her humanity is she willing to trade in her quest for power? Deals with demons are rarely so simple.

Review

4 stars

First I want to thank Orbit Books for my finished copy of The Scarlet Throne!

I confess that stories with women hungry for power and ready to do everything for it is not usually my cup of tea. Even men power hungry don’t make for my preferred stories.

But when I began reading The Scarlet Throne, I was engrossed in the story and couldn’t stop what turned to be a reading full of mythology, magic, schemes and ambitions.

The plot in a nutshell:

Binsa should be the vessel of the goddess Rashmatun for ten years now. Only…she is a fraud and is harboring a demon, Ilam,  instead.

In a world of poverty, her status of goddess has granted her fresh water and three meals a day for years now. She also holds the power.

And she doesn’t want to relinquish it!

When there is talk if choosing another vessel, Binsa will bargain with her demon for power and use of blood magic.

Of course bargains with demons never end well. You can’t control a demon and they always ask for more sustenance.

This is the story of an angry and raging woman whose ambition will drive her to murder to keep the power she had only been loaned. 

My feelings:

At the beginning of the story, I felt pity and compassion for Binsa. Her mad mother had orchestrated her selection as a goddess vessel in a fatal machination, throwing Binsa as a little girl in a world of priests, walls and rituals she was not ready for.

Binsa had suffered at the hand of her mother and never had a real choice.

But the more Binsa’s ambition led her away from that kind girl, the more my unease grew.

Amy Leow was very smart in her choice, writing about the slow but steady descent of Binsa towards the dark side. It is insidious, gradual and made for a building tension and disbelief!

I came to despise Binsa and reject her path of choice. But who knows really, if I had been in her shoes, in a world of blood magic and poverty, where girls had no rights or say in their destinies, if I would have acted differently and taken the moral road?

What you will find:

You will find female rage, secrets, betrayals, deaths, conspiracy in that book. And above all else, the corruption of a mind drunk on power once they had a taste of it. It’s terrible and very smart.

If you do love villainess origins stories, then that first book of a trilogy is calling your name!

Thanks for reading.

Sophie