Empire of Sand

The Books of Ambha

De: Tasha Suri

Narrado por: Soneela Nankani

Winner of the RA Award for Debut Writing, Jaipur Literature Fest, 2019

Locus Award for Best First Novel runner-up, 2019

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 fans of City of Brass and The Wrath & the Dawn.

©2018 Tasha Suri (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A stunning and enthralling debut, Empire of Sand thoroughly swept me away. With wonderfully lyrical prose, Suri deftly balances fantastic world-building with a nuanced exploration of family ties and the lengths one will go for love. A quiet, powerful and unexpected love story set in a crushing world of magic and tyrants, Empire of Sand is a gripping tale of survival I'll be recommending for a long time!"—S. A. Chakraborty

"The best fantasy novel I have read this year. I loved it!"—Miles Cameron

"A brilliant debut that shows us a rich, magical world with clear parallels to this one: it has a sadistic leader with a cult-like following who warps the world for personal gain, a few individuals with the strength to resist him, and a planet seeking balance. But its core is a heroine defined by her choices, and her journey is absorbing, heart wrenching, and triumphant. Highly recommended."—Kevin Hearne

Board

This book moved so slow I could not stand it. There was no action and I am still confused by what is happening on the larger scale. I am going to read the next one since I bought it already but I was very bored. The speaker was great though!

Waited way too long to listen

I tried starting this book a few times and had trouble getting into it. I finally had a bit of time in the car, and although it starts slow, it builds beautifully. This book is compelling in the way that it draws you in, revealing the characters, and making you feel for them. It has been a while since I read a book I just couldn't put down/stop listening to, but Empire of Sand did that for me. This is one I will listen to again and again.

it was okay..

I started this audio book twice before I actually continued on. For some reason it didn't grab me in the first few chapters. Then things picked up a bit, then got slow..then picked up. I'm not sure that I will continue this series. this book ended without a cliffhanger so I really dont need to know what happens next. Overall an average read and I did enjoy it.

Fantastic listen!

This book was recommended to me by a great many people in twitter or on discord or a bit of both. I had grabbed the audiobook with every intention of listening to it immediately but it got a little back burnered. Once I got started, this was a very difficult book to stop listening to. I wandered around work, headphones on. I wandered around home, headphones on. There was also that time I had to explain to my boss why I was all teary-eyed… yeah. #AwkwardWorkplaceSobbing

This is the story of Mehr, who is the illegitimate daughter of the governor of one of the provinces of a vast desert empire. She is half-Amrithi, a people who are generally shunned for their beliefs and rituals. Mehr’s mother taught her some of those rituals before she was exiled from the city and Mehr was left to be raised by her Ambahn father and her cruel stepmother, who grudgingly allow Mehr to dance the rites with her mother’s friend Lalita. The only person other than Lalita that Mehr has is her sister, Arwa.

One day, a storm comes. A storm of magic and daiva, beings said to be descended from the gods, who the Amrithi themselves are descended from. Mehr has daiva magic in her blood, and when the storm comes, she dances the rites to look for her missing friend, and the storm answers… but so does the Maha, the religious leader of the empire, a nearly-god-like being who reigns over the mystics of the desert. The Maha can see the magic in Mehr’s blood, and knows that it can be used to influence the god’s dreams, which make up the world. Mehr is more or less forced to marry the odd mystic Amun, and when she says her vows, she is tied irrevocably to him… and through him to the Maha… but Amun isn’t cruel, despite all evidence otherwise. He does what he can to protect Mehr from the worst of the binding.

And so, Mehr and Amun are enslaved by this cruel being, and forced to perform rites that their people, the Amrithi, consider heresy. But… Mehr isn’t the type to just give in. Mehr is going to resist!

Guys. Okay… guys. Holy forking shirtballs, this book. So, every now and then (and I’ll admit that it’s more than never at this point because I read a lot of books these days, lol) a book comes along, and I get so emotionally invested in the characters and the story and everything else that when heart wrenching things happen to those characters, I am suitably wrenched. This is definitely one of those books for me. Having it narrated by someone who is giving those moments feeling might be worse.

Look, I had to take a break at about 75% and listen to a How to Train Your Dragon audiobook because I was so flipping emotional and had to calm down. It was one of those books. >.>

Also, maybe I’m just an emotional person, I dunno. People will be like ‘Jeez Kristen, yeah it was a pretty good book, I guess,’ and I’ll just be like ‘*bawl* I KNOW, RIGHT?’

Okay, this is getting pretty unintelligible. Let’s see if I can sum it up:

This book was well written and the world was so realized that I fully imagined myself within it as it went. I (obviously) cared what happened to the characters. I cheered for protagonists, I hated antagonists. The plot moved at a pace that I liked, though I can see where people who complain that it gets slow in the middle are coming from. It’s slower, but I never found it too slow. When twists happened, I was shocked! When I felt that something big and tense was about to happen, I tensed and worried for Mehr and Amun. The romance between them was sweet AF, slow-burning, and almost seemed to happen without either of them really realizing it. Loved it.

The narrator, Soneela Nankani, absolutely nailed it. She gave emotional moments the emotion they needed. She brought each and every character to life for me, and it honestly made this experience more real for me than I think it would have been if I had read it rather than listened. The voice of the daiva was a really good special effect.

So, as is obvious now, it’s pretty safe to say that I loved this book from start to finish, and I cannot wait for more. This book emotionally drained me, but… and I’m not sure I can explain this in a way that makes any sense… it did it in a good way? Like my heart hurts, but it was worth it. Which sounds weird, but then… I’m pretty weird. ^_^

Alot of Repetition

Like the idea of the Story. Characters come and go without development. Poetry rich sing song use of the language which I liked. Characters were not very likable.

Really good world building

But lacks good pacing and needs some help from an editor. Enjoyable overall. I feel like there's a better story somewhere in the future.

A Quiet Story

The author created a backdrop of a remarkable world peopled with characters you enjoy loving and hating. The story is long, but compelling. There us action, romance, and pathos. I enjoyed it.

Slow burn

I read it because it takes place in the desert and it has south asian influences. But it felt a little slow and honestly depressing what the main character had to go through and endure. However, I’m glad I stuck through with it because I got to see a little bit of character development and I gained a newfound respect and understanding for the main character. She is a strong one.

good story

hard to get into at first, but keep listening, its a great story! the narrator was great!

A Tale About Identity

This story started out slow as the author built the world her characters lived in. Her lyrical prose also contributed to the pace and the mood of the story. The narrator added to the melancholy tone - although I am not sure if that tone was meant to showcase culture. Her writing style reminded me of the way Circe was written.

Tasha Suri wrote a beautiful story about being true to one's self, one's identity, one's heritage. She also wrote a heartwarming love story that made me reflect about marriage vows and defining one's self within the bounds of marriage.

The mythology she created was clearly explained and defined. Her hope-filled tale tugs at the heartstrings and ends on an inspiring note.

I would recommend this to readers who enjoy mythology, magic systems/worlds, and fans of love stories.