The Digital Renaissance: November 2025

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

Review: The Lotus Empire

The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The this book in the The Burning Kingdoms trilogy
Previous Review of The Oleander Sword
Previous Review of The Jasmine Throne

The final book in this fantastic trilogy; and while I thoroughly enjoyed how it all concluded, it was not an easy trudge and took my way more time than it should have before I was able to finish it (I actually had to grab an audible from my local library to get there) … it just took so long to get anywhere that I frequently got bored and put it down for something else (with most of the world building in book one, this remains the best of the bunch). The basic plot here continues to be a contest of gods and culture … with each side represented by a relatable champion (although both sides have there share of cruelty that paints to whole conflict in shades of grey); however, it was difficult to watch the relationship slowly disintegrate after the author worked so hard to put them together … and only added to a general and growing disinterest in what was [so painfully slowly] happening to either. This was further disrupted by the fairly frequent PoV changes that made the story choppier that I typically like or tolerate (churn is NOT the same as action … which was lacking for most of this book). Ultimately it was still a solid story where its shortcomings were so painfully obvious when place against what came before ….

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheLotusEmpire #TheBurningKingdoms #NetGalley

View all my reviews

My Ratings Explained ...

[ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
[ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
[ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
[ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
[ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.