REVIEW: The Scarlet Throne (False Goddess Trilogy Book 1) by Amy Leow
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 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.
From the Author’s Note – I chose to depict a world inspired by Nepali culture because the tradition of the living goddess is one steeped in it, and to do something otherwise would not be doing Binsa’s story justice. To me, traditions are not something that can be lifted from one culture to another—because they are rooted in a community’s religion, beliefs, and worldview. Taking bits and pieces out of a centuries-old custom to fit into another culture did not sit right with me.
However, although my story draws from Nepali culture, it is not meant to be an all-encompassing representation of it. I am not a Nepali, nor am I from Nepal. I can only imagine the sights and smells there based on my readings and the encounters I’ve had with South Asian culture in my country.
I did my best to treat every single aspect of the book with delicacy and respect. I must also acknowledge that some parts of the book may not entirely resonate with South Asian experiences. Ultimately, this book was born from my imagination and my own interpretation of Nepal—and my desire to see more angry, vicious women on bookshelves.
Dear Ms. Leow,
The cover got me. It’s colorful and beautiful and dang, that black (demon) cat. I too have read and seen information about the Living Goddesses of Nepal so I was excited to see how this would translate into a fantasy story.
Ten years ago six year old Binsa was one of ten young girls selected as a possible Living Goddess. Should she be selected by the Goddess, Binsa would host the Goddess in her body, live in the temple grounds, and be revered by all. But Binsa – actually, really her mother – didn’t reveal there was a plan to “sway” the decision making process. Binsa was the only survivor of the ten.
Now ten years later, Binsa has schemed to hold onto her power longer than most prepubescent hosts before her. Through a strict regime and some illegally obtained medicine, she has staved off starting her menstrual cycles but there is unrest about this and she knows she has to be bold when faced with a possible temple coup. Binsa has someone on her side whom no one suspects – a demon first summoned by her blood shaman mother who was then transferred to Binsa before Binsa killed her abusive mother.
As Binsa tries to fend off those attempting to remove her from power, she does a deep dive into the reality of the religion that everyone believes and that has brought her to a position of respect. What is behind this religion, can Binsa twist things to cement her hold on being a living goddess, and will she survive the attempt?
Binsa is beyond a morally gray character but she is given a valid reason for wanting to hang onto her power and position. Former Rakhti leave the temple grounds and are expected to marry and sink back into obscurity. This is reinforced for Binsa when she learns what happened to the Rakhti before her – a young woman who had been kind and encouraging to Binsa but whose memory was blurred in Binsa’s mind for years. There’s a lot of blurred memories throughout the story and it’s very convenient when this happens for obvious Plot Purposes.
On it. Hang on. Closure. Out of the blue. It was a bit odd to be reading about a historical fantasy set in Nepal that is full of made up (from) Sanskrit words, titles, and names only to have many modern phrases tossed in.
Who has ambition so fierce that they are willing to sacrifice everything for power?
Well, how a reader answers that question will decide what they think of Binsa. At first I liked Binsa. She is a sixteen year old, faced with losing everything that gives her a prominent place and some degree of power in her world. She’s been bullied and abused by her (frankly psychopath) mother, she’s had a demon embedded in her, she lost her older brother when psycho-mom drove him out only to finally regain him years later but still can’t claim the relationship. Now strange things are happening that appear to adhere to an ancient prophecy that bad times are coming. When she realizes that the priests are going to pull a power move on her, Binsa decides to block that and go for gold.
The sad thing is that Binsa is a sixteen year old and her brilliant badass skills aren’t quite what she thinks they are. She has a china store’s worth of plates spinning, trying to stay ahead of the curve but her actions are more reactive and frantic for a good bit of the story. Binsa snatches victory from the jaws of defeat just in the nick of time over and over. She also gives herself over to the demon who is tied to her, slowly and then more quickly traveling down the path of losing her humanity. Binsa kills some people and though she tries to do the old “I’m only going to kill the sinners” thing, eventually this choice is taken from her. Innocents die for her ambitions.
And yet, I was still (mainly) on her side. The rules hamper her, the priests have an iron clamp on power, and Binsa wants that for herself. Can’t blame her for that. I do blame her for what she does in the last third of the book, especially the last few chapters. Her revenge is going nicely, she clears the decks of the main person against her and … she’s got it. Total control. Then she goes off the deep end into actions which … I just can’t, then follows all this up with a narcissistic “blame the victim” mentality before setting up book two.
The world building is mostly good, well thought out and described with enough detail but not over-elaborated. The book also loses points with me due to there being too many puzzle pieces that tend to get mentioned and then set aside for a hundred pages by which point I’ve forgotten much about them. I’ll read reviews of the next book before deciding whether to read it or not. I’m not entirely sure I want to see Binsa redeemed or watch her skip further down the path of “Oh, my God.” I know, it’s weird. B-/C+
~Jayne
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