Empire of Sand: The Books of Ambha Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Soneela Nankani (Narrator), Tasha Suri (Author), Hachette Audio (Publisher)

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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.

Listening Length

17 hours
Author

Tasha Suri
Narrator

Soneela Nankani
Audible release date

Nov. 13 2018
Language

English
Publisher

Hachette Audio
ASIN

B07JLY7YRW
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	17 hours
Author	Tasha Suri
Narrator	Soneela Nankani
Audible.ca Release Date	November 13 2018
Publisher	Hachette Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07JLY7YRW
Best Sellers Rank	#46,602 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #207 in Sword & Sorcery Fantasy #416 in Historical Fantasy (Audible Books & Originals) #431 in Coming of Age Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

1,000 global ratings

5 star		54%
4 star		29%
3 star		13%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from Canada

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Elly

Very entertaining

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 14, 2020

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It is a mesmerizing world that hooked me, where the strongest of the strong is actually fragile. Sometimes I wished to see the action moving to next step faster, too descriptive of characters feelings.

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AnnTe

A good read

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 17, 2018

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I liked this book. The story is as rich and beautiful as the cover. It was a refreshing & engrossing tale that held my interest all the way through.

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Amazon Customer

Beautiful Love Story

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 19, 2019

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Not what I was expecting after finding it through author Melissa Caruso (the Tethered Mage), but SO BEAUTIFUL. I loved it, can't wait for Tasha's next book based in the same world after the events of EoS. I want to see more books like this written by women like Tasha!

Helpful

Great read

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 30, 2018

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I really enjoyed this book. Was a lovely read front to finish and I’m so excited by the plot of the sequel!!

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Fraser Simons

A bit slow but worth it

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 3, 2019

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Took a bit to get going but I really enjoyed it

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Asra Azam

Boring characters

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 4, 2022

The world is beautiful and the inclusion of culture is so well done.

However, the characters are very bland. People say Mehr is a strong female lead but I don’t see it at all. It’s good for those that like romance but I think it’s not for me.

Amun is also fairy bland as well. He’s a tragic back story trope of the gentle giant and he’s not all that fleshed out.

I feel like that author kind of wrote this as a self insert for herself.

If you enjoy slow romance you’ll like it! But if you picked it up for awesome characters and an adventure you like I did, you probably wont enjoy it.

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A Beautiful Romance

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 15, 2021

This book wasn’t what I expected, and I was grateful for that! I thought it would be a high fantasy adventure with a powerful female lead. What I did not expect was a powerful romance and an unconventional hero.

Mehr is not what I expected her to be. Aside from the magic in her blood, she’s a woman born into privilege looking for a place to belong. But the strength of her heart and her hope make her a strong person and someone I continued to root for. She is confronted with hardship and does her best to protect not only herself, but the man she finds herself bound to.

Amun is such a tragic character who only wants to be loved. He is loyal and devoted in that way only romantasy heroes can be. I absolutely adore him and his bond with Mehr truly made the book as powerful as it was.

It can be argued that this book is slow on plot and pacing. I wouldn’t necessarily disagree. But, this is also a romance novel focused on two people learning to heal and hope together. That is just as impactful as any epic siege or action scene.

The world is unique and fresh. I loved the lore of the daiva and the Gods and wished to have seen more of them. That said, Suri’s writing is so strong and her themes so clear it was easy to be swept away by Mehr and Amun’s story.

This is a truly beautiful book and a gem in the romantasy genre. It’s perfect for anyone who wants a classic, fantasy romance with two characters overcoming hardship and strife, learning to be partners together.

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Kristi Weisgerber

A Fantastic New Voice In Fantasy Fiction

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 30, 2019

2018 has been an amazing year for POC women authors with so many fantastic books coming out. Tasha Suri’s Empire Of Sand is no exception. I’ve been following people on Twitter who follow Tasha, and have been watching the hype for Empire Of Sand build. It was because of that hype that I decided to order the book, and am so glad that I did.

Mehr is the illegitimate daughter of an imperial governor, daughter of an Amrithi woman. The Amrithi are desert people, nomads descended from the daiva, who hold magic in their blood. Raised as a noblewoman, Mehr is unprepared when her power comes to the attention of the Maha and his mystics. She will need to use every ounce of wit and will she possesses to escape the cruel clutches of a madman.

This is a beautifully written story of inner strength, faith and, above all, hope. I was completely enchanted and swept away with the story as Tasha wove her magic with words. It is a wonderful story set in a world rich in magic and myth. A must-read for all fantasy fans.

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Top reviews from other countries

S. Naomi Scott

A Marvellous Debut

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 4, 2019

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Generally speaking, most people think of fantasy as being some analogue of western history with the occasional decidedly anthropocentric non-human races and some variation on a theme of dragons. At least, that's how it used to be, up until a few years ago. These days, fantasy is a much broader and much more diverse playground, and Tasha Suri's marvellous debut novel does more than its fair share to add to that diversity.

The narrative follows Mehr, a young noblewoman whose mixed heritage imparts her with the power to see and interact with the mystical daiva, along with other, more impressive powers. After dancing a particularly powerful rite one night she is inadvertently brought to the attention of the Maha, the spiritual ruler of the Empire, and finds herself being coerced into marriage with one of the Maha's mystics.

This is very definitely fantasy on a small scale. Almost the entire narrative is told from Mehr's point of view, and while we do get hints of the bigger picture, we're mostly shown how the events affect the individuals. This is where the author's true strength lies, in showing us not only the individuals but also the world around them through their eyes. Suri breathes life into pretty much every character we meet in this novel, and she does it with some of the best writing I've seen in a debut novel in a long time. On top of that, her worldbuilding is exemplary, drawing inspiration from the Mughal Empire and throwing in a dance-based magic system and fully realised spirit world.

All in all I really loved this book. It feels like a standalone novel, though I know there's already a follow-on due out in November. There are definitely threads that could feed into a second novel, though I wouldn't be too disappointed if the major characters from this one don't make it into the next.

I'll be very surprised if Empire of Sand doesn't make it on to an award ballot or two this year and look forward to more from Tasha Suri in the years to come.

10 people found this helpful

Jess Gofton

A lush desert fantasy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 3, 2020

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Mehr is an Ambhan noblewoman, the daughter of a governor no less, but she’s also the daughter of an exiled Amrithi mother, meaning she’s constantly caught between two worlds and not entirely sure in which one she belongs. It’s only due to her father’s love and guilt that she’s able to practice the traditions her mother taught her before she left for the desert, but when she accidentally uses magic powerful enough to catch the attention of the Emperor’s mystics, Mehr’s life is suddenly no longer her own as she’s forced into an arranged marriage and a life of servitude.

Pretty much everyone who’s read Empire of Sand has been singing its praises, so it’s a novel that’s been on my radar for a little while now and one that’s come along at just the right time for me; I’ve been keen to read a lot more Asian-inspired fantasy this year, meaning this Mughal India-inspired tale had such a refreshing fantasy setting, and I’ve also been getting more and more into desert fantasy.

There’s so much I loved and appreciated about this book, and this is especially true of the romance. This is very much a fantasy book but, if you’re a romance reader, this is a novel you’ll want to try because the romance is still a big part of the story without becoming the central focus, and it’s such a tender romance at that.

In Ambhan society, a woman takes on her husband’s duties, responsibilities and loyalties, so Mehr is pushed into a marriage with Amun, who himself has orders he has no choice but to follow due to the vows he has made. Amun so easily could have been written as a rude and brooding type, but I don’t think I’ve ever come across a love interest, in any genre, who understands consent the way Amun does. Neither Mehr nor Amun are particularly happy about their situation, when Mehr is taken by the Emperor’s mystics her life becomes a rather miserable one, but the two of them develop a friendship which in turn develops into something more, and in the process the two of them become each other’s safety net.

There’s a lot I loved about Mehr herself, though; she’s magically gifted, but her true power is an inner, moral strength to do the right thing even when the right thing is the thing most likely to get her hurt or killed. She loves her parents, and her parents love her, but neither of them have been what a mixed race girl in the Ambhan Empire has needed, and it’s been up to Mehr in turn to care for her little sister, Arwa, while their stepmother punishes her for being another woman’s daughter.

Mysterious, absent mothers are no stranger to the SFF genre—particularly in stories with young women at their centre—but what I loved about Mehr is that while she does understand why her mother made the decisions she made, she also doesn’t hesitate to call her out for not being the mother either she or Arwa has needed. I love women who are mothers still being allowed to be complex women who aren’t defined by their motherhood, but it’s also so satisfying to see children who have been left be given the opportunity to put their feelings into words.

I want to say as little about the plot itself as I can because it would give away too much of the book, and the joy of reading this novel is not quite knowing where the story’s going to go, but Suri’s writing is moreish and once I got into the meat of the story I found it very difficult to put down. Personally I would have liked a little more world-building, but it didn’t bother me because Mehr isn’t the right protagonist to teach us about the Empire—she doesn’t spend any time there, so it wouldn’t feel natural for her to pause everything she’s doing to give us a lore dump.

The world-building isn’t lacking by any means, it just left me with questions which I imagine are going to be answered in the companion novel. What I didn’t quite get from the world, though, I definitely got from the villain; he is the worst, and I can’t remember the last time I was so frustrated and disgusted by a villain. I wasn’t sure what to think of him at first, but by the end of the novel I desperately wanted Mehr to set him on fire. He’s awful, and the ideal villain if you’re the kind of reader who loves to hate your villains.

If you’re looking for a desert fantasy, an Asian-inspired fantasy, a standalone fantasy, or simply a good fantasy, you need to pick up this book. It’s so worth your time, and I’m looking forward to reading more from Tasha Suri.

2 people found this helpful

Victoria@CartonManetteDarnay

Lacked structure, but an okay read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 5, 2021

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This is a middle-eastern inspired young-adult fantast that follows Mehr, the illegitimate daughter of a governor, who has inherited the magical gifts of her mother, which are coveted by the evil Emperor. There is a lot more to the plot, and a lot of effort has clearly gone into world-building and the mythology of the magic. However, the book feels exceedingly slow when you're reading it. It's so slow that you don't realise the plot is unfolding around you, and I am not sure that is a good thing. I felt nothing towards this book which was very disappointing for me. It has so many elements that I love and was actively looking for, including a female author and a non-European fantasy setting. Even the romance, which is an arranged/forced marriage and is something I would usually eat up, felt stale. I just did not care about anything or anyone. Until around 90% it very much felt like our protagonist Mehr was only able to act when she was enabled by other people and did not make very many decisions on her own. Even when she did it felt as though she was just following the script of the YA female protagonist. I know this review is hardly a glowing recommendation. Is it a bad book? Definitely not. Is it a book for me? No. I can see why people could love this book, but it just did nothing for me personally.

One person found this helpful

R. J. Tysoe

Eastern Mystical fantasy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 22, 2019

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A young woman is bound by oaths to the religious leader of her Empire and has to dance with her husband to steer the Gods' dreams into favouring the Empire.

Mehr is the daughter of the governor of Irinah. Her mother abandoned her and her sister and they have lead a sheltered life in the governor's place, brought up by maids and their disapproving step mother. Married off to a mystic to please the Emperor, Mehr treks across the desert and finds her marriage vows have not only bound her to her new husband, but also to the leader of the mystics, for whom she must dance to control the Daivas and the dreams of the gods.

This is not your usual swords and sorcery fantasy, although there are some swords and some sorcery. The setting takes much from the Mughal Empire, and introduces a magic system based on vows, dance and blood.

Mehr's story looks at choices and freedom, as she tries to bend her vows while protecting her husband, and meet the expectations of soceity and family.

6 people found this helpful

Books & Ameerah

Wasn't quite what I was expecting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 2, 2020

Verified Purchase

I didn't go into this with any expectations, I just knew that I was really craving a good fantasy. Can I say that Empire of Sand hit the spot? Not really. It is not the worst book but certainly not the best.

It started strong and I thought I was in for a load of fast-paced action and badassery from Mehr. Instead, what I got was a nearly 500-page book that was incredibly slow, devoid of any action, drawn-out in parts and an MC who was just so meh?

I really enjoyed the writing and think that Suri writes beautifully. It was one of the things that kept me reading even though I did not feel attached to the characters (except Amun). I feel it was as though we were going around in circles until we reached an anticlimactic end.

I also think that the relationship between Amun and Mehr lacked any real development because their actual relationship didn't get adequate page time. There was so much potential but it fell short here and since their relationship is a huge part of the story, it is really unfortunate. I wanted more interactions that consisted of them getting to know each other without the mention of the Maha.

I don't know if I'm interested enough to read book #2 but haven't completely ruled it out.

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Empire of Sand: The Books of Ambha Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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