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This scifi futurist novel takes place in the 2070s as two historians begin an oral history project to document the the insurrection of the 2050s when societal collapse led to a new future. Told in an interview style, the book spans the experiences of different organizers and participants of the revolution years later. We chose this as our bookclub pick for August and I’m now obsessed with finding futurist work just like it! Dystopias are not giving what they were back in 2014, truly. So much of our reality is shaped by the imagination of just a few people/ideologies. Since reading this book, I'm now really interested in what speculative fiction from the global south has to say about the future and community building. Expect some more thoughts on this soon! Here are a few discussion questions that this book in partucular sparked for me that I put in our discord chat (link to join at the top of my bindery profile):

1. What aspect of a communized future did you find to be the most hopeful? Any favorite quotes?

2. Was there any role in the communes that resonated? Anything that didn't?

3. If in the year 2040 something communes were popping up all around you, what role would you gravitate towards?

4. Would you want to communize in the community you're in right now, why or why not?

5. How did you feel about the book's handling of indigenous sovereignty and land back? Do you imagine anything different?

I'm still buzzing with ideas and thoughts that I may need to put into a longer video on tiktok. Pick this one up if you're in a doom spiral! It helped me a lot and I actually recommend this to people who do not read scifi at all. As the title suggests, I think there is something in it for everyone. Here's the playlist btw.

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The moment I finished The Jasmine Throne I picked up The Oleander Sword. I was reading this at the same time I was watching House of the Dragons and I could not help but see parallels between this work and the sapphic elements they brough to that story. So much of Malani and Priya's relationship is defined by obligation and sacrifice. But their struggle and their yearming for one another is so incredibly addictive to read. They seem to both constantly be giving up parts of themselves to stay together and the ending of this book really solidified the type of characters both of them are in their given role as Elder of Ahiranyi and Empress Malani. It’s such a compelling series and definitely my favorite sapphic couple in fantasy right now. I absolutely love Tasha Suri’s writing style, her settings are lush and so vivid in my mind.

I especially loved reading this while I was traveling through the expansive olive groves in the Spanish country side. That's a sentence I still can't believe I can write, but I was on trains travelling through those mountains almost every day I was there. The image above is from one of those train rides. Parallel to that, I was reading this book and watching as Malani constantly had to stay on the road, attempting to garner support from lords and ego driven men all around her rightful kingdom. It was a pretty cool reading/viewing experience.

If you've come this far I assume you've definitely read both books and are eagerly awaiting the 3rd. I was lucky enough to get an arc and I just started it this week. I'll link it below in case you haven't pre-ordered yet (get on it!!). I'm like 15% in and I'm already SO ANXIOUS. Will post updates soon!!

Thank you for reading <3 I'll update more frequently now that I'm reading voraciously ! (literally finished 2 books last night, who am I??) I credit it all to my mom's old kindle hd, the 2012 version that is no longer available. I may not have a kindle subscription anymore, but I can read all my arcs and library books on there. As well as all of my comics and manga. Soo I may be obsessed with that thing...

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