The throne of the goddess Rashmatun is surrounded by liars. It is also occupied by a liar, the Rakhti Binsa. In the world Amy Loew created in The Scarlet Throne, rakhtis are vessels for the gods of Aritsya. These children host the gods at set times during the day to hear petitions and prayers from petitioners. When they grow into puberty, the rakhtis retire into obscurity. Binsa is supposed to be the vessel for the goddess of wisdom, Rashmatun. Every day she dispenses her goddess’s wisdom. The truth is that all of Binsa’s limited magic and power comes from a demon she inherited from her terrifying (and thankfully dead) mother.
Binsa has been a rahkti for nearly a decade—a record for any rakhti. Rashmatun’s priests are starting to be more obvious about choosing her successor and pushing Binsa out of the temple-palace. For her part, Binsa is using every trick she knows to hang onto the throne. Her brother, Ykta, doesn’t understand her at all and, even worse, worries that Binsa is taking after their abusive, manipulative mother. Binsa’s only “ally” is a dubious one. Ilam is the demon who has possessed her ever since her mother’s death. He wants power and freedom as much as Binsa wants security and agency. If she agrees to deepen their relationship and borrow more power from Ilam, Binsa might just be able to hold onto Rashmatun’s throne for years to come.
The first half or so of The Scarlet Throne is full of subtle fighting between Binsa and Rashmatun’s priests and between Binsa and Ykta’s. Binsa’s efforts to keep all the fighting quiet are incredibly stressful, to the point that I started to wonder why Binsa would want to deal with all the shenanigans. We know that Binsa and Ykta’s life before she became rakhti were spent in the poorest part of the city. They regularly went hungry. Yet the biggest danger to them was their volatile mother. Now that their mother is dead, what do they have to fear about the outside world?
Things get more interesting when Binsa discovers a big secret that could upend the entire rakhti system. Unfortunately, this part is so brief that it reads more like a lead up to the second book in the trilogy. The Scarlet Throne ends on a cliffhanger. The other unfortunate thing is that Binsa’s motives are very murky until this point. Worse, she has no real loyalty to anyone around her and is perfectly willing to use whatever means—not matter how unjust or violent—to achieve her ends. Binsa is a villain by the end of the book and it’s hard to see how she might redeem herself (if she ever does).
The only reason I rated this book as highly as I did is because I very much appreciated the originality of the Nepal-inspired setting and the magics used by the characters. I should probably have waited until all of the books in the trilogy were out before reading this, so that could dive into them and figure out what the hell Binsa is really up to.