The Scarlet Throne is the first book in the dark fantasy series The False Goddess, written by Amy Leow, and published by Orbit Books. An ambitious proposal with a worldbuilding inspired by the Nepali living goddess figures, a female main character that will bet everything to conserve her power while dealing with a complex net of politics and bargaining with a demon if that means she will stay at her position.

Binsa is a "living goddess", a vessel chosen by Rashmatun, goddess of Wisdom, granting mercy and punishment to her people from the Scarlet Throne. But Binsa keeps a dark secret: she never received the supposed power of Rashmatun, but through harbouring a demon, Ilam. With her time as Rakhti, as a vessel of the goddess, close to an end, the girl Medhi is chosen as a new vessel, Binsa bargains with Ilam, accepting to sacrifice lives in exchange for the power she needs to stay in the throne; a deal that might mean exchanging the rest of her humanity for power.

Leow decides to tell the story from Binsa's point of view, giving us a unique insight into her journey to villainess; how her ambition and desire to remain in power are moving her actions, but also how much she had to endure and suffer to reach this position. Binsa endured years of struggles and abuse by the hand of her mother just of sheer ambition; her trauma with blood magic makes her experiencing a bad time using it at the start of the novel, considering how her mother ended, but eventually, she gets accustomed to it, slowly trading her humanity in exchange of power. But we also experience how she's forced to play into a complex net of politics directed by the priests, giving her the perfect excuse to slowly succumb to corruption in the name of ambition. Binsa, after all, is just human, gullible, but she's the kind of villain you can find yourself cheering for; and that's exactly why I loved it.

It's not possible to talk about Binsa's journey without taking a look at the worldbuilding: inspired by the Nepali notion of living goddesses, we have a world where deities manifest through their vessels; and in this context, seeing how Rashmatun's power is slowly fading only adds more uncertainty over Binsa's position. The pantheon of this world is interesting to read about, and honestly, I hope Leow continues developing it on next instalments.
The pacing is really on point, focusing only on the details we need to know, expanding Binsa's backstory through really vivid flashbacks; also adding a grade of darkness to other characters' actions, as we only know what the own Binsa can access.

I absolutely loved The Scarlet Throne, and let me tell you, if you like ambitious and powerful, yet human, female main characters, this is the perfect book for you. Enjoy a well weaved villain arc, and prepare yourself for the next books in the False Goddess trilogy!