Title: The Star-Touched Queen
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Series/Standalone: The Star-Touched Queen (Book #1)
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance
Pages: 342
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffith
Year Published: 2016
Format: Hardcover Copy (Own it)
First Line: "Staring at the sky in Bharata was like exchanging a secret."
"Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you're only seventeen?
Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire...
But Akaran has its own secrets- thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance. Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most... including herself."
My Rating: 3/5
This book has been raved about on booktube since it came out and the sequel/companion novel also was spoken about highly and while I understand some of the praisings, some parts of this novel just fell flat for me. The writing in this book is beautiful and so poetic, but I found myself having trouble keeping up with where the story was going. Personally, I just think that the writing was too flowery for the story that was its companion. I also found that most of the twists and turns were predictable. I gasped once or twice over the choices of our main character, but other than that I found it all slightly predictable.
All these things considered I have decided not to continue on with the series, but would be interested in other works that the author comes out with, just in a different series or subject.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
So this book was all over booktube when I first started watching booktube, and it was all over the place. People were raving about the cover, the story and the writing. So I decided to pick it up. Overall for me, this was just a bit of a letdown. It did not live up to the hype. While the writing was beautiful and almost poetic, it was too flowery for the story itself I had trouble keeping up with the metaphors and symbolism so much that I had to reread paragraphs to grasp where the story was going. I also found that the twists and turns were not as surprising as they were intended to be. I guessed that Amar was death himself and that Nritti was the villain in the story. These things aside, I won't be continuing the series/reading the companion novel, although I'm interested in other works the author may put out.
Characters:
Maya: She was a sad main character at first and to see her struggling just to feel alive and like she belonged broke my heart, but when she found Amar it seemed like things started to head in a different direction. Until she was naive enough to believe everything anyone freaking told her. It was frustrating that she believed anything anyone told her when she was so quick to question Amar to begin with.
Amar: I liked him but during the flashbacks, I saw why she stepped into the pool of souls for reincarnation. To say, fine go is a horrible idea but that happens in so many couple arguments. I also think that his love for her was beautiful, but I wish that their story of the meeting had been expanded a little more (and yes I know there is a novella and no I am not going to read it).
Gauri: She would be the only reason for me to read the companion novel. And I loved her attitude by the time we saw her again. Her power and the love of her people are beautiful.
Gustpa: I'm very interested in his background but not enough to read the prequel, unfortunately, his love of riddles was sweet to read about and reminded me of the riddles in ACOTAR
Kamala: Everyone seems to love her, but I didn't really care for her overall. We saw her for a short time and when we did she was just obsessed with chomping on someone. Which is fine.
Nritti: Obviously the villain but her story was also tragic. That being said, he was going to be reincarnated, but that's not soon enough apparently.
Moments to Remember:
Pg. 269
"'You're not a sadhvi, not a thief and not entirely a charlatan,' said Mother Dhina. 'Who are you?'
If I could tell her, I would. But that answer was beyond me, so I gave the only one that felt right.
'I'm a dead girl walking.'"
Final Line: "I was Queen of Naraka."
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
