Book: The Star-Touched Queen
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Pages: 325 (Paperback)
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Published: 28th March, 2017
Synopsis:
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 rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of 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.
Source: Macmillan
My opinion:
Aside from the absolutely stunning, it was the promise of a story full of magic and love that made me grab this book. And I was not disappointed. Based on Indian folkolore and the Greek Hades&Persephone myth, The Star-Touched Queen throws the reader right into this beautiful, beautiful story.
The beginning was a bit slow. Not from the story itself, but from all the descriptions. It was also pretty confusing at first, because it felt like nothing really was happening, but on the other hand so much happened. It was really kind of weird. Things I wasn’t exactly interested in were draw out longer than necessary and others I would have loved to know more about were over in just a few pages. But when I finally found into the story, I was totally captivated. By the plot, the characters, the magic.
Maya, the main character is so strong. Despite being treated like an outcast by almost everyone, she is still quite positive and nice and encouraging towards others. She cares deeply for those she loves. Maya is also very smart and curious, and with her strong will she seems to achieve anything. She is such an amazing character!
Where I fell in love with Maya’s character, I couldn’t really get a hold of Amar, the male lead/ love interest. I still don’t know what to think of him. Normally, his character sounds exactly like someone who has favourite-character-potential, but in reality I just… didn’t like him very much. He is this mysterious, good looking guy with a lot of secrets. And even though more and more about him is revealed while the plot unfolds, I still could not grasp him or his motives.
And, what I need to say here, my absolute favourite character in this book was definitely a flesh-eating horse. I never thought I would ever say that, but this is a horse I like. And I love that she gets such a prominent part.
The story was amazing, though. Hades& Persephone retellings are my thing, and with that I mean totally my thing. And mixed with India it was so magical, in every sense of the word. Not only did it feel like that magic is to pour out of the pages, the story and Chokshi’s writing style transported me into this beautiful, yet brutal world with empty palaces and loss and love. It felt like walking through some kind of magical forest with strange flowers and dark trees that give you chills along the way, except that this book was basically the equivalent. To be honest, I can’t get enough of this world. And Roshani Chokshi sure knows how to bring her readers into a realm of magic and great worldbuilding.
Everyone go read this book! Also, give me more of it!
Rating:
★★★★/5
