The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi Series: The Star-Touched Queen #1
Published by St. Martin's Griffin (4.26.2016)
Genres: High Fantasy, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover, 342 pages
Source: I own it
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 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.
My thoughts
“My star-touched queen. I would break the world to give you what you want.”
To be honest, when I picked this up I had NO idea if I would like it. Actually, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t. But my girl Hope raved about it, so I picked it up anyway. And I ended up being pleasantly surprised! I really enjoyed it!
This book really shone in the last half, after the pivotal moment of the book, especially once Kamala came into play! I loved Kamala! She was a horse of death that ate people, but she was hilarious and sarcastic. She had me cracking up! I need more Kamala! (Also what does it say about me that my favorite character is a flesh eating horse?)
The romance in this book moved rather fast, but it wasn’t really instalovey. View Spoiler » It was quite beautiful, too! Lots of quotable moments. After that pivotal moment I mentioned above, I realized that I actually wanted them to succeed and that I was rooting for them to be together!
The world was my favorite part of this book (other than Kamala of course)! The setting was vivid, full of magic and wonder. I loved how twisted and magical the Night Bazaar was! This book was beautifully written, the premise was fabulous, and I loved the Indian culture. For once I was the black sheep in a good way!
Favorite quotes
Never mind that the closest I had come to real magic was making off with an entire tray of desserts without anyone noticing.
I wanted love thick with time, as inscrutable as if a lathe had carved it from night and as familiar ass the marrow in my bones.
“I want to lie beside you and know the weight of your dreams. I want to share whole worlds with you and write your name in the stars. I want to measure eternity with your laughter.”
Overall Assessment
Plot: 4/5
Premise: 5/5
Writing style: 4.5/5
Originality: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
World-building: 4.5/5
Pace: 3.5/5
Feels: 3/5
Cover: 4/5
Overall rating: 4/5
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