The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi Pages: 342
Published by St. Martin's Griffin on April 26th 2016
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy & Magic, Romance
Source: eARC from Publisher
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.
The Star-Touched Queen is the debut young adult fantasy novel by Roshani Chokshi. It is a blend of greek mythology and Indian folklore. While, I am very familiar with Greek mythology, I am admittedly not very familiar with much Indian Folklore. But starting out with The Star-Touched Queen certainly is going to set the bar very high. I loved this book. Absolutely loved it. I am so blown away and impressed that this is author, Roshani Chokshi’s debut novel. I never would have guessed that. She writes so beautifully. The Star-Touched Queen is a breathtaking tale.
The Star-Touched Queen tells the story of seventeen year old Maya, who as you can tell from the summary, is cursed. I instantly fell in love with Maya. I was more hesitant with Amar, though that was completely by design of Roshani. Eventually I warmed up to him, and the romance between the two of them turns out to be really beautiful as well. But as great as the romance is, everything is really great. The Star-Touched Queen is packed with exemplary world building, interesting characters, and plenty of action to keep you turning pages almost faster than you can read them. I could not put this book down.
This review has the potential to become very spoilery, so I am trying to say less, but I can’t quite find the words to show how reading The Star-Touched Queen made me feel. There are plenty of well written, good young adult stories. But the great stories are the ones that stay with you long after you finish reading them. The great ones are the ones that you just can’t stop thinking about. And I just can’t stop thinking about The Star-Touched Queen. It is a GREAT story.
See why @BookBriefs cannot stop thinking about The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi @NotRashKnee Share on X
I loved this book and I’m so glad you liked it too! 😀
I’m so glad you enjoyed this one!! I’ve had my eye on it since the cover reveal and I LOVE mythology! It sounds perfect! Great (non-spoilery) review!
Yes! I love when I finish a book and can’t stop thinking about it–I want to read this book. Every reviewer so far has said the writing is so well crafted.