The Star-Touched Queen (Star-Touched, 1)

NOTES ON DIVERSITY:This is a book about a woman of color by a woman of color. The cast is all people of color--specifically Indian people. The fantastic creatures that appear come from Indian folklore and mythology.In many ways, the diversity stops there. No queer characters appear in the book. There is no discussion of disability. Class does not come to the fore.1 Readers longing for an exploration of these themes may want to look elsewhere.REVIEW:Mayavati was born with bad luck. Her horoscope states that her marriage will join her to death, devastation and destruction. In the land of her birth, Bharata, a bad horoscope taints a person.Maya is shunned by the wives and daughters of the harem, left to her own devices, until fate moves her to a place where her death can be used as a political tool. But she does not die. She finds herself married to a mysterious king of a mysterious land--Akaran, where creatures of myth and legend roam. Amar, her new husband, tells her she has powers she never dreamed of, and that he can teach her, but only if she doesn’t ask too many questions, and only if she doesn’t explore the new palace. But, of course Maya’s curiosity gets the better of her.First, I have to say that Chokshi’s writing is gorgeous. I’ve read her short stories, so I knew that going in. She has a wonderful way with unexpected visual metaphors that surprise and delight me:"This was the court of Bharata, a city like a bone spur -- tacked on like an afterthought."Or:"A sound spidered through the floor."The book is beautifully written, a real pleasure to read. Chokshi is the kind of stylist I am jealous of as a fellow writer as I know my own writing is much more prosaic than hers. Hers sings; it’s lyrical. You can get lost in the words.The structure of the book, too, is so clever once you know the story. *Of course* Maya told all of those stories to Gauri!2 *Of course* the details she made up proved to be true when she makes it to the Night Market! I REALLY WANT TO TELL YOU THINGS RIGHT NOW THAT ARE SPOILERS but I will not, so please read the book so we can discuss, ok?The narrative is lovely, too. I really rooted for Maya. As a character she is ambitious and she is suspicious. She sneaks into the rafters of her father’s diplomatic councils and learns about warcraft and politics. She yearns for power. She knows she is smart, and she wants to use her sharp and cutting mind for *something* for *anything*. It was not surprising to me that when presented with the opportunity her new husband, Amar, represents that she would take it. She may be attracted to him at the outset, and grateful for his rescue, but she does not immediately fall in love with him. I loved this tension within her, the suspicion of him (she openly says she does not trust him to him) and this desire for power.Maya is such a strong character. She has such agency throughout. Chokshi draws her as a complete human being, and allows her to both rise to full glorious potential and to give in to her weaknesses. She falters. She learns from her mistakes. One of her mistakes is very dire, indeed, and she does what she needs to, sacrifices what she has to, to make things right. Maya is a better, more mature version of herself by the end of the book. Not a different person--still herself, still recognizably herself, but grown up. The character work in THE STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN when it comes to Maya is truly excellent. The characterization of some of the minor characters--Kamala and Gauri, especially--was also very strong.I wish the characterization of the other two main leads, Amar and Nritti, were as strong. Amar remains throughout a besotted cypher. We know he loves her, and that he has secrets, and that’s about it in terms of his character development. Honestly, in terms of plot, he doesn’t have much else to do, but there could have been a great deal more shading here to differentiate him from the other Brooding But Secretly Very Loving Love Interests I’ve read.Nritti is a much more interesting case. She is the book’s main antagonist, and her role in the plot and in Maya’s life3 is a complicated one. They were friends, until they weren’t, and Maya only half-remembers a shadow of a feeling of trust in Nritti. Until Nritti’s backstory is revealed, it’s key that her characterization is very strong--that the reader feel that she is trustworthy, that we have a strong connection to her, too, stronger to her, perhaps, than to Amar because her role in the story is not so well telegraphed by narrative convention as Amar’s is. But she winds up ambiguous. And then she winds up duplicitous. And as a character, for me, she wound up a hollow, strange mess of wasted potential.Nritti, also, was highlights worrisome issue in that there was an underlying element of femme...suspicion? in the book. It seemed as if the more feminine a female character was, the less Maya could trust that character (from childhood, an example would be the harem wives who exclude her). Gauri, her sister, grows into a soldier. Kamala, a female-identified flesh-eating horse demon that appears in the last third or so of the book ends up being a much more interpretable, sympathetic, and interesting character than Nritti. Kamala has more shading and depth. So it isn’t that Chokshi didn’t know how to write her non-human characters, or characters that are at first glance repugnant. It’s that Nritti never quite formed. I think this is an Unfortunate Unintended Consequence, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen in the text.Still, I would recommend this book. The weaknesses with Amar and Nritti are, to me, quite well balanced by the strength of Maya herself, and by the beauty of the writing. I very much enjoyed this book, and I am excited to see what Chokshi does with the next book.__________1: Arguably there is a glancing blow at class made in the book when Maya returns to Bharata as a sahdvi. I don’t count this, personally, as a discussion of class since she experiences her role as a sahdvi as a costume/disguise. She never claims the status fully. This is a book about a princess. Maya is a princess who was abused emotionally and psychologically, yes, but she was first a princess and then a queen, and her social position and worldview is different throughout the book than a peasant or a pauper.2: GAURI!!!! I am very excited that the companion novel, A CROWN OF WISHES, is all about her.3: Technically, in Maya’s *lives* since Nritti knew Maya in a previous incarnation, too.

This story is rife with beauteous, ornate language. It oozed metaphors in adundance, and I found myself deeply contemplating each and every metaphor, puzzled over how one person could create such masterful lines.A story entrenched in Indian folklore and mythology, we find ourselves poured into a world that is very far from our own. Our main character Mayavati, Maya for short, seems to be doomed from the start. In the world of Bharata, its citizens rely heavily on the stars to help dictate their whole lives, and the lives of others. Maya's horoscope is deemed the most tragic of all; a life that will be paired with death and destruction. Her father, the Raja of Bharata (in our terms, a King of his land), does not take stock in prophecies that are said to be written in the costellations.While Maya loves her father for this, he does not stop his many wives, or their daughters, from tormenting her and ostracizing her from everyone. Maya's own mother died during child birth, an event that added to Maya's cursed horoscope beliefs; Maya feels all alone.Mother Dhina, the top wife of Maya's father, who's status was raised based solely on her own hardships of countless still-born births and her own victories against encountering death, she is pretty much the Queen. She's ruthless against Maya, and never lets her forget that she's a blight on the world. We as readers, pity Maya from the start. And easily grow to hate Mother Dhina too.The story progresses quickly with the events that unfold. Maya's land is on the verge of losing the war against the other Raja's. A quick plan is hatched by Maya's father, thrusting Maya into a betrothal with another Raja. But devious in his plans, he gives Maya poison in a vial, and says to kill herself. Basically, the plan was to lure the enemies to their land and then attack. But Maya's father believes he's doing his daughter a favor by letting her make her end her way, rather than becoming the wife of an enemy Raja.Of course, Maya sees this as deep betrayal. However, she comes close to killing herself. Until, she's saved by the Raja of Akaran, a mysterious man named Amar. Maya later finds out he's the ruler of the Otherworld, a place that's between the living and the dead.Things become more complex, and I won't divulge anymore information on plot. I will say that this book is chock full of amazing quotes that I would love to now share."I wanted a love thick with time, as inscrutable as if a lathe had carved it from night and as familiar as the marrow in my bones."Who doesn't want a timeless love that feels as familiar as your own mind and body? Duh!"No matter where we are, we'll always share the same sky. We can always find eachother in the same constellation."(Swoons)"I know your soul. Everything else is an ornament."I guess Amar doesn't find her pretty? Hehe, just joking. Seriously though, Chokshi continuously writes some amazing lines.The reason this book did not get 5 stars is mainly out of my own personal aesthetics. I find it hard to fall in love with books that dive into "suspension of belief" material. I'm not familiar with Indian mythology or its culture, but I often found myself deeply confused by the imagery. I felt disconnected, as if I wasn't invited to a very important party I'm supposed to attend. An author that's writing about a culture that's very specific, yet writes for an audience that is diverse, needs to make their work relatable. I should be able to pick up the book and understand everything your telling me, even if I'm not from that culture.A lot of the world within the book, seemed so far from my own, or any other world I've read about, it was hard to fully appreciate it. I couldn't completely fall in love with the world or it's characters. It was so frustration because I love the ornate writing so much. But if you can't completely draw me in, where I'm 100% invested, then I feel like the author has failed in telling their story properly. And it pains me to say this, but there were times the ornate writing and imagery made the situation even worse. It was in these moments, I honestly felt like I was on an acid trip, completely high and seeing things that did not make any lick of sense.A Star-Touched Queen is coated with flowery words and spell-binding language and imagery. A story about a girl who's fate seems tragically sealed. And a man who's shrouded in darkness, but finds the light in our favored young protagonist. If you like the element of suspension of belief, this is the book for you. However, if you like your characters and world more grounded in reality, this is not the story for you. In the end, readers will soar high in the sky, become mesmerized by the stars that are our characters, and dance with fate as we see our characters' own fates unfold.

4.5I loved the mythology and the poetic and magical way of writing by roshani, but I feel that something is missing in order to reach five stars ... or maybe after reading more books I simply became more critical

Very pretty writing and a fantastic tale.

Mientras que me pareció una trama un poco aburrida en un inicio, el final hace que haya valido la pena leerlo.

A magical series, with gorgeous world building. Unlike anything else I have ever read.

DNF - 65%I was very immersed and interested in the first few chapters but lost interest a third of the way in. The premise and characters seemed unique and different to what I have read previously but it failed to keep me motivated. I ended up flicking to the last few chapters to see what happened. It was an okay read, not my cup of tea.