May 6, 2016

Book Review: The Star-Touched Queen


Title: The Star-Touched Queen
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Publication Date: April 26, 2016
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Add to: Goodreads / Amazon

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

"Come with me and you shall be an empress with the moon for your throne and constellations to wear in your hair. Come with me and I promise you that we will always be equals."

The Star-Touched Queen is a very magical book and I admire Roshani Chokshi's lyrical writing because it really gave me the whole fantasy feeling when I read it. The plot was unique with the horoscope because I hardly come across books with that kind of theme. Props also for a strong female lead. I like how her being hesitant to trust a stranger, who's her husband, was something to relate. It's a stranger. Despite the friendly actions, still a stranger. I love her heart when it comes to her sister and how she's willing to take the risk if it means to save the people she loves. Her determination was admirable. Though I like to point out that even with all this admiration I have for her, she did still made some mistakes (something I had under the spoiler in my Goodreads review so if you haven't read the book, please don't click it).

However, as much as I enjoyed the book at some point, I was lost majority of the time. My interest started to really rise during Part II but even then, there were still parts where I question what is going on or what time/dimension is it already. The thing is, there are these doors--as said from the summary--and each door hides something. That was where I got confused. There's also the whole timetable in which again, I'm confused. The whole tapestry thing is another on the list. I even wonder if it's like Disney's Brave because the tapestry was connected to the story (the whole "fate" thing). The whole deal of how the tapestry works was explained but the details or process didn't really register in my head. I get the connection but I had a hard time picturing it--me picturing the book's scenarios helps me whenever I read because my imagination is doing this "mini movie" but sadly for this one, I had a hard time grasping. There were also things that somehow I wish there's more depth into it: the whole curse/horoscope (this might have been explained well but again, I was lost), the relationship with Maya and Nritti, Maya's past and how she got to where she is now.. even her relationship with Amar which was also intriguing for me (love the whole jaani endearment though, that was just sweet).

I started to get the hang on the last few chapters since there was a clear action going on and not just Maya wandering the palace and opening doors. The last chapter was kind of a mixed scenario for me because a lot of things were happening and to think it's nearing the end.

I'd still recommend The Star-Touched Queen despite my 3-star rating. It really is a beautiful book, it's just that I had a hard time understanding stuff. I might read this again in the future and maybe I'll finally get it. For now, I'm just gonna leave this here. Also, this book would've made a really great movie. Just imagine how awesome the cinematography will be (you'll get what I mean if you've read it).

MY RATING

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