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thekibbs101's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
2.5
I loved the descriptive writing in the beginning and middle, but right after the middle I hated where the story went. There are so many quotes I wrote down that I enjoyed so much and then the story just completely changed halfway through and l hated it. I was baffled by how bad it got.
“Staring at the sky in Bharata was like exchanging a secret. It felt private, like I had peered through the veil of a hundred worlds. When I looked up, I could imagine-for a moment- what the sky hid from everyone else. I could see where the winds yawned with silver lips and curled themselves to sleep. I could glimpse the moon folding herself into crescents and half-smiles. When I looked up, I could imagine an existence as vast as the sky. Just as infinite. Just as unknown.”
The descriptive lines in here are so nice! The story is slow to get into, I didn’t really start liking it until page 110. I really like the sweetness of Amar, he says such sweet things but I wish they were said after they have known each other longer because I have no idea how or why he is seeming to be already in love with her before he even meets her. The lines would be much more impactful later when they are falling for each other, but I still enjoy reading them. While the writing has nice descriptive lines, I wish it would go more in depth. I love that Amar has a palace with a glass garden, with a room of stars. When they go into the room with the stars I thought it was so nice and it reminded me of the magic in The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (which I love so much) but I just want more descriptions and more depth. “He reached into the sphere, drawing out the string with the three stars. He twisted them between his hands, fashioning a constellation no larger than a sparrow. Amar stepped forward, sliding the stars above my ear. It cast a glow that turned his face silvery and beautiful.”Like that’s so nice but how are they just able to grab the stars? I’m just curious to know how. I just love the imagination in the writing so much! “I found a room where snowdrifts floated upside down in soft, swirling eddies. Once the snow had piled onto the ceiling, it fell in ribbons of translucent silk before sinking into the floor, for the snow-silk cycle to start anew.” oh my goodness 💖 I love the imagery the author creates.
“I had missed his presence, his speech. Next to him, I felt more alive.” (140) aifhwidjkw 💖 “you are my hope and more.” I didn’t understand or like how Amar keeps going from being all sweet to being cold and asking her to change the fate of things and it’s not even explained why she has to do that. Like I have no idea what’s going on whenever that happens. I didn’t like the parts when they’re just talking about what she has to do, I feel like it halts whatever plot progression could be happening. I wanted more dialogue from the characters as well, after they kiss they don’t even talk about it and their conversations are very short. Right after I started to think the rest of the book would be really good it got bad. the main character is always angry and nothing is explained. At the middle of the book and until almost the end what the hell happened to this book??? I hated it so much?? What is this book oh my god it gets so bad. I was so confused how this could seem like a normal book and then just get so weird and so bad. I can’t believe Maya destroys the tree when Amar begs her not to, I trusted him the whole time and I wish she had too instead of ruining everything. I hated it after that. I was happy to see them reunited and see why he loved her so much but seriously what the hell. This book has so much beautiful writing in the first half that I hoped this would be a 5 star read, but then it was so slow to get into that it went down to 4, then the middle made my rating go down to a 1 star. I want to give it higher because the wonderful descriptive and imaginative lines but this just turned into such a bizarre and bad book. I’m so disappointed. I would love to read Amar and Mayas love story without the giant interruption that takes over the entire second half of the book. I had to skim so much of the last 100 pages because I just hated what was happening. The last few pages are nice and happy and I enjoy seeing Maya and Amar have a happy ending but this is my complaint with so many books, let me see the happy ending for more than just a few pages. I want to read the second book just to see more of their happy ending but I’m sure it will end up being bizarre or having some major violent conflict come up that will not make for an enjoyable read.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death and Violence
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
3.5 ⭐ CW: violence, descriptions of blood and corpses, war
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi is the fist book in the Star-Touched Queen duology. This book is packed full of Indian mythology and fairy tale lore, and it was refreshing to read something so different. I don't know that I will read the next book though.
We follow Maya, a girl living in a harem who is reviled by all simply because of her dark horoscope predicting a marriage of death and destruction. Her father plans a wedding ceremony where she is to choose a husband to stop the wars, but all goes wrong and she is left with only one choice, and he doesn't live in the mortal world.
We get a glimpse of Indian fairy tales and storytelling. I was fascinated by the mythical creatures and the rich descriptions. My favorite character was a talking, flesh-eating horse named Kamala. Yes, you read that right. Horse. She was sassy and annoying and charming all at the same time.
Unfortunately, I found this have a very slow start. I feel like the book didn't really hit its stride until the 200 page mark (the book is only 339 pages long) and everything just happened all at once at the end. Although Maya was willful and strong as an MC, I found Amar lacking. We didn't get enough of him in order to trust him. I just felt like this fell a little flat for me for some reason. It just doesn't have that...something.
Here's hoping I enjoy The Gilded Wolves more.
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi is the fist book in the Star-Touched Queen duology. This book is packed full of Indian mythology and fairy tale lore, and it was refreshing to read something so different. I don't know that I will read the next book though.
We follow Maya, a girl living in a harem who is reviled by all simply because of her dark horoscope predicting a marriage of death and destruction. Her father plans a wedding ceremony where she is to choose a husband to stop the wars, but all goes wrong and she is left with only one choice, and he doesn't live in the mortal world.
We get a glimpse of Indian fairy tales and storytelling. I was fascinated by the mythical creatures and the rich descriptions. My favorite character was a talking, flesh-eating horse named Kamala. Yes, you read that right. Horse. She was sassy and annoying and charming all at the same time.
Unfortunately, I found this have a very slow start. I feel like the book didn't really hit its stride until the 200 page mark (the book is only 339 pages long) and everything just happened all at once at the end. Although Maya was willful and strong as an MC, I found Amar lacking. We didn't get enough of him in order to trust him. I just felt like this fell a little flat for me for some reason. It just doesn't have that...something.
Here's hoping I enjoy The Gilded Wolves more.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, and War