meyy's review
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rebeccaaa's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
mansiv27's review
3.0
This was one of the most hyped books of 2016. I love diverse fantasy, the Indian mythology references (Narsimha) was on point, the premise is awesome, the cover is to die for, and there is a sassy talking half dead horse. I should love it but alas no!
I loved the cultural aspects and the vivid descriptions of the palaces and saris. Plus there was a very sassy talking horse, the horse liked to eat people.
I loved the writing it almost felt like a poetry.But that's where it ended for me. Like I honestly feel like it spent 98% of its effort on vividly describing a scene instead of, developing the characters Or finding a plot.
There was absolutely no plot Maya has a unfortunate horoscope. Maya gets married to a mysterious magical boy. Maya sits in magical castle and does nothing. Maya distrusts magical boy. Maya ruins everything. Maya is sorry. THE END. That's it!
More than the fantasy aspect of the plot it is rather is 100% focused around the romance.(Which had no spark)
All in all disappointing!
I loved the cultural aspects and the vivid descriptions of the palaces and saris. Plus there was a very sassy talking horse, the horse liked to eat people.
I loved the writing it almost felt like a poetry.But that's where it ended for me. Like I honestly feel like it spent 98% of its effort on vividly describing a scene instead of, developing the characters Or finding a plot.
There was absolutely no plot Maya has a unfortunate horoscope. Maya gets married to a mysterious magical boy. Maya sits in magical castle and does nothing. Maya distrusts magical boy. Maya ruins everything. Maya is sorry. THE END. That's it!
More than the fantasy aspect of the plot it is rather is 100% focused around the romance.(Which had no spark)
All in all disappointing!
wraithandmermaid's review
3.0
(light, vague spoilers towards the end)
I like Roshani Chokshi, but having read The Gilded Wolves before The Star-Touched Queen, I can say that her writing has certainly evolved from this to TGW. There's a lot of cool stuff in this book, from the fact it's influenced by Indian mythology to the imagery and lushness of the environments. But as all the other reviews say, the most obvious and glaring problem is the prose and descriptions.
Roshani Chokshi is good at prose and descriptions, of course, but this book can get hard to absorb. That's not to say that the writing is BAD, it's just that there's a LOT of purple prose. There's so much of it. It's like swimming through honey. It's all this language about stars, eternity, souls, love, life, laughter, you name it, and then it's spun into some things that make sense, some that don't. It's pretty and flowery but basically adds nothing to the plot. It gets weird when the characters start talking in that same fanciful manner too.
There was just so much potential that was never used here. At the time I'm typing this, I haven't read the second book yet, but why is Bharata trying to stave off fighting and rebels? How much do horoscopes actually matter and who gave Maya's to her (idk how popular horoscopes are in India or wherever)? Is Maya's horoscope actually true? How long has the conflict between Bharata and the other kingdoms been going on? When did Maya's mother die (I actually might've missed this one) and what was her significance to other characters? There's a lot of things that could've been expanded on but never were. All this makes it seem like there are high stakes and that Maya's life sucks, none of which I doubt, but without much explanation, it's hard to empathize with all these struggles.
And then there are the characters themselves. There isn't much to Maya, other than the fact she despises the stars and wants to control her own life for once. It's hard to find a connection with her. And then there's Amar. He's hot and charming and some more stuff I won't say because this isn't a spoiler review, and then what was the whole point of him wearing the mask and then taking it off still at the beginning of the book? I was getting some Eros and Psyche vibes, and then it just kinda... didn't go anywhere. There's instant love and an instant pull because oooo they're so obviously soulmates. You don't get a chance to really appreciate their love when so many of their details are unlocked LATER.
And finally, the plot. It's not bad, but Maya's journey is kinda... weird? I thought it was gonna go lovers to enemies for a bit there, and I suppose it did, but of course, everything had to be okay in the end. Things happened too fast or too slowly (thanks, purple prose). There are several events revolving around Maya's power and the tapestry thing, all this language and power. Maya gets to her power too easily in my opinion and somehow knows the right things to do because oh, past lives and memories! The last chapter was a big mess of power and chaos, and I ended up just skimming to get to the point. All in all, the pacing is strange.
Still, the book has its merits. Though it's loaded with nonsensical descriptions, some of the descriptions are actually beautiful, like the Night Bazaar, clothes, gardens, and other unusual, otherworldly things. The worldbuilding is cool (though could be expanded on) and I like how thorough Chokshi is with the language and culture. It's always nice to see an author connect with their cultures like this. But anyway, short book, read quickly, probably won't reread.
I like Roshani Chokshi, but having read The Gilded Wolves before The Star-Touched Queen, I can say that her writing has certainly evolved from this to TGW. There's a lot of cool stuff in this book, from the fact it's influenced by Indian mythology to the imagery and lushness of the environments. But as all the other reviews say, the most obvious and glaring problem is the prose and descriptions.
Roshani Chokshi is good at prose and descriptions, of course, but this book can get hard to absorb. That's not to say that the writing is BAD, it's just that there's a LOT of purple prose. There's so much of it. It's like swimming through honey. It's all this language about stars, eternity, souls, love, life, laughter, you name it, and then it's spun into some things that make sense, some that don't. It's pretty and flowery but basically adds nothing to the plot. It gets weird when the characters start talking in that same fanciful manner too.
There was just so much potential that was never used here. At the time I'm typing this, I haven't read the second book yet, but why is Bharata trying to stave off fighting and rebels? How much do horoscopes actually matter and who gave Maya's to her (idk how popular horoscopes are in India or wherever)? Is Maya's horoscope actually true? How long has the conflict between Bharata and the other kingdoms been going on? When did Maya's mother die (I actually might've missed this one) and what was her significance to other characters? There's a lot of things that could've been expanded on but never were. All this makes it seem like there are high stakes and that Maya's life sucks, none of which I doubt, but without much explanation, it's hard to empathize with all these struggles.
And then there are the characters themselves. There isn't much to Maya, other than the fact she despises the stars and wants to control her own life for once. It's hard to find a connection with her. And then there's Amar. He's hot and charming and some more stuff I won't say because this isn't a spoiler review, and then what was the whole point of him wearing the mask and then taking it off still at the beginning of the book? I was getting some Eros and Psyche vibes, and then it just kinda... didn't go anywhere. There's instant love and an instant pull because oooo they're so obviously soulmates. You don't get a chance to really appreciate their love when so many of their details are unlocked LATER.
And finally, the plot. It's not bad, but Maya's journey is kinda... weird? I thought it was gonna go lovers to enemies for a bit there, and I suppose it did, but of course, everything had to be okay in the end. Things happened too fast or too slowly (thanks, purple prose). There are several events revolving around Maya's power and the tapestry thing, all this language and power. Maya gets to her power too easily in my opinion and somehow knows the right things to do because oh, past lives and memories! The last chapter was a big mess of power and chaos, and I ended up just skimming to get to the point. All in all, the pacing is strange.
Still, the book has its merits. Though it's loaded with nonsensical descriptions, some of the descriptions are actually beautiful, like the Night Bazaar, clothes, gardens, and other unusual, otherworldly things. The worldbuilding is cool (though could be expanded on) and I like how thorough Chokshi is with the language and culture. It's always nice to see an author connect with their cultures like this. But anyway, short book, read quickly, probably won't reread.
acaciathorn's review
3.0
I'm feeling super lazy right now and don't want to write a lengthy summary, so I'll just do blips:
Mythic India. King's daughter gets bad horoscope saying she'll be wedded to death. Girl is ostracized her whole life. Country experiences political upheaval. Father arranges marriage for her and tells her to drink poison during the ceremony and martyr herself for the good of the kingdom. Girl agrees. God of death shows up and actually marries her. "Wedded to death". Clever. Girl is taken to Akaran, a magical realm in the Otherworld, where she learns about how to be a goddess of death. Turns out she and death god boy were married in her previous life, but they had a fight and she peaced-out by walking into the reincarnation pool. LOL. When deities have a spat, shit goes cray. Girl learns a bunch of weird magical shit. Lots of glorious god-flirting. Then villain? Whose motivation makes no sense? And random hero journey that should've been its own separate book? Something thrown in quick about her sister? Whatever. Girl saves husband who has become useless. The end.
The main problem with this book is that it didn't need a villain. There was more than enough conflict present already, what with all the political unrest, the challenge of reforging her identity, the commingling romance and suspicion, and all the weird crap about influencing fate. The second half of the book would've been much more interesting if she'd been forced to choose between and/or balance her profound love for her little human sister and her growing/re-awakening love for her god-husband. There was no need for a confusing, rushed backstory about a villain who used to be her friend in her previous life. Especially when nothing that this person did or said or convinced the protag to do made ANY sense at all. Her screentime should've been allotted to the coolest character in the novel: a bizarrely charismatic, flesh-eating horse demon who became the main character's bff during her journey. Yeah. That's a thing.
Sigh. Loved the romance and the magic. Disliked the direction the book went in. For once, it should've focused more on the romantic crap, and less on the adventure. If the author wanted the MC to go on a quest, she should've expanded that section and made it into a sequel.
Mythic India. King's daughter gets bad horoscope saying she'll be wedded to death. Girl is ostracized her whole life. Country experiences political upheaval. Father arranges marriage for her and tells her to drink poison during the ceremony and martyr herself for the good of the kingdom. Girl agrees. God of death shows up and actually marries her. "Wedded to death". Clever. Girl is taken to Akaran, a magical realm in the Otherworld, where she learns about how to be a goddess of death. Turns out she and death god boy were married in her previous life, but they had a fight and she peaced-out by walking into the reincarnation pool. LOL. When deities have a spat, shit goes cray. Girl learns a bunch of weird magical shit. Lots of glorious god-flirting. Then villain? Whose motivation makes no sense? And random hero journey that should've been its own separate book? Something thrown in quick about her sister? Whatever. Girl saves husband who has become useless. The end.
The main problem with this book is that it didn't need a villain. There was more than enough conflict present already, what with all the political unrest, the challenge of reforging her identity, the commingling romance and suspicion, and all the weird crap about influencing fate. The second half of the book would've been much more interesting if she'd been forced to choose between and/or balance her profound love for her little human sister and her growing/re-awakening love for her god-husband. There was no need for a confusing, rushed backstory about a villain who used to be her friend in her previous life. Especially when nothing that this person did or said or convinced the protag to do made ANY sense at all. Her screentime should've been allotted to the coolest character in the novel: a bizarrely charismatic, flesh-eating horse demon who became the main character's bff during her journey. Yeah. That's a thing.
Sigh. Loved the romance and the magic. Disliked the direction the book went in. For once, it should've focused more on the romantic crap, and less on the adventure. If the author wanted the MC to go on a quest, she should've expanded that section and made it into a sequel.
vikcs's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
oriental_muse_0818's review
1.0
DNF at 73%.
This book was nothing but nonsensical metaphors strung up together, I can understand the allure of poetic writing but it has to make sense. I honestly have no idea what was going on after Maya married Amar because the writing was just so hard to understand. And I like a good mysterious guy but Amar was just plain confusing, there was alot of insta-love going on here and the whole darn World knows how I feel about that.I can't help seeing the resemble ne to cruel beauty, it was very similar.I most definitely will not be continuing the series, what a complete waste of time this book turned out to be and to think I was actually anticipating the story after I read the blurb.How disappointing...
This book was nothing but nonsensical metaphors strung up together, I can understand the allure of poetic writing but it has to make sense. I honestly have no idea what was going on after Maya married Amar because the writing was just so hard to understand. And I like a good mysterious guy but Amar was just plain confusing, there was alot of insta-love going on here and the whole darn World knows how I feel about that.I can't help seeing the resemble ne to cruel beauty, it was very similar.I most definitely will not be continuing the series, what a complete waste of time this book turned out to be and to think I was actually anticipating the story after I read the blurb.How disappointing...