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A review by rachaelarsenault
Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
If you want my off-the-cuff thoughts in video form, you can find them here:
https://youtu.be/OlDjyidI4mk?si=tUVAYwWutR8zR1aC
I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book, but I ended up really enjoying it! Sheetal's journey was equal parts fantastical and familiar, mixing the divinity/extraterrestrial nature of Star society with politics, relationship trauma, and family conflict.
I felt for Sheetal's struggles all through the book, and was genuinely curious about how she was going to resolve the various conflicts that she grappled with throughout. The stakes were not only high, but I also /felt/ them - every choice would have a benefit and a very real consequence, and I understand why Sheetal was torn through so much of the story.
The worldbuilding was interesting, if a bit hard to follow at times (an issue I largely attribute to my white ass having a hard time remembering names and vocabulary in this Indian-inspired fantasy), and Thakrar did an excellent job at making Star society feel genuinely otherworldly.
My biggest complaints would be prose and transitions. For the most part, this book reads very YA - if you don't like YA, you will not enjoy this book. But a lot of the times when Sheetal is trying to describe magical or otherworldly things, the prose veers very purple. I understand and appreciate the choice to do this, and I recognize that this largely comes down to stylistic preference, but sometimes it got over the top for me. I would be pulled out of the narrative and/or start skimming until the prose settled down again. The other main issue I found was a lack of scene breaks and proper scene transitions. It was not uncommon for characters to be wrapping up a conversation, and then suddenly the narrative has shifted to a completely different room, with different characters, at a different time of day. No scene break. No transitional text like, "twenty minutes later, Sheetal found herself in the Hall of Mirrors." Nothing. Just from one paragraph to the next, the scene completely changes. This was the most jarring and difficult to follow aspect of the prose.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and definitely recommend it to YA readers.
https://youtu.be/OlDjyidI4mk?si=tUVAYwWutR8zR1aC
I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book, but I ended up really enjoying it! Sheetal's journey was equal parts fantastical and familiar, mixing the divinity/extraterrestrial nature of Star society with politics, relationship trauma, and family conflict.
I felt for Sheetal's struggles all through the book, and was genuinely curious about how she was going to resolve the various conflicts that she grappled with throughout. The stakes were not only high, but I also /felt/ them - every choice would have a benefit and a very real consequence, and I understand why Sheetal was torn through so much of the story.
The worldbuilding was interesting, if a bit hard to follow at times (an issue I largely attribute to my white ass having a hard time remembering names and vocabulary in this Indian-inspired fantasy), and Thakrar did an excellent job at making Star society feel genuinely otherworldly.
My biggest complaints would be prose and transitions. For the most part, this book reads very YA - if you don't like YA, you will not enjoy this book. But a lot of the times when Sheetal is trying to describe magical or otherworldly things, the prose veers very purple. I understand and appreciate the choice to do this, and I recognize that this largely comes down to stylistic preference, but sometimes it got over the top for me. I would be pulled out of the narrative and/or start skimming until the prose settled down again. The other main issue I found was a lack of scene breaks and proper scene transitions. It was not uncommon for characters to be wrapping up a conversation, and then suddenly the narrative has shifted to a completely different room, with different characters, at a different time of day. No scene break. No transitional text like, "twenty minutes later, Sheetal found herself in the Hall of Mirrors." Nothing. Just from one paragraph to the next, the scene completely changes. This was the most jarring and difficult to follow aspect of the prose.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and definitely recommend it to YA readers.