Published: 2016
Pages: 352
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, YA
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.
There's no doubt that Roshani Chokshi writes beautifully, The Star-Touched Queen is a lush romance inspired by Hindu myths and classic fairytales. Like it's predecessors, it's a world of fantasy that's described lavishly.. Each sentence is positively dripping with beautifully crafted description that feels like a feast for the eyes. But, if you dig a little deeper and really think about the phrasing, that's where it's begins to fall apart.
Take for instance;
And really think about it. Yes, it sounds beautiful. But, what does it really mean? Can you imagine someone who looked like an edgy thunderstorm? Is it really the compliment it seems to be?
For me, The Star-Touched Queen is like a collection of really beautiful words, sentences and paragraphs that don't really achieve anything.
And it's not just the purple prose. In The Star-Touched Queen, we're led to believe that Maya is a headstrong, smart, independent woman who we should be rooting for. Her behaviour doesn't really reflect that. It begins with a really flimsy case of instalove which, for me, diminishes the character and once again puts her firmly in the realm of "I needed to fall in love to be useful" heroines.
Maya is also the perfect example to show that love makes us stupid. Her behaviour in Akaran just becomes more and more foolish as she spends more time there. It seems like she's the star-touched queen of rash decisions and regret, more than a powerful ruler.
The story is flimsy at best, and spirals out of control as the book progresses. I actually found myself having to re-read huge segments as I couldn't understand what was happening in later chapters.
Towards the last half, the only thing that kept me reading was Kamala. The introduction of a zombie horse that just wants to bite people and things was unexpected, but I was grateful for the injection of a character with a strong personality. However, the introduction of Kamala also served to highlight just how flat, and empty Maya was.
Sadly, in my opinion The Star-Touched Queen was a massive case of style over substance. If Roshani Chokshi ever writes a book about the overly sassy zombie horse - I'm there. But, I think I'll be giving book two a miss.
