Review - "A Crown of Wishes"

A Crown of Wishes, The Star-Touched Queen #2
by Roshani Chokshi
rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
published: 28th March 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

And the truth was that he was not afraid of being seen for what he was. He was afraid of being seen as someone who could never be more.

Galley provided by publisher

You know when it's an author's second book and the first one was so amazing that you're kind of worried that nothing can live up to that? Not so with this one. A Crown of Wishes is as amazing, if not more so, as The Star-Touched Queen.

The writing is just as gorgeous as usual, with some wonderful descriptions (especially of food and gardens) that bring the story to life. The setting this time is the Tournament of Wishes, in which Gauri and Vikram are competing. Gauri is Maya's sister, introduced in the first book, a princess who has been in captivity by her kingdom's enemies for 6 months. Vikram is the adopted prince of Bharata's enemies, who wants to be king and to be respected by the council.

The characters are also wonderful, and so realistic and their relationship is a hate to love one, which is one of my favourite tropes ever. They start off as enemies, on account of their kingdoms, and they develop so beautifully to fall in love. And Roshani Chokshi writes it so well. And writes it without any relationship-based conflict, which I always appreciate.

I think Roshani Chokshi is one of my favourite authors, on the basis of this book and the last, and from now on she'll definitely be an auto-read.

Review - "The Star-Touched Queen"

The Star-Touched Queen
by Roshani Chokshi
rating:☆☆☆☆☆
published: 26th April 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

That night, I dreamed of locked doors and baying hounds, rooms that were night-dark and a beast-king that smiled and laughed around a mouthful of broken stars to sing one phrase over and over: I know the monster in your bed.

Galley provided by publisher.

What a book. I don't exactly know how to put into words how good this book is. It reminds me of both Daughter of Smoke and Bone and The Wrath and the Dawn, with such gorgeous and lyrical writing.

The Star-Touched Queen tells the story of Mayavati, a princess of the kingdom of Bharata, who is cursed with a horoscope promising a marriage of death and destruction. She is content in the belief that her future lies in scholarly pursuits, rather than marriage, when her father springs on her a union with one of countries waging war against Bharata. However, her wedding doesn't go as planned, and Mayavati instead becomes the wife of Amar, and queen of Akaran.

The first half of the book covers this, with Maya slowly coming to terms with her new role and also starting to question why Amar is keeping secrets from her. While reading it, I was leaning more towards a 4 star review because, although I really liked it, what I found was that events happened really quickly and smoothly (perhaps strangely smoothly, because despite her claims that she didn't trust Amar, she seemed to go with him to Akaran very willingly) and then there was nothing for a stretch. Once beyond the halfway mark, though, everything kicks into gear. From this point, I pretty much couldn't put the book down. Everything appears to be lost, and Maya is on her own with no idea what to do.

Perhaps my favourite aspect of the book is the setting. The mix of Indian mythology and a Persephone and Hades style tale is so unique, and really well done. The writing is amazing and brings everything to life so effectively. The characters are also wonderful - Maya is probably my favourite, but Kamala definitely comes second (I laughed out loud a few times at her interactions with Maya). The way Roshani Chokshi was able to manipulate my feelings about Amar was great too. I started off liking him, but maybe finding him a little suspicious, before going through hating him (as Maya did) and then back to liking him again.

The romance for me felt a little off, but I think that was mostly because Maya knew nothing about her life with Amar before, whereas he knew everything and was already in love with her, while she had to fall in love with him. Once Maya had her memories back, I was OK with it.

Overall, this book was amazing, and definitely lived up to the good reviews of it that I've seen. It was one of my anticipated reads for this year, and I was in no way disappointed.