The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
The Star-Touched Queen is a little slow to start, but once it finds a groove the story will draw you in and you won’t want to put it down. The writing style is very poetic and descriptive, which is absolutely gorgeous but can sometimes slow down the story. Those pacing issues continue throughout the story. Sometimes the book flows well and you find yourself reading through chapters in no time, while other times the writing or plot trips you up and slows down the story.
I was very intrigued by the premise of the story, as not only does it include elements of Indian folklore but it is a re-telling of the Hades and Persephone myth. As a huge fan of Greek mythology, that was the aspect of the story that I was most excited to experience. Amar and Maya are our Hades and Persephone, although it is a unique story and you don’t feel like you’re reading a re-telling.
As strange as it seems, my favourite character was actually the demon horse Kamala. Although she could be really creepy when she salivated over eating people, she could be funny and made some of the scenes for me. Although I liked Amar, Maya and the other supporting characters I didn’t relate strongly to any of them so it made me less invested in the book. I wish I did like them more because I would have loved to have stronger feelings about this gorgeous book.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it – but it didn’t make any strong or lasting impact on me. Readers who are fans of flowery prose and very descriptive writing will enjoy Roshani Chokshi’s writing style, but if you are a fan of more simple sentences you might have difficultly getting through this book.
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