The Star-Touched Queen (ARC Review)

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Mythology
Page Length: 352 pages
Format: ARC (won in a giveaway!)
Publication Date: April 26, 2016
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

I'd like to thank Roshani Chokshi for hosting the giveaway. Although she provided me with a copy of her book, it in no way whatsoever affected my thoughts/opinions about this book. These opinions are completely my own.

About The Star-Touched Queen (via Goodreads):

Cursed with a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, sixteen-year-old Maya has only earned the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her world is upheaved when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. But when her wedding takes a fatal turn, Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Yet neither roles are what she expected. As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds friendship and warmth.

But Akaran has its own secrets - thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Beneath Akaran's magic, Maya begins to suspect her life is in danger. When she ignores Amar's plea for patience, her discoveries put more than new love at risk - it threatens the balance of all realms, human and Otherworldly.

Now, Maya must confront a secret that spans reincarnated lives and fight her way through the dangerous underbelly of the Otherworld if she wants to protect the people she loves.

The Star-Touched Queen is a lush, beautifully written and vividly imagined fantasy inspired by Indian mythology.

I ADORED THIS BOOK. Actually, I more than adored it. THIS BOOK GAVE ME PURE UNADULTERATED HAPPINESS. Okay, maybe not pure happiness because I was shrieking in despair for some of the book, but it was so breathtakingly beautiful I didn't even care that my heart was fracturing into a billion pieces. I ached for the characters and their broken hearts and battered souls, and sang in happiness when things fell into place, even if it was only for a fleeting moment.

The Star-Touched Queen is the most captivating and exquisite book I have ever read in my entire existence. Roshani Chokshi's words cast a spell on me, and every detail was so vivid and poetic. Her words were true magic.

The plot was heavily entwined with Maya's relationship with Amar, but it wasn't overwhelmingly so. Their romance scorched the pages and left me longing for more. It was heartbreaking but beautiful, and I loved every second of it. However, in the end, the story was also about Maya's renewal and her quest to find herself after losing her sense of identity.  Maya's transformation throughout the course of the novel was like watching a butterfly break out of its cocoon and test its wings for the first time—it was a truly unique and joyous experience.

Before reading The Star-Touched Queen, I knew next to nothing about Indian mythology, but Chokshi's writing opened my eyes to the beauty of Indian culture and their myths and legends, and I was completely enraptured by the lore. I have always been a fan of mythology, so even though the book was absolutely stunning on its own, learning about a completely foreign culture and mythology in the process was an added bonus.

Reading The Star-Touched Queen was like taking a breath of fresh air. I needed to keep reading like my life depended on it. It was that good. In fact, I loved The Star-Touched Queen so much that I would give it every star in the universe if I could. The Star-Touched Queen was an absolute masterpiece, and I could not have asked for anything more.

Rating: 5 stars