Blog Tour Omnibus Review: Star-Touched Stories (The Star-Touched Queen #2.5)

Release Date: August 7, 2018
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Publisher: St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books
Length: 304 pages
Source: NetGalley eGalley

Three lush and adventurous stories in the Star-Touched world.

Death and Night

He was Lord of Death, cursed never to love. She was Night incarnate, destined to stay alone. After a chance meeting, they wonder if, perhaps, they could be meant for more. But danger crouches in their paths, and the choices they make will set them on a journey that will span lifetimes.

Poison and Gold

Now that her wish for a choice has come true, Aasha struggles to control her powers. But when an opportunity to help Queen Gauri and King Vikram's new reign presents itself, she is thrown into the path of the fearsome yet enchanting Spy Mistress. To help her friends, Aasha will have to battle her insecurities and perhaps, along the way, find love.

Rose and Sword

There is a tale whispered in the dark of the Empire of Bharat-Jain. A tale of a bride who loses her bridegroom on the eve of her wedding. But is it a tale or a truth?

    

Reviews:

Death and Night

Recommend Reading AFTER The Star-Touched Queen

In a time long before the events of The Star-Touched Queen, Death needs to find himself a consort, but a curse cast on him causes him to seek companionship without love. Then he meets Night, a girl who would never marry without love. At first, I wasn't sure why this story would be necessary, given that most of it is at the very least alluded to in The Star-Touched Queen, however, other than seeing this world expanded even more and learning more about how this world functions, I found myself really invested in the stories of Death and Night. Even though I knew their story, I never really saw them fall in love, at least not the first time, and it was interesting to see how they originally came together. We also get to see more of their personal lives, Death's friendship with Gupta and Night's with Nritti and as much as I hate who Nritti becomes, I have to say that I really enjoyed her here which really only turns my rage for her into sadness, at the loss of what could have been. Still, even if I wasn't surprised by the events of this story, I was surprised by how much I was sucked into it and by how much I ended up enjoying it.

Rating:

Even with how much I love The Star-Touched Queen, I never really expected to love Death and Night as much as I do, going in I felt it was going to be a fluff piece, which in some ways it is, but I didn't expect to get so thoroughly invested in a story that I thought I already knew the ending of.

Poison and Gold:

Recommend Reading AFTER A Crown of Wishes

Aasha, the vishakanya who was given a choice to live two lives in A Crown of Wishes, is back and sets out on her own adventure when Gauri and Vikram need her to train for a new position in the palace. Her training is grueling and her new mistress is fierce, plus she needs to hide her true nature for the protection of her friends as well as herself, and lately, her power to shift between her human and vishakanya forms hasn't been cooperating. At first, I was a bit bummed by how tropey this story can be, I mean, I feel as though I've read stories of characters who suddenly lose control of a new power, and of an apprentice training under a seemingly cruel master or mistress. Then, almost suddenly I didn't care, I mean, that's one of the things this author does so well is to take classic tropes and show them her way, infused with her culture and it totally works on me. I love Aasha so much and her journey in this story is a great one and carries a powerful message. I will say though that I felt the ending was rushed a little bit and I wish that it could have had an ending that didn't feel so sudden.

Rating:

I love this story so much and was happy to see a little more of this world after A Crown of Wishes as I was completely over the moon when it came to that story and I love seeing Gauri and Vikram again as well as learning more about Aasha.

Rose and Sword:

Recommend Reading after A Crown of Wishes

This is a tale told in the past, just before Gauri and Vikram are to be wed, and the present, decades later on the eve of another wedding, though it isn't our main character getting married, it's her sister. Hira is sad that, after her sister's wedding, Meghara will leave to go live with her new husband and his family, so after a fight between the sisters Hira goes to see her grandmother and there her grandmother tells her a story. The story is about before Gauri and Vikram's wedding and the tragedy that shakes the palace. I cannot tell you how much I love this story, it's a story of love, both familial and romantic and how, even in anger love can still burn bright. I love seeing this world open up so much more, yet still, have a focus and a home base in Bharata or now it's called Bharat-Jain. As always the author's writing is lyrical and poetic and every moment feels necessary and full of life, even amongst death. Then there's the end, an end that leaves a small window open for more stories, stories that pray will someday be written, and an end to parts of the story that I never want to say goodbye to, but I know must inevitably come!

Rating:

I didn't have to think twice about this rating, I barely had to think once. I practically melted into this story while reading it and by the end, I was shedding tears, though whether they were tears of happiness or joy, well, you'll have to read this story for yourself to find out.

Overall Rating:

I loved this small collection of stories so much and it really helped to fill in the hole of not having more novels in this series, though the window left open for more gives me hope, my only drawback for this collection, and as you can see it didn't affect my rating is that this collection isn't in hardcover, but c'est la vie!

About the Author:

Roshani Chokshi is the New York Times bestselling author of The Star-Touched Queen and A CROWN OF WISHES. Her middle grade debut, ARU SHAH AND THE END OF TIME, released April 3, 2018 from Disney/Rick Riordan Presents. Her next young adult novel, THE GILDED WOLVES, is slated for Winter 2019. Chokshi's work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Shimmer, and Book Smugglers. She was a finalist in the 2016 Andre Norton Award and the Locus Top Ten for Best First Novel. Her short story, "The Star Maiden," was longlisted for the British Fantasy Science Award.

Book Review: Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Quartet #1)

Release Date: March 27, 2018
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents
Length: 368 pages
Source: NetGalley Review Copy

Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she'll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?

One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru's doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don't believe her claim that the museum's Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again.
But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it's up to Aru to save them.
The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that? 

    

Review:

Protagonist: Aru Shah is a liar. To fit in at school she will stretch and manipulate the truth, but when her lies catch up with her, in order to save face with a few of her classmates, she lights a cursed lamp in her mother's museum and unwittingly unleashes the Sleeper, a demon hell-bent on awakening Shiva, the God of Destruction. After the dust settles Aru learns that she is the reincarnation of one of the legendary Pandava brothers and in order to save the world from destruction she must team up with another newly awakened Pandava and travel through the Kindom of Death, super easy right? I loved Aru, she's snarky and the ways in which she stretches the truth are astonishing. While it took me a little while to get used to her as a protagonist, once I did she was fantastic, she adds a lot of great humor to this story without making feel like an outright comedy. Aru's journey through this story, at least internally, allows her to really grow into herself and blossom into a character to root for. Aru is a very sympathetic character, in fact, her feelings of inadequacy with her classmates were very relatable to me, as is her vivid imagination and her penchant for twisting the truth. I loved seeing how she would react to things because even if she surprised me her motives always felt like they had some sort of tie to who she is a where she came from. Aru is a fantastic character who, like anyone, has flaws and sometimes makes mistakes, but she'll take the consequences and hopefully grow as a person.

World Building: While I don't know too much about Hindu mythology or the Mahabharata after reading this story I want to learn as much as I can. It's no wonder Riordan picked this story for his new imprint as it fits with his brand so well. This most definitely feels like a Riordan mythological adventure, but Chokshi's writing is what set it apart. It's like if there was a "Build Your Own Rick Riordan Adventure" kit, but instead of making one of the pictures on the box, Chokshi took those building blocks and created something wholly new and unique with her own signature style. I loved learning about the various characters in Hindu mythology and the roles they played in both the story and their origins. Now, you're not going to come out on the other side of this story with a vast and unending knowledge of Hindu mythology, but I can almost guarantee you that you'll come out knowing some pretty cool stuff with a want to know more. I've also seen this story compared to Sailor Moon, a popular anime from my childhood, and honestly, the connections ARE there, but unfortunately, there are really only a few with the promise of more in the future, and I'm straight up holding the author to that promise. I liked the connections we did get and honestly the fact that they sort of quiet down for a while didn't bother me, I was sucked so far into this story by that point I wasn't getting out anytime soon.

Predictability: On the foreshadowing standpoint, I feel this author did a fantastic job of weaving foreshadowing into her narrative while holding back on some of the bigger reveals for later. Now, arguably the biggest twist in this story was easy to predict and I honestly felt the author was a bit heavy-handed when it came to foreshadowing that giant twist. Leading up to the reveal I even remember wishing that the author had been more subtle as the reveal would carry more weight, however, while my guess was correct, I love how the author subverted my expectations and added layers to the twist that I didn't see coming. That's just the biggest twist, while there is quite a lot of foreshadowing (this is a Middle-Grade book after all) I still found myself, more often than not, still being surprised at how the story unfolded and how the author layered her reveals so that I never quite knew what would happen next.

Ending: The final climax of this story is outstanding. I mean, what a way to use your characters to their full potential and really show off how far they've come since the beginning. Now I won't go into specifics, but this final climax was a grand slam if ever I saw one. I love how it set things up for future installments as well as providing a great visual for how far things have come. After the final climax though, well there's a rather extended cooldown period. Don't get me wrong, I love cooldown periods in books where we can learn how our characters adjust to their new reality while continuing to set things up for the sequel, but the last couple of chapters felt more like the first few chapters of Book Two instead of the last few chapters of Book One. By the very end of the story, however, I do feel that it makes up for that in some ways.

Rating:

So... when I got to the end of this book and saw the title and release date of Book Two I let out a devastated scream because well, frankly I don't want to wait a year and a half (quarter?) to continue this magnificent story. I love the characters, I love the world, and just when it starts ramping up again it's all torn away from me! I had high expectations for this book, with it being the first book from Rick Riordan's new imprint as well as Roshani Chokshi's Middle-Grade debut, this story not only met those insanely high expectations, it far exceeded them as well!