The Star-Touched Queen

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By Roshani Chokshi

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Publisher Description

A lush and vivid story steeped in Indian folklore and mythology, Roshani Chokshi's The Star-touched Queen is a novel that no reader will soon forget. An instant New York Times bestseller!

Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you're only seventeen?

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.

2227 Reviews

3.5

Gracie’s Little Library

Created about 18 hours ago

“I love this book so much and I absolutely adore the ‘soulmates for eternity’ type of relationship!”

Rana

Created 1 day ago

Believable Limited character growth Relatable Captivating Challenging Engaging Life-changing Moving

clockworkbee_

Created 7 days ago

“3.5★ | 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙮, 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙡𝙮. A stunning debut! 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿-𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗻 is mostly based on the Hindu religion (or mythology, I’m not sure which, please forgive me), and it also gives the vibes of a ‘Hades and Persephone’ (greek mythology) retelling. I found it very fascinating because I love exploring the use of folklore, mythology, religious stories and culture in fantasy books. “𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙖 𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙙𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧.” Princess Mayavati (Maya) has been doomed since birth with a dark fate hanging over her head, foretold in the stars: a marriage partnered with death and destruction. All her life, she has been reminded of her dark fate, giving her a good enough reason to hate the stars that cursed her so. Maya has no plans of ever getting married, until of course, the day her father, the Raja, announces that plan for her himself, and while nothing goes as planned, Maya does end up marrying a Raja. “𝘔𝘺 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯,” 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥. “𝘐𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳. 𝘐𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶.” “𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙚.” “𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩.” As if the stars had left any room for disappointment, Maya soon learns that her husband, Amar aka. the Raja of Akaran—a land she’s never heard of, is bound by magic not to reveal the secrets of his world until the new moon. And so, another light in the sky left her in the dark. “𝙄 𝙖𝙨𝙠 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚.” “𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵?” 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥. “𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨. 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨. Maya chooses to trust this husband she barely knows and waits for to reveal the truth of what he’s bound not to tell, while exploring the palace and falling for Amar. But as it happens in most fairytales and love stories, there’s always a point at which a lie (or lies) comes to light, told by a lover who wants to see their beloved either happy or protected or free, or something else, resulting in a misunderstanding fueled by doubt. So, that’s exactly what happened. I loved the way Roshani Chokshi spun this story, but I also couldn’t ignore all the things I found missing in it. I absolutely adored the writing in this book, and found the Hindu tales quite refreshing as well, but I also think it’s important to note that as a character and plot driven reader, I found the characters very under-developed and even though I enjoyed some of the scenes and dialogues, I was also uncomfortable and somewhat unsettled with whatever was happening or being said because I didn’t really know the characters or connect with them, and the characters also didn’t really know each other, yk? For instance, these lines from Amar in the beginning of the book, “𝙆𝙞𝙡𝙡, 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩. 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩. 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙧 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙪𝙗𝙞𝙚𝙨 … 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠. 𝙄𝙢𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.” Like, these lines show that he truly owns his marriage and would stand by his wife no matter what, but there is also this distance between me and the characters which made so much of it only likable on the surface level. Writing in a book can make a big difference on it’s own; it can add to the beauty or the cruelty, the fantasy and the reality, the dialogue, the setting, the build-up and the execution of the plot, and it can just as easily mess a stunning story idea and ruin what makes that very book so interesting. Beautiful and descriptive writing doesn’t necessarily mean GOOD writing, nor does it make up for the lack of character development, character growth, character dynamics, or the plot(holes), and yet, I do think 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿-𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗻 is still pretty awesome for a debut written in 2016. Some other things about this book for people who like to know more than just the synopsis: • insta-love • a very typical and stupid fmc, who doesn’t question anything whatsoever • things that certain characters can’t reveal due to ‘magic,’ (and that’s where the Beauty and the Beast connection/comaprison comes from, I suppose). • lies and betrayal (both of which were pretty obvious & predicatable) • a few things which are mentioned once and then not addressed at all (like that tutor in the beginning, the detail about a shadow not being there). • a severe lack of an epilogue. ⚠️ 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗰𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵 & 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘄𝗻: • I’ve seen this book compared to some very awful books like Acotar and let me tell you, NO. The similarities start from the mmc hiding his face for a ‘little’ while, to the fmc having to solve riddles to save him, THAT’S. IT. And that’s not the ending. • I’ve also seen this compared to The Wrath and The Dawn but I don’t see how, tbh. Probably just the parts where the fmc hates the mmc for a while, and the part where they get separated for some time, which I really don’t think is enough for a comparison. Personally, I can’t compare this book to any that I’ve read (or I can’t come up with any for now), but I can recommend it to people who have read and enjoyed Laini Taylor’s debut, Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Both the books only share a single plot-point along with the beautiful and descriptive writing, but if you’re in for that, you might appreciate this debut book, and even have a good time, if not fall all in love with it. 𝗧𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗺 𝗶𝘁 𝘂𝗽, I’ve read 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘞𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦 by Roshani Chokshi and they both really show how far she’s come with her writing. I’m in LOVE with her words, and am excited to read her next release as well as older works.”

amrutha

Created 9 days ago

Hannah Slemmons

Created about 1 month ago

About Roshani Chokshi

Roshani Chokshi is the New York Times bestselling author of The Star-Touched Queen. Her work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Shimmer, and Book Smugglers. Her short story, "The Star Maiden," was longlisted for the British Fantasy Science Award.