YA Weekend Audio: The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Macmillan Audio (April 26, 2016)
Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrator:
As soon as I finished this book I wanted to jump up and scream YES! This is what more YA should be like. It has originality. It has depth. It has a talking, flesh-eating demon horse. Wait, what? Yeah, more on that in a bit.
Think of The Star-Touched Queen as a retelling of the Persephone/Hades story, but inspired by the grand sweeping epics of Indian mythology. And like the greatest of the legends, this powerful journey also has elements of magic and romance, beauty and darkness, death and sacrifice. Seventeen-year-old Princess Myavati is said to be cursed, tainted with a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction. In a kingdom where the people are deeply superstitious, this makes Maya something of an outcast in her father’s palace. None of the women in the harem want anything to do with her, but that suits Maya just fine as she puts her mind towards more scholarly pursuits.
But then Maya’s world is shattered when the Raja announces his plan to barter her off in a political marriage. The news shocks and mystifies her, because princess or not, who would want her as a cursed bride? In the end, what her father had in mind turns out to be much more complicated and terrible, but just as Maya was about to accept her fate as a mere pawn in this game of power, a new player enters the field—Amar, a mysterious prince who claims to be from a magical kingdom far away. Indeed, Amar ends up whisking Maya away to Akaran, his world beyond the mortal realm. There, he shows her wonders she never thought possible, though he reveals little of the truth about himself, telling Maya that a magical geas prevents him from answering all her questions until a certain amount of time has passed. The secrets gradually begin to eat away at Maya, who is not content to stay in Akaran like a caged bird. Acting upon her instincts, however, she unwittingly unleashes a chaos may unbalance the fates of both the ordinary world and the Otherworldly one, and now Maya needs to figure out how to make things right and save the people she loves.
While it’s true that the prose edges into purplish territory at times (especially noticeable when you’re listening to the audiobook), I’m a little tempted to let this one slide…just this once. Somehow, the style actually ends up being a good fit for kind of the imagery presented in this novel—rich, vibrant, perhaps a little bit over-the-top in terms of abstractedness, but still grounded enough to be very enjoyable. Certain aspects in this story remind me of the different kinds of myths in antiquity or folklore/legend, only retold for a modern audience.
I also really enjoyed the heavy focus on Maya and Amar’s relationship, and I don’t simply mean that we spend a lot of time on the romance. This goes deeper than that. I love the fact that author Roshani Chokshi is not afraid to slow things down, especially when current YA fiction trends are seemingly always pushing for more ACTION, ACTION, ACTION! PEP, VIM, ZING! The Star-Touched Queen is not that kind of book, and I would even understand if others call it out for its languid pacing, though I have to say found this novel no less exciting in its own unique way. I marveled at the amount of bonding time between our two main characters, or how the thoughtful, reflective conversations they had with each other actually meant something.
If you were hoping for a faster-paced story, the second part of the book does bring a little more momentum. We get to know Maya a lot better as a character, watching her personal growth as she rises above her past memories and actions. In the tradition of the ancient Indian epics, this section chronicles a hero’s journey, except in this case of course, our hero is a heroine, a princess trying to find a way to save her world and her beloved. But Maya doesn’t fight this battle alone; by her side is Kamala, the aforementioned demon horse who makes for an unlikely but humorous ally.
I also highly recommend The Star-Touched Queen in audio format. I thought narrator Priya Ayyar’s performance started out a little strained at the beginning but it gradually smoothed out to become more natural over time, and she is really good with accents. Furthermore, some stories can work incredibly well when they’re being read out loud, with certain sections that make you want to close your eyes and imagine the wonderful things described. This is definitely one of those books.
All told The Star-Touched Queen was a delight to read and listen to; I would recommend it if you’re looking for an imaginative YA retelling that’s not as formulaic and contrived. A lovely mix of romance, fantasy, and mythology.
Story: 
| Performance: | Overall:
The BiblioSanctum 
This actually sounds good for a YA. 😉
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I was very impressed!
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Oh man! I tried to get an ARC of this one but Canada tends to get significantly less copies so I missed out >.< I DEFINITELY want to get my hands on this one now. A YA debut rated so favorably by you is a must! I can deal with purple-ish prose if the story, characters and the rest deliver, which they clearly do. Excellent review^^ xx
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Haha, yeah I can be pretty harsh on YA, so when I find one I like, I tend to get pretty excited. 🙂
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I love the Persephone-Hades myth (which is honestly a little shady of me since it’s not exactly feminist) and an Indian twist sounds so interesting! YA are my favorite listens as well so this sounds super awesome. Definitely going on the TBR.
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I like a lot of the stories in Greek mythology, so I don’t blame you 🙂 The Persephone/Hades is an interesting one, and Chokshi does her own twist!
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Ohhhhhhh now I really want to read this! Everyone I know who’s read The Star-Touched Queen has really enjoyed it, and this makes all their recommendations even more encouraging. Great review, Mogsy, and thank you!
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Yep, and I agree with a lot of the positive reviews too! I even understand some of the negative ones, because I can see how this one might not be for everyone, but it really worked for me 😀
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I have earmarked an Audible credit for this one – (should drop today). I’ve been seeing a lot of buzz about this book, and your review plus the Audible sample convinced me. Thank you.
Incidentally Amazon has the first five chapters for free if you want to try before you buy.
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Ooh yes, I highly recommend the audiobook! I love the narrator! She was a bit flat at first, but I think it smoothed out in the end and I love the way she did the voices and accents.
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I’m so glad you enjoyed this one, Mogsy! I’ve been hearing amazing things from pretty much everyone, and I’m very excited to dive into this one. Especially now that I know it’s good in audio format, too. And a standalone! 😀
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Yay! I know, isn’t it awesome that it’s a stand alone? I *think* I saw that she’s writing another book set in this world, but it is not a direct sequel. Anyway, as I was saying, I really recommend the audiobook, I usually do my YA in this format and this was a great one 🙂
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Exquisite review! I’ve seen good things written about this book, but am even more excited to get into it now. I’m in the mood for something fresh and original.
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I hope you’ll enjoy it! 🙂
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Honestly, you had me at flesh-eating demon horse. 😛 I don’t mind a little purple prose every now and then. So I’m definitely going to check this one out because it sounds awesome.
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Haha! Kamala the bloodthirsty horse is great! 😀
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Looking exclusively at the cover art and title of this novel (didn’t see the author’s name), I thought this was a Queen of Tearling book that I hadn’t heard about XD
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I know what you mean, there are a TON of covers that look similar to this and Queen of the Tearling! I have a suspicion that the same artists get hired a lot in the YA industry 🙂
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This sounds really good, Mogsy! I like that it’s a standalone, I miss more of these. Most of YA fantasies are still trilogies.
I like your comment on the fast, explosion-based nature of current YA. I recently re-read a favourite from last year, The Accident Season, and I really liked that there was basically one big event in the entire story while the rest is buildup and relationships and character development.
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Nice! It doesn’t have to be all action all the time, and I really appreciate those slower build-up books as an alternative 🙂
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