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The Star-Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen, #1)

Roshani Chokshi

Start date: August 1, 2017

Finish date: August 31, 2017

Discussion: Series

Why we're reading this: Won the poll for the theme BOTM
Theme: Space
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Series

* Continuing Series- Nightbane
By Bailey · 4 posts · 30 views

last updated Aug 12, 2025 07:32AM

* New Series- The Princess Trials
By Bailey · 10 posts · 59 views

last updated Aug 27, 2025 04:41PM

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What Members Thought

Feb 28, 2016 Sandra rated it it was ok

This started off so well. The ostracized princess raised in a harem is being forced to marry and ends up with a very secretive but devoted man...and then it devolves into reincarnation, re-united lovers, evil villain keeping them apart bullshit.

I hate reincarnation stories because the author has to put zero effort into relationship building, it just POOF already happened! Someone's memory has to be jogged and then they realize how deeply in love they are! So really I can't even call this romant This started off so well. The ostracized princess raised in a harem is being forced to marry and ends up with a very secretive but devoted man...and then it devolves into reincarnation, re-united lovers, evil villain keeping them apart bullshit.

I hate reincarnation stories because the author has to put zero effort into relationship building, it just POOF already happened! Someone's memory has to be jogged and then they realize how deeply in love they are! So really I can't even call this romantic because I couldn't give two shits about the characters or their love for each other.

In the beginning I thought the writing was beautiful and then I realized how disjointed it is. Some things are described beautifully and eloquently, like:

...the fingers of my memory could do nothing but rummage through images, hold them to the light and wonder if I hadn't a into some waking nightmare.

While the more mundane things and actions don't even get briefly mentioned, to the point that the author isn't building a scene in your mind anymore, you're just sitting there like "wait...but how are two people riding a water buffalo? How did she just hop up on it? Is she riding in front between his thighs or behind with her arms around his waist?...wait, she just took off her sari and now is walking into the bedroom (which we were never told she even walked OUT of in the first place) to her husband, is she naked? No mention of nightclothes were ever made, and being naked or clothed vastly changes your view on how they're spending their first night together...wait, last night they were sitting on pillows to eat dinner and tonight they're sitting in chairs at a table?" These things never get explained! It's like the small details of a scene were considered a waste of time and were avoided so the author could spend all of her mental effort writing semi-purple prose.

This also falls apart in a tangled way for the last third of the book, as often happens with books that involve multiple layers in a world. Maya goes between the normal world, the under/otherworld, past memories, and future possibilities all while trying to remember why the villain hates her and remembering why she loves the man, and she stumbles on a sidekick, visits people from her past (because like 10 years have gone by while she was in the Otherworld for a month). It's just a convoluted mess.

This book is like a naked anorexic runway model in a lushly embroidered and beaded coat. On the outside it seems like perfection and there really is some beauty to it, but once you lift the edges all there is to see is weak skin stretched over bare bones. Don't bother with it. ...more

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