Author: Roshani Chokshi
Series: The Star-Touched Queen
Volume: 2.5 (short story collection)
Genre: Fantasy, Folklore, Retellings
Release Date: August 7, 2018
Goodreads Chapters IndieBound
A collection of three stories that flesh out and expand on companion novels The Star-Touched Queen and A Crown of Wishes.
eARC received through NetGalley
Series: The Star-Touched Queen
Volume: 2.5 (short story collection)
Genre: Fantasy, Folklore, Retellings
Release Date: August 7, 2018
Goodreads Chapters IndieBound
A collection of three stories that flesh out and expand on companion novels The Star-Touched Queen and A Crown of Wishes.
eARC received through NetGalley
Death and Night
Roshani Chokshi hitting me where I live with hints of the courtship-involving-riddles trope which is, for some reason, a favourite. If I were a character in a folktale courting/being courted by a deity of any variety I would expect, nae, require riddles. There's just something that feels like a folktale about them and I really enjoy that a lot. Nonsensical folklore riddles are my favourite.
I think this does a good job of setting up the characters who we meet in The Star-Touched Queen. In a way I kind of wish that I'd been able to read this before going into the book because I think it would have made some of the aspects that frustrated me the first time I read the story more understandable. (Although... I might have been confused by things in the short story if I read it first without knowing what happens next. #folkloreproblems I guess? Oftentimes stories drawn from folklore are a little bit stories with no beginnings.)
8/10
Poison and Gold
It's nice to see Aasha facing the challenges of living in the human world- especially when Gauri and Vikram ask her to take on the role of spymaster, a role for which she'll need to leave the court of training. Her time at court has been an uncomfortable learning curve- she's found herself unprepared for navigating the politics of the court and terrified to touch anyone after an incident with her vishakanya abilities- and she approaches this new challenge with a combination of hope and trepidation. Living in the maze-like house of the current spy master, she has to learn to control her abilities (magical and otherwise).
This one did feel like it suffered a bit for being a short story- there just wasn't quite enough time to build up the relationship between Aasha and Zahril for my taste (although I did like what we did see). Zahril was an interesting character in that I still don't feel like we know that much about her. (Also that she's apparently well-versed in poisoning and making things that smell good but. Aasha just gets rid of the tea she makes which I'm assuming means that Zahril is not great at tea? This detail amused me.) I liked what we did see about Aasha and Zahril coming to know each other, although I do wish we'd gotten to see more of it. It's also kind of a strange relationship because... Zahril is her mentor and also because Aasha is hiding her vishakanya nature (something she's reasonably certain Zahril would hate her for) so off the bat the dynamic is a little tense. Not so much that it was necessarily unbalanced by these factors but it was definitely complicated by them, and they weren't really explored in the limits of the short story. (Because it was. You know. Short.)7/10
Rose and Sword
This was interesting. Again, I feel like I could have done with maybe... 10 more pages for to fully get across the part of the story involving Hira- as that whole bit really did seem to mostly be an excuse to get Gauri to tell the story of how she had to drag Vikram back from the brink of death right before their wedding. I'm going to have to re-read A Crown of Wishes too because I feel like I forgot what wound up happening with Kamala and I was super confused by the meeting in the short story because of it...
That said it wound up being part quest story, part peak into post-A Crown of Wishes canon, and part musing on what it is to love someone and what it is to commit to loving someone for the long-term. (Especially in the face of the day-to-day stresses of juggling the concerns of an entire kingdom. But also just. In general.) This one was, for me, the most touching of the three stories and a really good note to end the anthology on because it feels like a satisfying conclusion and also like a good reflection of what the stories in the anthology were driving toward.
8/10
That said it wound up being part quest story, part peak into post-A Crown of Wishes canon, and part musing on what it is to love someone and what it is to commit to loving someone for the long-term. (Especially in the face of the day-to-day stresses of juggling the concerns of an entire kingdom. But also just. In general.) This one was, for me, the most touching of the three stories and a really good note to end the anthology on because it feels like a satisfying conclusion and also like a good reflection of what the stories in the anthology were driving toward.
8/10
Final Word
This collection is a wonderful way to delve further into the world of The Star-Touched Queen and A Crown of Wishes featuring Roshani Chokshi's signature lyrical and musing writing style and familiar characters (and a few new ones too).
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I haven't heard of this series, but it sounds like something I might enjoy. I'll have to check it out! These were short stories that tied into a larger series, right? And those covers are stunning! <3
ReplyDelete𑁋 Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear?
The short stories are connected to the larger story of two novels that draw on Indian folklore (which are companion novels, technically, but it's best to read The Star-Touched Queen first). The covers are super pretty, too!
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