A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi (The Star-Touched Queen #2)
Published by St. Martin's Press on March 28th, 2017
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Page Length: 352 pages
How I got my copy: Publisher
Amazon - IndieBound - Book Depository - Barnes & Noble - Goodreads
Purchases made support this blog
Gauri, the princess of Bharata, has been taken as a prisoner of war by her kingdom’s enemies. Faced with a future of exile and scorn, Gauri has nothing left to lose. Hope unexpectedly comes in the form of Vikram, the cunning prince of a neighboring land and her sworn enemy kingdom. Unsatisfied with becoming a mere puppet king, Vikram offers Gauri a chance to win back her kingdom in exchange for her battle prowess. Together, they’ll have to set aside their differences and team up to win the Tournament of Wishes—a competition held in a mythical city where the Lord of Wealth promises a wish to the victor.
Reaching the tournament is just the beginning. Once they arrive, danger takes on new shapes: poisonous courtesans and mischievous story birds, a feast of fears and twisted fairy revels.
Every which way they turn new trials will test their wit and strength. But what Gauri and Vikram will soon discover is that there’s nothing more dangerous than what they most desire.
Note: I received an advanced copy of A Crown of Wishes from the publisher. Some things may have changed in the final version.
Strengths:
- Gauri is awesome! As soon as I heard that there would be a companion to Star-Touched Queen starring Gauri, I was pumped. She is such a strong character that combines physical strength and battle skills with femininity and fierce love for her sister. She doesn’t disappoint in her story.
- Vikram was a great love interest and had some interesting aspects to his own background. I wouldn’t say he is my favorite male MC ever, but he played a good foil for Gauri.
- Beautiful development of world and magic. There is only a tiny bit of overlap with the magic and world that we saw in Star-Touched Queen, so most of the time is spent seeing new things and getting hints of how they tie together with what we already know.
- Obviously a lot of thought and feeling into bringing in Indian mythology. I’m in no way an expert on the mythology this series is built on, but I can tell you that it is obvious that it is a culture that I have not spent time in because everything is so different than the European fantasy tropes I am used to seeing. There were moments when things seemed really weird, but I knew that it was because I was seeing into another culture’s storytelling traditions and I loved it.
Weaknesses:
- Writing seemed over done compared to last book. I absolutely love the prose of the first book but I know some people thought it was overdone. Perhaps I’m in a different mood now, but the writing definitely started feeling a bit silly to me in places.
- My ship didn’t sail. I knew it was a long shot but I was really getting a F/F vibe from one relationship, but it didn’t work out and I’m disappointed all the same.
- Structure seemed off, really slow and long final wrap-up. I was surprised when a big final scene was happening earlier than expected and was worried how the last bit of the book would go, it couldn’t really get more exciting from that! And I was right to worry; the final wrap-up takes way too long and bored me greatly to the point I had to resist skimming.
Have you read this one? What did you think? Are you excited for it if you haven’t gotten to it yet?
– Anya
A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi
© 2017, Anya. All rights reserved.