The Star-Touched Queen
Andre Norton Award nominee 2016.
A lush, beautifully written and vividly imagined fantasy inspired by Indian folklore.
Cursed with a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, sixteen-year-old Maya has only earned the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her world is upheaved when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. But when her wedding takes a fatal turn, Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Yet neither roles are what she expected. As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds friendship and warmth.
But Akaran has its own secrets - thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Beneath Akaran's magic, Maya begins to suspect her life is in danger. When she ignores Amar's plea for patience, her discoveries put more than new love at risk - threatening the balance of all realms, human and Otherworldly.
Now, Maya must confront a secret that spans reincarnated lives and fight her way through the dangerous underbelly of the Otherworld if she wants to protect the people she loves.
Roshani Chokshi
Roshani Chokshi comes from a small town in Georgia where she collected a Southern accent, but does not use it unless under duress. She grew up in a blue house with a perpetually napping bear-dog. At Emory University, she dabbled with journalism, attended some classes in pajamas, forgot to buy winter boots and majored in 14th century British literature. She spent a year after graduation working and traveling and writing. After that, she started law school at the University of Georgia where she's learning a new kind of storytelling.
The Star-Touched Queen
The Star-Touched Queen consists of two primary books, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Book Reviews
If you prefer your books to be visionary and mildly abstract with a touch of exotic lands ruled by kings in sumptuous palaces, then The Star-Touched Queen is for you. This isn't a book you can pick up and get lost in the story after a few pages. The description is vivid, the wording and metaphors are long but the fairy tale being told here is one that most will become enthralled in.
Roshani Chokshi takes us back to a era of Bharata, a wild and oriental land when Raja's ruled in palaces, and princesses wore beauty if only to make them more beautiful.