Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Roshani Chokshi's new novel, A Crown of Wishes, which is hosted by St. Martin's Press. I got the chance to read the book early, and I have my thoughts about the book included below, as well as other information about A Crown of Wishes and Roshani. Hope you enjoy!
Title: A Crown of Wishes
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Series: Companion novel to
The Star-Touched Queen
Format: eARC kindly provided by
St. Martin's Press via NetGalley for
review. (Thank you!!)
My rating: 4 / 5
Release Date: 28th March 2017
Add to Goodreads
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.-- As seen on Goodreads
My Thoughts
*I received an eARC from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This didn't influence my opinion in any way.*
When I read The Star-Touched Queen last year I fell completely in love with the world Roshani Chokshi created, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the companion novel when it was released. I remember loving both the writing style and the characters she created and I was so excited to dive into a new story from her. Technically, A Crown of Wishes is a standalone novel and it definitely can be read as one. Apart from taking place in the same world as The Star-Touched Queen, it has few similarities to that story and any over-lapping will be described and recapped in this book. It follows the story of a Prince and Princess from enemy kingdoms joining forces to enter a Tournament of Wishes, and they take on a series of challenges in order to win a wish which can be used to grant the winner their hearts desire.
Considering how much I loved Maya’s story, I was really interested to see how her little sister’s story would compare. It took me a while to connect Guari with how Maya’s little sister was described from the first book. She’s very different to the character we met back then, and while that isn’t a bad thing at all, it did take a bit of getting used to. She’s grown up into a complete badass and I absolutely adored her! I also really liked Vikram, and the chemistry and banter between the two was my favourite part of the novel. Their sass and snark was so entertaining to read!
I can’t help but love Roshani’s writing style. It’s so consuming and visual it’s so easy to get swept up in the story and forget about everything else. However, I personally preferred the overall story arc from the first book a bit more and I thought the writing style in general suited the whimsical qualities of that story perfectly. It pains me to say this, but I felt that sometimes the descriptions and metaphors in A Crown of Wishes distracted instead of enhancing the story. I have to be honest, there were a few occasions where I hadn’t a clue what was being described, and I don’t remember having that problem at any stage reading the first book.
While there were a couple of things I didn’t enjoy quite as much as the first book, overall, I think A Crown of Wishes is a must read if you loved The Star-Touched Queen. I love the world that the author created, and it was so awesome to revisit the Night Bazaar again! I can’t wait to see what she’ll be working on next and to read more of her works in the future.
Meet the Author
Roshani Chokshi is the New York Times bestselling author of THE STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN. Her work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Shimmer, and Book Smugglers. Her short story, "The Star Maiden," was longlisted for the British Fantasy Science Award.
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