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

by Roshani Chokshi

Treated with scorn and fear in her father's kingdom because of a formidable horoscope, 16-year-old Maya commits herself to her education only to land in an arranged marriage that culminates in her sudden elevation to the throne, a situation that is threatened by dark secrets and Otherworldly magic.

• ISBN10: 1250085489
• ISBN13: 9781250085481
• Publish Date: 26 April 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: St. Martin's Griffin
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Foolishly, I was unsure what to expect of The Star-Touched Queen. I came to Roshani Chokshi a little late, once she was already well-established in the bookish world. While I feel as though her books are spoken of well, I don’t really see them hyped as much as other authors.

Why in great big beautiful world are they not more hyped?

Roshani Chokshi has a beautiful writing style. She balances all the incredible world building you see from Erin Morgenstern with the lyrical language from Laini Taylor, but she brews it together and lets it bubble down to something a little more straightforward and less flowery. I find myself pausing to share a phrase of her writing with a friend because the way she described a ceiling in passing was beautiful, but it never slows down her books. I’ve seen other reviewers call it purple prose, but honestly? It works really well for me – I don’t find it too elaborate or distracting. There are abstract turns of phrase that fill my heart with warmth and admiration. I suppose it’s all a matter of taste, but I really enjoy Rosh’s writing style.

If you were to compare The Star-Touched Queen with The Gilded Wolves, you can see how she’s developed her craft in so far as character development goes. I liked Maya well enough, but she didn’t have the layers that her later characters do, and her rapid evolution could make it difficult to get a grasp of her. Still, I enjoyed this aspect because I felt that it fit well with the character’s situation. And whatever aspects we lost in Maya’s muddled memories and the struggles with Amar and Nritti, we got back in spades with Kamala. Kamala is a delight and frankly? She makes my list of favorite sidekicks and minor characters.

Again, the plot can feel a bit fuzzy because time slips rapidly and Maya is uncertain of herself and her identity for most of the book – I feel as though the presentation, again, worked with the situation in the story. I grew more interested the deeper into the book I read (possibly also because Kamala entered and I loved her), but I feel from a typical YA fantasy POV, the beginning of the book fit more into the way we’re used to seeing things. The Star-Touched Queen sets itself up as a retelling and a romance, but turns into something more abstract in the later chapters. Once again, this delighted me rather than bothered me, and I still think it worked well – other readers will certainly disagree.

As for the world. The world. It’s rich in layers, with magic and mayhem woven in effortlessly. Not only has Rosh created a fantasy that feels solidly middle-eastern (yes thank you), but she’s woven in our own mythology to give it some spice. I can’t speak for all the stories and fables, but I read this around the time of Holi and when the author did a mini-tutorial on the holiday on her Instagram feed, I noticed the story-within-a-story at once. There are moments of gilded beauty, but there is also darkness, which is something I enjoy about her writing style in general – things are astonishing, but they are also tarnished and corrupt and broken. We have magical moments, like in the Night Bazaar (I am here for magical fey marketplaces always) and we have chilling reveals. The rules of the world are not over explained, but everything felt right together. That’s how I like my fantasy – effortlessly woven and alive.

Overall The Star-Touched Queen may not be a book for everyone, but it’s a beautiful book nonetheless and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m coming to it having already read her later works – The Gilded Wolves in particular – and I didn’t find it too amateurish (I know that going back and reading debuts sometimes can be heart-wrenchingly disappointing). If you like some flowery prose and don’t mind a dreamy, abstract plot line… I think you’ll like this, too!

[Kat @ Novels & Waffles]

The purple prose is strong with this one. Don’t get me wrong – I love flowery language as much as the next person. Give me the purpliest, purple prose that you can find, and I’ll be as happy as a pair of plums asleep under a blanket of violet sky. (Did that make any sense? No? Well good, because that was kind of the point.)

While Chokshi’s writing style in The Star-Touched Queen was undoubtably beautiful, it distanced me from the story and made it harder to fully understand the plot. Sure, it was magical and atmospheric, but it also left me feeling detached and confused. While this poetic writing might work for many readers. it didn't mesh well with me.

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: In many ways The Star-Touched Queen reminded me of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas but better written, with more interesting characters, and much more nuance. For someone who loved ACOTAR, that's welcome news, I'm sure. As more me? I hated ACOTAR, so that parallel isn't one I'm particularly excited about. On the flip side, some parts also reminded me of A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston, which I adored. It's no wonder then, that I enjoyed The Star-Touched Queen, even if I didn't love it.

What I liked were the setting, the writing style, and the diverse cast. The audiobook narration was great too. Oh, and there was a petulant talking horse, which obviously upped the entertainment factor. The romance, however, made little sense to me. Not that romance is driven by logic, but the spark, the chemistry, the palpable attraction, and what have you, were entirely absent. That this drove the main character to the underworld where she faced the dead at least partially made up for this book's shortcomings.

[Jo]

Originally published on Once Upon a Bookcase.

When I first heard about The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi, I was drawn to the stunning cover first. Then when I read more about it, I was so excited to see it was a South Asian high fantasy, inspired by Hindu myths. And as it had been so hyped, I was prepared to be well and truly wowed by this book. Unfortunately, I wasn't.

The setting was gorgeous, the writing was beautiful, I loved that it was a retelling of the Hindu myth of Shiva and Parvati (as Hindu myths are not as widely known as myths from other cultures, if you don't know this myth, you may or may not want to look it up. Just know that if you do look it up, it will spoil the story in a pretty big way), and I loved the similarities to the Hades and Persephone (I don't know if Chokshi was inspired by/retelling this myth, too, however; I've looked it up, but I can't find anything from her saying one way or the other). What I didn't like so much was how very little happened for the majority of the story.

There is a reason for this, and it is explained. When Maya is in the Akaran and Amar's wife, they have to wait a full cycle of the moon before Maya can be told certain things about the kingdom and her role there. This is explained as the story goes on, and I can accept it to a certain extent, but why other things weren't happening while they waited, I don't know. So Maya spends her days exploring the palace and the wonders behind doors that will open to her, either alone or with Gupta, Amar's adviser and friend, while Amar is away for most of each day, doing who knows what - it's part of the secret Maya can't find out yet. But this equates to chapters and chapters of not much happening at all... until certain discoveries are made, and the pace is picked up massively, like a stone rolling down the hill, getting faster the more it rolls. But this doesn't start happening until two thirds of the way into the book. It took me 11 days to read this, because I simply didn't care. I wasn't interested because nothing was happening. The gorgeous setting and the beautiful writing wasn't enough to hold my interest.

And there were so many questions. Why were both Amar and Gupta physically unable to tell her the secrets of Akaran? I understood why they had to wait in the end, but not why they would find themselves in physical pain when they said something they shouldn't. And the magic in this book, how is it used? Where does it come from? Over most if not all magical thing that happens in this book, I have a question of how? That tree of memories, I understood what that was about, but how was that formed? And what was with all the mirrors that reflected other places? I never got what they were about. And what about the non-tutor thing that turned up just before Maya found out her father planned to marry her off? That was never touched on again! I also have questions about the past which I don't think were answered well enough.

Also, I had trouble believing the romance between Maya and Amar. Maya's feelings just seemed to come out of nowhere, once she saw his face. It wasn't instalove, but there was no real development of her feelings; she felt nothing, and then she did. I also never really felt I got to know Amar all that well either, which probably just adds to that. And after that last third, when suddenly everything is happening, it happens so fast. So fast. I almost feel like the first two thirds should have been cut down to one third, and the last third developed more into two thirds. And to cap it off, it ends so abruptly. Out of nowhere. There are cataclysmic scenes, and as they end, the book is over, just like that. I very much felt the book was missing an epilogue.

The setting is gorgeous, the writing is beautiful, and there is a wonder of humour and blood lust in the form of a demonic flesh-eating horse named Kamala - god, I loved Kamala (but again, she doesn't appear until the last third of the book!) - but there was so much of this book that was wanting. I wanted - I expected - more. And I was really disappointed. Saying that, I think I'm still going to read the companion novel, Crown of Wishes. I feel there's more scope for things to happen in the next book, and the world of these two stories is fascinating. Really hoping that Crown of Wishes is an improvement.

[Kait ✨]

This was such a fun YA fantasy. It feels familiar (the Hades and Persephone retelling really stood out to me) while still being fresh (it’s deeply rooted in Indian folklore). I loved reading a fantasy that wasn’t medieval European inspired. Chokshi’s writing is very “purpley,” and if that’s not to your taste this may not be the book for you. But I found her vivid and lush writing really brought the world building to life. This is a fairly simple book in terms of themes and construction, but that’s not bad necessarily — I blew threw it quickly and it achieves what it meant to. I would have enjoyed it perhaps a little more if it wasn’t YA and had dove a little deeper into some themes and characterizations more and had gotten a little darker, but that doesn’t really take away from my enjoyment of this book.

[Kate (Blogging with Dragons)]

Wow. From the minute I started reading this book I was ensnared by what felt like an exotic and unique version of a familiar fairytale. All signs pointed to greatness. Unfortunately, the book went in a completely different and strange direction as a result of catastrophic decisions of the heroine, Maya. I love where this book started and the direction I thought it was going; however, I did not like where the book ended up and how it got there. I am not sure how this book started out so promisingly, only to dissolve into Maya making a crap ton of stupid choices. I thought the book would detail Maya coming into her own, conquering her cursed horoscope, becoming a queen worthy of ruling the Otherworld by defeating some evil and saving the day. Instead I got a heroine, who though incredibly book-smart and able to make astute judgement on her father’s government of his kingdom, could somehow not even manage to consider the horrible consequences of her own actions.

When the book began, Maya was a strong-willed princess who loved to read and hid in the rafters to overhear her father, the Rhaja’s important meetings. Shunned by the other women of her father’s harem and cursed with a horoscope that destined her to partner with death, Maya loses herself in telling stories of the Otherworld to her younger sister, Princess Guara. With war brewing, Maya was forced to say goodbye to her sister and her chances at being a spinster princess who lives contentedly among her books. Instead, Maya must not only marry one of the enemy kingdoms’ suitors to prevent wars, but she also must poison herself, at the behest of her father, to prevent the other kingdoms from being angry at their suitors not being chosen by the princess for marriage.

It all happened exceedingly fast and readers weren’t even given time to get to know the kingdom Maya resigns herself to save at all costs. I think the book could have truly benefited from more world building. There simply was not enough delving into the world Maya inhabited before entering the strange Otherworld, which is really just a supermarket hodgepodge of chimeras that echoed the stories that Maya briefly told her sister Guara. It seemed like one second Maya was making up stories and then “poof,” they were actually real and she was living in them. If I knew more about Maya’s kingdom, I might have cared more about her saving of it. But instead, it was hard to care about the imminent destruction of the kingdom filled with a Harem that hated and abused her, and a leader/father who ordered his own daughter’s death. Big whoop.

Luckily, before Maya has the chance to kill herself, a special suitor, Amar, appeared and whisked her away to his kingdom, which turns out to be the Otherworld. I loved enigmatic Amar and the mystery surrounding his palace. I was enthralled by the idea of its magic tapestry which held the threads of souls and their fates. I loved the beautiful writing and the rich imagery. But then, the heroine went and came down with such a major case of stupid that it was impossible to ignore. And not just any old case of stupid, but ruin-the-entire-universe-stupid. In fact, Maya was SO stupid that it was almost impressive. Sigh.

And I can’t help but wonder if Amar knew his wife and her stupidity at all. He stated, “My Kingdom needs a queen….It needs someone with fury in her heart and shadows in her smile. It needs someone restless and clever. It needs you.” But honestly, Maya was the COMPLETE opposite of clever, which sets her apart from her counterparts, such as Belle in Beauty and the Beast.

Like Maya, it was hard to feel a lot of sympathy for Amar in the course of the book. The way he showed up as a masked suitor, claimed to love Maya after waiting for her for a long time, and then whisked her off to the Otherworld, just didn’t work for me. Maya had to marry and might die in the battle over her marriage that broke out, so she had absolutely no choice but to go with Amar and wed him. This wasn’t exactly my idea of romance. But like many young adult books, the two still manage to kiss very early on, despite very little time spent together and her growing distrust of him.

Plus, it was very frustrating that Amar couldn’t tell his wife anything about what was going on his castle until the full moon. His silence on important matters due to the curse/enchantment/whatever in combination with his abrupt and secretive comings and goings made him and his intentions appear very shady. Though Amar was upfront about his inability to speak of what was behind the doors, he didn’t do a very good job of keeping Maya busy and distracted from her curiosity. Plus, [spoiler]keeping your wife’s memories locked up in a tree just doesn’t seem very healthy. [/spoiler]

But neither was Maya’s lack of communication about dangerous forces with her husband or the only other person in the castle, Gupta. Magic palace with dangerous doors that open to other, sometimes evil worlds with creatures that can be let loose into your own? Why not obsess over the creepiest door, which was locked with chains and whispers some seriously disturbed stuff to you all of the time? Why not keep the whisperings of this door a secret? Why not hunt down this door, which was wrapped in chains, and break said chains? Why not open it, despite all earlier warnings by your husband, who loves you?

DOES ANY OF THIS SOUND LIKE A GOOD IDEA? NO.

BUT MAYA THOUGHT ALL OF THIS SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT IDEA AND OPENS IT.

And to top off Maya’s terrible decision-making,[spoiler] she then listened to her former best friend, Nritti, of whom she has absolutely zero memories. She decided Nritti could be trusted, based on no evidence whatsoever, and because she’s super pretty! Maya carried on to destroy her relationship with her husband, who was sincerely trying to protect her, and further manages to give an actually evil Nritti magical power over him by betraying his secrets to her. As a result, Maya threw off the balance of all the worlds, including her previous home, and the Otherworlds.[/spoiler] And on Maya’s consequent journey to fix all of this mess, and to save her husband and his realms from the aforementioned psycho ex-best friend, we found out that [spoiler]Maya already messed up EVERYTHING once before in her previous life where she was immortal and also married to Amar. So basically, the entire book was like an exceedingly frustrating game of “how many lives does it take for Maya to grow half a brain?” [/spoiler] I wondered, was the reason the book called the “Star-Touched Queen” because she was touched in the head?

Regardless, Maya’s quest to fix her wrongs was even stranger than her past reasoning. I did not foresee Maya's deal with a flesh-eating demon in the form of a horse, named Kamla, and riding out to free her husband from the evil spell of Nritti. If you told me that this book involved a pact being sealed by way of a flesh-eating demon devouring Maya’s hair, I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s just plain weird. Did I mention that the horse only helped her out of desire to eat Maya’s flesh and that Maya readily agreed? What’s worse, is that no one, not even Nritti, Guara, or Amar, can recognize Maya anymore as a result of her “haircut.” UM, REALLY? As a huge fantasy book reader, anime and Korean drama watcher, and gamer, I didn’t think there was much out there that was too weird for me, but this book really proved me wrong!

I won't pick up the second book in this series, I simply do not care about what happens to Maya or her family, husband, or crazy ex-best friend. But if you’re a huge fan of Beauty and the Beast or other fairy tales or retellings of fairy tales, you might enjoy this book for its sheer unique approach. But I prefer my heroines with a brain, my worlds well-built, and the romance slow-burning and well-developed. If you are looking for any of those things, look elsewhere.

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

The Star-Touched Queen is one of those books I took way too long to read without a good excuse. One person told me they didn't think I'd enjoy it, so I just never did pick it up. This January I had the pleasure of meeting Roshani Chokshi at ALA in Atlanta and picked up a copy of A Crown of Wishes, book two in this series, so it seemed like a good time to finally give it a go!

I'm going to switch things up with this review and start with the writing. I had heard that the writing in The Star-Touched Queen was very flowery, which I tend to get bored with, and that's one reason I was told to avoid it. After reading it, I have to say I disagree. This book isn't flowery, it's mythology. I always laugh at people who talk about what they minored in as if it makes them experts, but I did happen to minor in Classics. I read a lot of myths. A lot. And this reads like them, just a little prettier and more appropriate for the 21st century. While I can see why some people might have been put off by the writing style, I happen to love mythology and I loved every single thing about The Star-Touched Queen!

The main character of this story is Maya, the daughter of the Raja, and she's pretty much a badass. She has lived her entire life in the shadow of a horrible horoscope. Maya is shunned by everyone around her and seen as cursed, so she's surprised when her father decides to marry her off for political reasons. Although she is upset, Maya resolves to do this to help her father, but the husband she chooses is much more than she expects.

Amar is the Raja of his own kingdom, one Maya has only heard about in stories. He is dark and mysterious and handsome... He is totally my kind of love interest. Little bits and pieces about him are revealed as the book goes on and, trust me, this guy is fascinating! I'll give it to you straight - the romance in The Star-Touched Queen is insta-love, but it totally and completely works. I loved Amar and Maya so much! Maya is simultaneously completely out of her element, while being totally sure of herself. She always makes the decisions she feels are best for her, even if they don't always work out in the end. I can't say too much about Amar's character without spoilers, but Amar by himself makes this book worth reading!

Just like the writing and characters, the world building is incredible. The descriptions of both the real world and the Otherworld locations like the Night Bazaar and Akaran were gorgeous. I could easily visualize the locations and the magic of the different places Maya visited. Even the different rooms in Amar's palace were each distinct and easy to picture! Roshani should really get an award for the magic she weaved into this book.

I cannot say a whole lot about the plot of The Star-Touched Queen without spoiling it, but I will say that the story completely surprised me a couple times! I expected a pretty straight-forward story that went in one direction, but I ended up getting blindsided halfway through... and it was awesome! I had a lot of feels and nearly threw the book across the room at one point, but it's too pretty and I didn't want to damage it, so I persisted. The ending wrapped up nicely so that this could easily be read as a standalone, although I'm definitely excited to see what happens in A Crown of Wishes!

In case I haven't made it clear, The Star-Touched Queen totally exceeded all of my expectations. I went in not knowing if I'd even want to finish it, and came away clearing a space on my favorites shelf! If you're a fan of fantasy, mythology, or retellings (did I mention this is a Hades and Persephone retelling?) and you've been avoiding this book for any reason, I highly recommend you take the plunge sooner rather than later!

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

~*Full review notes on The Bent Bookworm!*~

“I am a frightened girl, a roaring river and night incarnate….And I will not be tethered. My life belongs to me.”

Feels:

Reading The Star-Touched Queen was like falling headfirst into a swirling vortex of color, light, and strange beasts. It was beautiful, fascinating, terrifying, and slightly confusing at times.

Characters:

Maya is one of the many sons and daughters of the Raja of Bharata. Ostracized for her “cursed” horoscope her entire life, Maya has developed more independent thinking than most of her sisters. I immediately admired her resiliency in adapting to her less-than-ideal circumstances. I loved her protectiveness towards her younger sister Gauri. Very endearing. I didn’t quite understand some aspects of Maya’s character though…some of which I think may be due to cultural differences. For instance, near the beginning of the book, she makes a certain choice (no spoilers), that for the life of me I cannot understand and to me seems very out of character for what we know of her, up to that point, and even to her as we see later in the book. I just don’t understand it at all.

Maya does a lot of growing in this story. She changes. She comes to realize who and what she is, is not determined by her horoscope.

Once, I would have hurled curses at the stars. But the longer I looked, the less I hated them. The stars, filled with cold light and secrets…I, not the starlight, shaped my decisions.

Amar is the hero of the story…or is he? What is he? He’s so mysterious, so confusing…and holy shit, the man has some of the most amazing one-liners I’ve ever read. Like melt-my-heart kind of one-liners. Stop and think and WOW kind of one-liners. At the same time…he seemed to be a lot of smooth talk and not a whole lot of action. At least that was my impression. As more of his character and his life is revealed…well, you’ll have to judge him for yourself. His quotes are amazing though.

“I make this bond to you in blood, not flowers.”

“There is no romance in real grief, only longing and fury.”

To be honest, while I liked both Maya and Amar, I wasn’t OMG invested in either one of them. I think this was at partially because I was so overwhelmed by the world and everything that was happening (more on that later). I’m really eager to see how the next book plays out, thought I’m afraid that since it’s focusing on Gauri, we won’t really get to know Maya and Amar much better.

Plot:

Bharata is at war. The Raja will stop at nothing, nothing, to win and secure peace. However, all that quickly takes a backseat to the journey that Maya takes with Amar, to the kingdom of Akaran. Everything slows way down once they arrive there, and several chapters are spent wandering around the palace and discovering ALL SORTS OF THINGS. It was beautiful, but it was slow. While I was intrigued, I kept wondering when something was going to happen.

Once things started moving again (oh look…there’s ONE THING Maya is not supposed to do…and what do we all do when told about ONE THING?), they really start moving. I was NOT prepared for all the world-time-space jumping and more than once literally felt like I was falling into that vortex. It was amazing, but it seemed a bit disjointed at times.

About halfway through the book, I realized that there were really TWO major plot lines. My little light-bulb came on, and that was very helpful…but I really feel like it could have somehow been done better to avoid all the “WTF is going on” moments I had. I really doubt I’m the only one having these thoughts, but if I am…you know. I might just be weird.

I really like that there is no prince-saving-the-princess going on here. Yes, there is a love story. It’s beautiful, and powerful. However. Maya and Amar both remain fully their own people and in the end, Maya is the one who really does the saving.

Worldbuilding/Setting:

This, my friends, is where The Star-Touched Queen shines. The world building here is nothing short of phenomenal. The fuzziness of the plot was forgivable so long as I could live in this bright, beautiful, and unfathomably deep world. It glows. It glitters. Rosin Chokshi employs all five of the reader’s senses when building her world. I could smell the spices, see the split skies, hear the jingle of bells. It’s by turns beautiful and frightening.

The world and characters are largely drawn from traditional Indian (Hindu?) mythology and culture. Now, I am almost entirely unfamiliar with both, so maybe I was a little more in awe and sometimes a little more confused than a reader with more background. I had next to none, but the awesome thing is: it didn’t matter. Chokshi has missed nothing…I could see every step Maya took in the palace halls, I could feel her falling through space, I could see both the beauty and the horror of her journey. As someone with no frame of reference for this world, I can’t say enough good things about this aspect of the book. I was fascinated. When I was confused, it wasn’t for lack of being able to picture what was going on but being at a loss as to WHY or HOW something was happening.

I had never read a fantasy book where reincarnation was treated as…well, as anything! It added an amazing new element and all kinds of new possibilities. I found it a little hard to wrap my head around, but I hope to see it again in the second book.

Rating/Thoughts:

4/5 stars. Half a star off for the meandering and delay of the plot after the story moves to Akaran, half a star for the confusion and lack of explaining on how the space/time thing worked. Maybe I’m just a confused muppet but I really could have used a little more explanation…shocking, coming from someone who usually complains about too much telling versus showing.

I’d love to hear what other readers thought of this book! Was I the only one confused?
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[Chelsea]

What I Loved

I hate it when books with great concept end up being disappointing. Thought the writing was gorgeous, the actual plot and characterization was poorly executed. Pretty writing isn't enough to make up for a bad story sadly or else this would have gotten a higher rating. Honestly I gave this book an extra star just for the writing alone which was probably bad of me. Oh well!

I did appreciate all the diversity in this book as well but once again, it couldn't make up for the bad plot.

Side note: there was a super cool talking horse that I loved! Probably because it was the only interesting character but it really was a hilarious talking horse.

What I Didn't Like

The concept of this novel was a great idea! I loved that I could read an interpretation on the Hades/Persephone story and I was excited to start this one! Sadly it quickly fell flat when the plot went nowhere and the characters were all flat and boring.

Let's start with the plot shall we? There was no flow to the story. At one point all the pretty writing because too much because I actually had no clue what was happening. It was too pretty and magical and nothing made sense anymore. Random things would happen without any explanation and it just left me lost and confused. I was especially disappointed near the end when I thought that just maybe something would be explained to us and then it wasn't. It was the worst kind of disappointment,

I also felt like we didn't learn anything about our main character. She was just kind of there with no personality. We don't know what she likes or doesn't like or how she feels about anything because nothing about her character is revealed. Actually nothing about any of the characters are revealed and interesting characters are my number one thing to make me fall in love with a story. Just disappointing all around.

Who I'd Recommend To

This was easily my biggest disappointment of the year. There's a small possibility that I will finish the series because I hate leaving them unfinished but I don't think I'd actually recommend this book to anyone. It's pretty on the outside but ugly on the inside.

[readingwithwrin]

I feel like this is one of those books that would have been more enjoyable to read. But I still liked the audiobook just got a bit confusing at times with some of the fantasy elements.