Posts Tagged: Short Stories

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Good to be Reunited With Some Beloved Characters: Star-Touched Stories by Roshani Chokshi

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I received this book for free from St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Good to be Reunited With Some Beloved Characters: Star-Touched Stories by Roshani ChokshiStar-Touched Stories by Roshani Chokshi
Series: The Star-Touched Queen #2.5
Published by St. Martin's Press on August 7th, 2018
Genres: Short Stories, YA
Source: St. Martin's Press
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four-stars

Three lush and adventurous stories in the Star-Touched world.

Death and Night

He was Lord of Death, cursed never to love. She was Night incarnate, destined to stay alone. After a chance meeting, they wonder if, perhaps, they could be meant for more. But danger crouches in their paths, and the choices they make will set them on a journey that will span lifetimes. 

Poison and Gold

Now that her wish for a choice has come true, Aasha struggles to control her powers. But when an opportunity to help Queen Gauri and King Vikram's new reign presents itself, she is thrown into the path of the fearsome yet enchanting Spy Mistress. To help her friends, Aasha will have to battle her insecurities and perhaps, along the way, find love. 

Rose and Sword

There is a tale whispered in the dark of the Empire of Bharat-Jain. A tale of a bride who loses her bridegroom on the eve of her wedding. But is it a tale or a truth?

Roshani Chokshi has already earned herself a place on my auto-read list so it is unsurprising that even though I am a shit head who hasn’t read A Crown of Wishes, I still needed to read Star-Touched Stories. Chokshi has a distinguished writing style that just calls out to me, I guess.

Short stories set in a favorite world are always fun and I love how Chokshi really does somehow manage to bring the Star-Touched queen world to life even through this short snippets into the lives of beloved characters. WHICH. I know I’ve read Star-Touched Queen so I have some context but its been two years so I really didn’t remember much and yet, THE STORIES WERE SO WELL WRITTEN that I didn’t really need to remember much.

Of course, two of the three stories are about characters from A Crown of Wishes so… I wouldn’t have context even if I had amazing memory but it did make me want to read the book EVEN MORE. I just have a very long tbr so I keep putting off reading all the sequels I’ve wanted to read for ages. (excuses, I know. I am a terrible person)

SO.  Here is the low-down on the shorts themselves.

‘Death and Night’ follows the first meeting on our main characters from The Star-Touched Queen: their playful flirtations, romance and courtship. It is so easy to immediately root for these two because they are both so deserving of that happiness.

‘Poison and Gold’ follows the the story of Aasha, a Vishakanya who is, in oversimplified terms, having an identity-crisis. She no longer feels quite like a vishakanya or a human being and hasn’t really found an inbetween that works for her. When Gauri and Vikram recommend her to be the next poison-master she finds her calling and a potential mate (who also just happens to hate vishakanyas.)

‘Rose and Sword’ shows a grown up Gauri telling the story of how Vikram died and was brought back to life to her granddaughter. We get to see the world that Maya now calls home and also just see what has become of some beloved characters.

Yes. I have a favorite story and yes it is ‘Poison and Gold’ but also, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE stories is absolutely lovely because Chokshi is an amazing writer and I will be shocked the day I read something she writes and don’t immediately fall head-over-heels in love. Anyway, so yeah, if you’re a fan of the books, read the stories. THEY ARE WORTH IT.

four-stars

4 Hot Espressos

A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica Spotswood

Posted by on 03/30/2016 • 5 Comments

I don’t usually read anthologies and I find it even harder to review them because there are so many stories and so many different feelings about the stories.

But, A Tyranny of Petticoats did say it was about badass girls and who doesn’t want to read stories about badass girls? If you don’t you have come to the wrong place so toodooloo. It was nice knowing you.

So, I read the stories. I didn’t love all of them yet here I am, reviewing the anthology as a whole. The thing is, whether or not I loved every single story is beside the point. What makes this anthology special is the diversity in it. I think historical fiction has a tendency to privilege white voices over other voices just because that is…