Review: Star-Touched Stories

Star-Touched Stories by Roshani Chokshi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It seems like a period of time where I'm just finding writers to enjoy in the most backwards fashion! Earlier this year I reviewed the first book in Chokshi's new middle-grade Pandava Quartet series, Aru Shah and the End of Time and greatly enjoyed her adaptation of Indian mythology and folklore. I wanted to read more of her books and found Star-Touched Stories which contains Death and Night, a novella prequel to her Star-Touched Queen duology. The story of how Maya (Night) and Death (Amar) meet in a chance encounter is eloquently told, beginning with drawing the soul of a dying man whose wife wishes she could follow her beloved beyond death, into whatever form he takes, wherever he goes. Death puzzles over the depth of the woman's love and the depth of her feelings of loss. Death has been lonely and recognizes that he longs for a queen. But is Death capable of love?

This book also contains the novella Poison and Gold, which explores issues of family, identity, featuring Aasha, released from the vishakanya harem (and Reader, there is historical precedence for this scary collective, as told in the Arthashastra. Young women, imbued with poisons, were used as assassins. An inspiration for Hawthorn's Rappaccini's Daughter, perhaps?), serves her friends Queen Gauri and King Vikram, and learns from a charismatic spymistress, Zahril. This was a lovely story that I enjoyed. Chokshi has a gift for creating moments when her characters' silences are full of emotion and meaning.

The final story, a novelette titled Rose and Sword initially reminded me of the atmosphere of Carson McCuller's Member of the Wedding, as ten-year-old Hira feels rejected and out of place in her sister Meghana's wedding preparations. But the story turns to reflect on a legend of a bride who loses her bridegroom on the eve of her wedding, in the kingdom of Bharat-Jain. But does she really? Along with giving us the legend, Hira's grandmother helps her to learn to discern the truth.

This was an enjoyable set of stories that I didn't feel awkward reading without the background information of the main series under my belt. It did, however, whet my appetite for reading duology. I'm greatly enjoying Chokshi's adaptations of Indian mythology in her work.


I received a Digital Review Copy of this book from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley in exchange for for an honest review.

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