The Star-Touched Queen

Hands down the best part of this book was Kamala the cynical, bloodthirsty, talking demon-horse.

I had such high hopes for this one. In theory I should have loved it: a magical fantasy inspired by Indian mythology? Sign me the f up, right?? But it just didn't deliver. The plot was sloppy, the characters were one-dimensional, and the romance relied too heavily on the fated lovers trope, rather than a genuine connection. The writing was lovely, but the floweriness (Safari isn't underlining that, so apparently it's a word) of it seemed to simply serve as a cover-up for those lacking essential elements of a good story.

The world was really intriguing, but it also could have used so much more development. I might give the second book a go in the hopes that it focuses more on the world-building and characters, but if it's just going to be more of Maya and Amar being inexplicably drawn to each other then no thank you.