Author: Roshani Chokshi
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: April 26th 2016
Summary from Goodreads:
Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you’re only seventeen?
Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran’s queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar’s wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire…
But Akaran has its own secrets—thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most…including herself.
Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran’s queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar’s wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire…
But Akaran has its own secrets—thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most…including herself.
Review
I am still quite bummed out by this review and my reading/listening experience with this book. I wanted so much to just love and devour this book but unfortunately it did not work for me. I opted to listen to the audio book version of this book.
Ultimately what did me in was the fact that at about the 50% mark I just still did not care what happened to the characters. I could not immerse myself into the world and I just was not feeling any emotions towards Maya or any other character. It was not until the last 75% of the book where I started to feel like I was interested in the plot.
The narrator felt rather monotone and just lacked the spark I felt that was necessary to get me into the Otherworldy realms. There is a lot going on in this book and I can see why other readers did enjoy it, but for me, it just was rather slow and uneventful. The fantasy aspects and unique world definitely provided promise and could be enjoyed by other readers.
Ultimately what did me in was the fact that at about the 50% mark I just still did not care what happened to the characters. I could not immerse myself into the world and I just was not feeling any emotions towards Maya or any other character. It was not until the last 75% of the book where I started to feel like I was interested in the plot.
The narrator felt rather monotone and just lacked the spark I felt that was necessary to get me into the Otherworldy realms. There is a lot going on in this book and I can see why other readers did enjoy it, but for me, it just was rather slow and uneventful. The fantasy aspects and unique world definitely provided promise and could be enjoyed by other readers.
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