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hagwife's review
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Star Daughter is an incredible portrait of family, history, and becoming. I am also deeply in love with the fact that Hindu culture and mythology is front and center. The magical library whose location system relies on music to find books and everything is ordered according to the asanas is divine, no pun intended. I love Thrakar's treatment of generational trauma and the core friendship between Sheetal and Minal is beautiful. This is especially so given their differing secual orientations; Thrakar gives an amazing platonic friendship between the two and gives readers a delightful romance subplot between Minal and Padmini. Usually, I feel we get one or the other or some conflation of the two, and here we get both!
What is an issue for me is the pacing and the kitchen-sink plotting. This book is incredibly fast paced given the complex issues Thakar handles and the story arc she weaves them through. It's a lot and its hard to get attached to certain characters or pieces because it all moves so quickly. To be clear, I don't think Thrakar needs or should have to slow down introducing the readers to the Earthly cast or the Heavenly one – I love the "deep end and swim" approach. There's just one trope too many piled on top of each other at breakneck speed. (Her boyfriend knew she was a star because someone asked him to keep an eye on her, one parent is divine and one isn't, the divine nature hurting someone as we hit the coming of age, familial trauma causing a rift between two worlds, a competition where suddenly the brand new divine being has to master their talent to save everything, etc.)
Overall, its a great addition to YA Literature and I'm excited to see what Thrakar writes next!
What is an issue for me is the pacing and the kitchen-sink plotting. This book is incredibly fast paced given the complex issues Thakar handles and the story arc she weaves them through. It's a lot and its hard to get attached to certain characters or pieces because it all moves so quickly. To be clear, I don't think Thrakar needs or should have to slow down introducing the readers to the Earthly cast or the Heavenly one – I love the "deep end and swim" approach. There's just one trope too many piled on top of each other at breakneck speed.
Overall, its a great addition to YA Literature and I'm excited to see what Thrakar writes next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Blood
There is a dream sequence early on that is unsettling.00phantom's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical trauma
Minor: Self harm
sssssoup's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I really wanted to like this book, and I think it could’ve been interesting, but ultimately it just wasn’t for me. It had a lot of really pretty description, but the characters and plot fell flat for me. Sheetal’s internal conflict was intriguing and well written, but she often came across as whiny when she interacted with the other characters, though I did appreciate her complicated feelings about her family members. I was also confused by a lot of the terminology and I think the author should’ve included a glossary. Overall, it was pretty mid and I think the right person could really enjoy it, but I know that wasn’t me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Confinement
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse
Minor: Domestic abuse, Medical content, Alcohol, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
iffygeneia's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
So the premise sounded amazing: a modern day story laced with Hindu-themed fantasy. And that part of the story was by far the best part.
It did require a bit of foreknowledge about Hindu mythology. Mainly, the book assumes the reader will know several different kinds of mythological creatures from Hindu mythology - it doesn't explain much beyond the most basic visual descriptions.
It's with the characters and the plot that it starts to fall apart though.
This could have been an amazing coming-of-age story, but there was hardly any character growth. Sheetal herself was just very, very shallow. Her main worries are about her boyfriend , or panicking about the currently relevant plot point. As the plot moved around randomly, Sheetal also seemed all over the place. She has a clear goal (saving her dad) , but constantly gets distraced by the currently relevant plot point. It made her seem fickle, like she didn't care about her dad when the plot demanded her attention.
The plot did finally come together in the end, but in the most predictable way.
In the end, though a lot did change, Sheetal herself didn't seem much affected by all of it.
All in all: its fine for its Teen target audience, but as an adult I expected more depth.
(Note: I listened to the audiobook version read by Soneela Nankani. She was excellent.)
It did require a bit of foreknowledge about Hindu mythology. Mainly, the book assumes the reader will know several different kinds of mythological creatures from Hindu mythology - it doesn't explain much beyond the most basic visual descriptions.
It's with the characters and the plot that it starts to fall apart though.
This could have been an amazing coming-of-age story, but there was hardly any character growth. Sheetal herself was just very, very shallow. Her main worries are about
The plot did finally come together in the end, but in the most predictable way.
In the end, though a lot did change, Sheetal herself didn't seem much affected by all of it.
All in all: its fine for its Teen target audience, but as an adult I expected more depth.
(Note: I listened to the audiobook version read by Soneela Nankani. She was excellent.)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment and Blood
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racism, and Toxic relationship
taleofabibliophile's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Kidnapping, Confinement, Physical abuse, Blood, Violence, and Torture
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Medical content
caseythereader's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.25
📚 The writing is this book is ethereal and beautiful - I could just imagine the soft light of the stars and the mystery of the celestial palace.
📚 It's so wonderful to read a YA fantasy that doesn't center white teenagers or build off European mythology.
📚 I wish there had been a lot more world-building in this book - there could have been so much more to the history of the star court and the palace intrigue Sheetal finds herself in the middle of, but instead she is relegated to the sidelines, finding out information secondhand. I would definitely have read a sprawling trilogy version of this book.
📚 It's so wonderful to read a YA fantasy that doesn't center white teenagers or build off European mythology.
📚 I wish there had been a lot more world-building in this book - there could have been so much more to the history of the star court and the palace intrigue Sheetal finds herself in the middle of, but instead she is relegated to the sidelines, finding out information secondhand. I would definitely have read a sprawling trilogy version of this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
nullandvoidlibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book reminded me of why I like reading, it was a very heartfelt read and made me tear up multiple times. This is despite the fact that normally I don't like competition-based plots because I find that usually means some character's are going to be unreasonably mean just because that personality is expected with these plots. Anyways, this book watered my soul.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders
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