Reviews

If I hadn’t listened to the audiobook of this I’m not so sure I would have finished it. Frankly I was just bored with it. At times it seemed like a lot happened, but most of the time it just felt like we were taking our sweet time with everything. The competition aspect really confused me. Wasn’t so much a completion as it was a talent show. Overall not my favorite.

rhuno_thereader's review against another edition

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4.25

"Let people make their own mistakes. They're going to do that anyway."

Star Daughter offers a new world full of twinkling magic and burning desire to have something. The adventures of Sheetal revolves on the notion that everything has a cost. You play the game and sacrifice what you're willing to pay for the price along the way.

It was a gread read. Shveta Thakrar's prose is out of this world. The characters, the setting, the magic, the competition, everything was utterly good.

I just love this one statement from the book. It goes like this:

We can't stand being alone, but we still look for ways to separate ourselves.

And I agree. Human beings tend to have a knack of doing things that completely goes array on what we want or should I say what we need.

tatyanavogt's review against another edition

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4.0

So it might be unfair to rate this because i was listening to the audio on scribd and was having all sorts of technical problems with this (pages missing, parts out of order, etc). But regardless of the issues with scribd I STILL ended up enjoying the book. This is about a girl born of the stars and the journey she is forced to take to try and save her father. Now there were some things that did bother me, but I loved the idea, I loved the characters and I am excited to re-read in the future to get the full and correct experience.

Spoiler

I wasn't a fan of the boyfriend, his history was bad (which is fine) but the fact that he kinda continues to be a love interest.. I dunno. I kinda wish she got someone else, someone better. I know he ended up not being so bad but.. I dunno I just wasn't crazy happy about him. Perhaps if we heard from his perspective as well i could forgive him..

dragonwriter's review against another edition

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emotional informative tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Sheetal’s father is an astronomer, and her mother is a star. A true star. A magical being that lives up in the heavens. The type of star no one believes in anymore. Almost no one. There is still enough of a threat that Sheetal’s mother had to return to the heavens, and that Sheetal herself has to hide the truth of her heritage. When the dye starts leeching out of her starbright hair, and the call of the stars starts becoming impossible to ignore, however, Sheetal begins to lose control and accidentally burns her father. Desperate to heal him and lured with the promise of star blood’s healing properties, Sheetal finds her way to the heavens--and in the middle of a political struggle. As half mortal, Sheetal qualifies to be her star-family’s champion in an arts competition for the crown, and to make sure she follows through, her grandmother withholds the healing magic her father needs until Sheetal wins. But it isn’t as simple as doing her best; there is another star in the heavens determined to destroy Sheetal’s family and everything they stand for.

I really enjoyed the Hindu-inspired culture of the stars, as well as the Hindu culture of Sheetal’s earthly family. It was fun to see the close-knit family dynamics mirrored below and above, and I liked seeing the flaws in what are supposed to be perfect beings. That said, there was a lot of drama. Sheetal was mad at her boyfriend, Dev, for withholding information. Dev’s cousin was drinking star-blood for inspiration (basically doing drugs). Another competitor constantly went out of her way to attack Sheetal verbally and accuse her of cheating (and while there was an off-page apology, I wasn’t satisfied by that resolution). Sheetal’s mother’s ex-bff was taking out her bitterness on Sheetal, and Sheetal’s grandmother was also using Sheetal to get her own ends. Then you throw in the discrimination against being half-mortal, and there was just a LOT of what ultimately felt like high school drama--something that Sheetal points out herself in story. The ending felt lacking, too, since no one really seems to learn their lesson.

Sheetal sabotages herself to prove a point, forcing fame onto her ex-bf (something he didn’t want), her grandmother never acknowledges or apologizes for her wrong doings, the ex-bff suffers no consequences for essentially doping up a human, and, as I said, the one apology we did get was off-page. The only good thing the ending accomplished was healing Sheetal’s father.

It was highly dissatisfying.

brendalovesbooks's review against another edition

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3.0

When I started this, I really liked it, but as it went on I liked it less and less. I never want to read the word "sidereal" again. I feel like I've read it enough for a few lifetimes after reading this book. The main problem, though, is that the whole thing takes place over the span of a few days, and not a whole lot of interesting things happen in those days. I loved the concept, I just wish it had been executed a bit better.

millyupton's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

swampbooks's review against another edition

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3.0

The writing was lovely but the plot was dull and the characters didn’t really have much depth or development. I was really looking forward to this book and I’m disappointed :/

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