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mrood00's review against another edition
2.0
Considering this book was supposed to be about a competition I don’t think should’ve taken over 80% of the book to get to there, especially when there wasn’t any build up to it and we just meandered along until the 80% mark.
isabelle_rosewrites's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
slow-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
5.0
hagwife's review against another edition
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.dancingprince's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
On the whole, a really fun read. A bit clichè here and there, but doesn't a little stardust go a long way?
harleyrae's review against another edition
2.0
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
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
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.
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..
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
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.