BOOK STATS
Rating: ☆☆.5
Title: Star Daughter
Author: Shveta Thakrar
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Young Adult
Format: Audiobook
Narrators: Soneela Nakani
Length: 13 hours
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: August 10, 2020
Source: Library
SYNOPSIS
If the night sky holds many secrets, it holds Sheetal Mistry’s secret the closest. A secret that explains why her hair is the silver of starlight, or why some nights the stars call Sheetal by name.
Stars like her mother, who returned to her place in the constellation Pushya years ago. Since that day, Sheetal has been forced to hide.
But as her seventeenth birthday draws near, the pull from the sky is growing stronger. So strong that Sheetal loses control, and a flare of starfire burns her human father—an injury only a full star’s blood can heal.
Sheetal has no choice but to answer the starsong and ascend to the sky. But her celestial family has summoned her for a reason: to act as their human champion in a competition to decide the next ruling house of heavens.
Desperate to save her father, Sheetal agrees. But nothing could have prepared Sheetal to face the stars’ dark history—or the forces that are working to shut the gate between the realms for good.
MY THOUGHTS
I love the concept of this book so much. The writing in the journal entries was so lyrical and beautiful. I also loved the Indian culture and folktales that were woven throughout the story.
However, the execution fell flat for me. My first disappointment came in the first chapter when I discovered that this book was not epic fantasy. The synopsis and cover did not prepare me for this story to be set in our modern world, so I immediately struggled to get pulled into the story.
The storyline seemed very juvenile to me; the writing felt more like middle grade than young adult to me. I also struggled with the characters, finding them very one-dimensional.
This book had so much potential, but it just didn’t do it for me.
Indian Folktales primarily spell out morals to their listeners. An interesting aspect of the Indian Folktales is that these are an important part of the oral literature in India. Almost in every household children grow up listening to native folklores and folktales. Although the Indian Folktales are more a part of the country’s culture but their literary significance cannot be denied. The folklores of the renowned fables of ‘Panchatantra’, ‘Hitopadesha’ and ‘Jataka’ are immensely popular among Indians.
https://www.indianetzone.com/38/indian_folktales.htm
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