Title: Star Daughter

Author: Shveta Thakrar

Pub. Date: August 11, 2020

Pages: 435

Pub: HarperTeen

Genre: YA Fantasy Mythology

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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.

This will be a spoiler free review. I listened to the audiobook via Audible. Thank goodness a friend convinced me to do the audiobook and read it now, because I was seriously missing out.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and I highly recommend it.

Let’s get my only tiny complaint out of the way. I thought the pacing was just a tad slow. I wish things had progressed a little quicker. It just seemed to take an age to get to the contest and for things to really start happening.

Besides that – I don’t have any other complaints – and even with the slightly slow pacing, I still loved this book. It was bright, stunning, vivid and the Hindu mythology – absolutely gorgeous. This was utterly unique, and I can’t think of a single book that’s like it. I had very little – and I mean little – knowledge about Hindu mythology or Desi culture, but I never felt lost or confused. I loved that you get completely immersed in this world and just kind of fall into it.

Though, I would hazard a guess that the reason the pacing is a little slow, is since this is a whole brand-new world, it takes a while to explain and introduce everything.

As someone who loves space and stars and just the magic they exude, I loved this world. The way Thakrar wrote and described everything – I felt like I was right there with Sheetal and Minal

I loved the descriptions of the Celestial Court – like, can I go there? Please? I loved that Minal was taking photos on her phone like a tourist, though totally same.

And oh my god, I loved Sheetal. She’s such a fun heroine. Other than her being half start – she’s incredibly relatable and being able to go on this journey with her was fantastic. Her relationship with Minal. She was so great, always there for Sheetal – even when Sheetal was so wrapped up with everything going on her own life.

And then there’s Dev. I loved him. He’s not perfect, he’s a bit flawed and makes some not so smart choices, but in the end, he comes through. His relationship with Sheetal is adorable and I loved their texting and flirting. He cares so much – and I’ve said it before, I love an emotionally vulnerable male character.

Sheetal is definitely the shining star (pun intended) in this book. Her journey – physical and emotional – is so much. Her life legit flips on its head and she goes through so much change – but even amidst all that, she’s still incredible likeable and relatable. I just really enjoyed her character.

Going into this book I was glad that it was a standalone. Sometimes you’re just in the mood for a standalone, but then I drew closer and closer to the ending, and I wanted more. I want to see Sheetal’s life post Star Daughter. I also must not have read the synopsis very well – too caught up on the fucking stunning cover – but I had no idea that this took place in the modern world. At all. I thought it was a fantasy novel, so imagine my surprise lol.

Overall, I loved this book and I’m so glad my friend convinced me to read it. I can’t wait to see what Thakrar writes next and I can’t wait to read it! I already know I’m buying a physical copy for my shelves, because how could I not with a cover like that. But if you haven’t yet, I highly recommend picking this up and letting yourself get swept away with the sheer magic that is this book.