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Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar // Night Markets, Star Courts and Desi goodness

GOODREADS // AMAZON // BOOK DEPOSITORY The daughter of a star and a mortal, Sheetal is used to keeping secrets. Pretending to be "normal." But when an accidental flare of her starfire puts her human father in the hospital, Sheetal needs a full star's help to heal him. A star like her mother, who returned to the sky long ago. Sheetal's quest to save her father will take her to a celestial court of shining wonders and dark shadows, where she must take the stage as her family's champion in a competition to decide the next ruling house of the heavens--and win, or risk never returning to Earth at all. This gorgeously imagined YA debut blends shades of Neil Gaiman's Stardust and a breathtaking landscape of Hindu mythology into a radiant contemporary fantasy.   ( A huge thank you to the  HOV Tours  and HarperTeen for the eARC and the opportunity to be a part of this blog tour.  ~When a book sees you~      Yes I am absolutely going to s
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Mythology at it's best - Hounds of Shiva by Preetha Rajah Kannan [Review]

Hounds of Shiva by Preetha Rajah Kannan

(I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.)


Hounds of Shiva is a treasure house of tales with impassioned, heroic acts of sacrifice, devotion and service in the lives and times of the Nayanmars – the sixty-three Shaivite saints who were exemplars of bhakti.


It's not everyday I come across books that celebrate south Indian Hindu mythology and scriptures. The thirty seven stories in this book are about the 63 Nayanmars, staunch devotees of Lord Shiva. I absolutely enjoyed reading about the stories i'd heard as a kid from the older relatives in my family. The author's narrative is whimsical and has a way of pulling in the readers. She sticks true to the original mythology stories and the book is as informative as it is entertaining.

The repetitiveness in the plot curve could make the stories a little monotonous but the rich writing helps to stay enraptured. I do like how this is different from the 're-tellings' we usually hear. They are generally retold in a different way by the author with new twists. But in this book the authors stays true to the original lore with it's interesting philosophies and ideas.

One of my favourite things about the book were the little knowledge boxes in every story with some kind of interesting information from old time words to information about temples.

Despite being short stories, each story captures it's main character (a Nayanmar) so beautifully, letting the readers feel their emotions and thoughts. The writing definitely has to be my most favourite aspect of it all. The writing flows naturally and has a poetic feel to it that keeps one turning the pages.

The author is definitely someone to keep an eye out for if you’d like to read about the lesser known Hindu mythological myths written in beautiful poetic prose.



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