**A Character-Driven Fantasy: A Review of "The Crown of Wishes" by Roshani Chokshi**

As someone who loves character-driven stories, I was excited to dive into "The Crown of Wishes", a fantasy novel that promised to deliver on its promise of complex characters and relationships. However, as I began reading the book, I found myself struggling to connect with the protagonist, Gauri. Like any story, it's not always easy for me to fall in love with the characters at first, but there was something about this book that just clicked for me eventually. The relationship between Gauri and Vikram is an essential part of the story, as well as Gaara's relationships with several other characters, and it's really these relationships that drive the plot forward.

For me, "The Crown of Wishes" is a character-driven story, but it's also equally plot-based. The plot is an integral part of the book, and I loved how it wove together with the characters' relationships to create a rich and immersive world. While I do tend to read more straightforward character-driven books, I was willing to give "The Crown of Wishes" a chance, and I'm so glad I did. Sari and Vikram have an amazing banter throughout the entire book, which is something that I'm a huge fan of. Their relationship develops in such a beautiful way, and it's great to see how they balance their humor and angst with each other.

One of the things that I loved most about "The Crown of Wishes" is its characters. Vikram is an amazing male character, especially in a fantasy novel where he often gets portrayed as super territorial and overprotective. But not Vikram - he's light-hearted, yet has a deep, tortured past side to him that makes him all the more lovable. Dal-Rae, on the other hand, is a great female protagonist who's gone through a lot of hardships in her life. Her perspective on the world is harsh and rough around the edges, but it's also beautiful and nuanced.

I was also excited to see that "The Crown of Wishes" is based on Indian mythology. This is something that I don't often read about, and it was fascinating to learn more about the mythology behind the story. The world-building in this book is incredibly rich and lush, with a deep history that underpins the entire narrative. While I didn't find anything particularly new or revolutionary about the plot, I did appreciate how it drew on familiar tropes in fantasy to create something fresh and exciting.

One thing that might be worth noting is that "The Crown of Wishes" deals with some heavy themes, including trauma, abuse, and power dynamics. While these topics are handled sensitively, they're also handled in a way that feels authentic and true to the characters. I appreciated how the author didn't shy away from exploring these difficult subjects, but instead used them to create a nuanced and thought-provoking narrative.

Overall, I ended up giving "The Crown of Wishes" four stars out of five. While it did take me a little while to get into, once I warmed up to the characters, I found myself completely swept up in their story. The banter between Sari and Vikram is hilarious and addictive, and the world-building is incredibly rich and immersive. If you're a fan of character-driven fantasy with healthy relationships and romances that don't normalize abusive traits, then "The Crown of Wishes" is definitely worth checking out.

**About the Author**

Roshani Chokshi is an American author of young adult fantasy novels. She was born in India and moved to the United States at a young age. Her debut novel, "The Star-Touched Queen", was published in 2016 to critical acclaim. "The Crown of Wishes" is her second novel, which continues the story of Amar, a young princess from a magical kingdom.

**About the Book**

"The Crown of Wishes" is a fantasy novel that follows the story of Gauri and Vikram, two characters from different worlds who find themselves brought together by fate. The book is set in a fictional Indian-inspired world where magic and mythology collide. As Gauri navigates her new life with Vikram, she must confront her own demons and learn to control her powers. Meanwhile, Vikram is struggling to come to terms with his past and find a way to protect the people he loves.

**The Author's Live Show**

"The Crown of Wishes" live show will be broadcast on May 5th on Tosh's channel. The author, Roshani Chokshi, will be discussing her book, answering questions from fans, and sharing behind-the-scenes insights into her writing process.

**Social Media**

Follow Roshani Chokshi, Tosh, and other book bloggers on social media to stay up-to-date with the latest news and reviews about "The Crown of Wishes". You can find them on Twitter and Instagram.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys it's Hannah and today I'm coming to you with a spoiler-free review of a crown of wishes by Rashmi Choksi this video is being sponsored by st. Martin's Press so thank you so much to them for sending this book my way and for sponsoring this video a crown of wishes is the fiction faction book of the month and if you don't know what fiction faction is it is a book club that myself Maureen Natasha and Zoe all started and we read a different book every single month and this is our April book of the month on May 5th we will also be having a live show on Natasha's channel where we all discuss this book together so if you guys have read this book this month as well then you should definitely come and join us over there I believe all the information for the live show and the book club in the description box so if you would like to join us and discuss a crown of wishes with us on May 5th then we would love to have you crowd of wishes is a standalone companion novel to roshni chok she's debut novel the star touched Queen so both of these books take place in the same universe and they can stand alone as individual books so technically you don't have to read one before the other one I actually read a crown of wishes before I read the star touched Queen but I know a lot of people do recommend that you read the star touch screen before you read a crown of wishes which is something I will get more into in my review this book takes place in a fantasy world but it's heavily based off of Indian mythology and we follow around our main character Gauri who is the princess of this one Kingdom and at one point she tried to overthrow her brother so her brother has sentenced her to death clearly you can tell they don't have a very good relationship our other main character is Vikram and Vikram is the prince of a different Kingdom and Gauri and Vikram end up joining forces reluctantly in order to enter what is called the tournament of wishes essentially whoever wins the tournament of wishes will be granted one wish and both of them really need this one wish dari is trying to escape her brother who is trying to have her killed and Vikram is also trying to save his own Kingdom and his place in that Kingdom like I said this is a companion novel to start touched Queen and in this book we are following characters that are related to the characters in the star touched Queen so I totally understand why people recommend reading the star touch Queen before reading this one because I will say there was a time where I was very confused with what was going on this definitely can stand on its own and the confusion does go away after a little while once you get used to the world but I do think that if I had read the star touched Queen first I would have gotten a better grasp of this world and there are a lot of illusions in this book two things that happen in the star touch screen so really if you want to read both of them I would recommend reading the star touch screen before reading this one but if you only have plans to read this one then I definitely say go ahead and read it you won't like be completely lost it will make sense to you and it absolutely can stand as its own story personally I enjoy a crown of wishes more than I enjoyed the star touch screen even though I read this one first I really liked the story in this one actually and it took me by surprise for a while while I was reading this one I didn't really have any sort of connection to it and I wasn't really feeling a lot of the characters the plot wasn't doing too much for me but then after I got into like about maybe a hundred or so pages it started to pick up and I really started to like where the direction of the story was going so I definitely say that if this one is kind of iffy for you at the beginning try and push yourself through it because the rest of the story and the ending especially really wrap it up nicely and I think make the beginning of it even though it's a bit slower kind of purposeful one of my absolute favorite things about the book though was the writing I really really loved the writing it has beautiful beautiful prose and it's so descriptive and you can see everything very vividly and it really does give you that magical feel which is what I'm always looking for in fantasy I also really loved this world and I felt like I could imagine so much of it but the one thing that I really wanted was just a bit more world-building in my opinion there were just some gaps sometimes where the world just wasn't as full or lush as it could have been or maybe as much as I wanted it to be and I think that's what kind of led to some of the confusion for me at times because there were just some gaps that I couldn't exactly fill so as many of you know I am very much a character-based reader I loved character-driven stories so characters really make the book for me and it's a very important part of the story when I'm reading like I said at the beginning of this book I really didn't have much of an attachment to these characters and I wasn't really feeling much of anything but then again once I got to a certain point something just clicked for me and I started to feel that attachment to the characters I would say in many ways that this book is somewhat character based because the relationship between Gauri and Vikram is an essential part of the story as well as gaara's relationships with several of the other characters and it's really relationships that kind of drive the plot forward but I would say that it's kind of equally plot based and character based because the plot is also an extremely integral part of this book so personally for me I think that's why it was a little bit more difficult for me to connect with these characters because I do tend to read more just straight character driven books but as I warmed up to these characters I really did start to love them sari and Vikram really do have this amazing banter throughout the entire book and I'm a huge fan of banter and like angst which is what we got a lot of in here and sometimes I know it can get like a little bit annoying but in here I actually ended up enjoying it they're so so funny at time and their relationship and just develops in such a beautiful way and it was great to get to see that but I also really enjoyed their characters as individuals as well I feel like Vikram is such a great male character in why a literature especially in fantasy I feel like I've talked about this several times about how there is this male character trope in a lot of why a fantasy that I've been seeing lately that I just don't like where he's like super territorial and just overprotective of his female love interest to the point where male characters sometimes act like they have ownership over their female love interests but Vikram was nothing like that at all he was so fun to read about he was light hearted but he had like his whole deep tortured past side to him as well which is something again that I really love and dal-rae herself was also a great female character she'd gone through a lot of hardships in her life and that's given her a very harsh perspective on the world throughout the book we get to see her dealing with that and then we also get to see how her perspective changes because of the things that happened to her throughout the story so I feel like she really does have great character development which is something that I am always happy to see like I said I really did enjoy the fact that this is based off of like Indian mythology because that's not something I usually read about and it's really great to see that in why a fantasy there was a lot to the mythology in the world that I didn't know about and I didn't have any prior knowledge of so it was really exciting for me to get to read about something that's different from what I usually read about but apart from that this wasn't anything that was too new or revolutionary for me the plot of this type of tournament is something that I've seen several times in other books and the characters and the way that their relationships develop are also things that I've seen in variations before so for those reasons they didn't necessarily like blow my mind but it still was very enjoyable and fun I would definitely say that this is the type of why I fantasy that I would like to see more of that's magical worlds with very lush writing and also healthy relationships and romances that don't normalize or romanticize abusive traits so overall I ended up giving this book a solid four stars like I said the beginning was a bit slow for me so it took me a little bit to get into it and then there were some like holes in my opinion in the magic system in the world but once I got into it and started to gain an attachment to these characters I ended up really really enjoying myself all reading it so that's why it's a solid four stars alright guys so that is it for my review of a crown of wishes by Rashi chock she let me know in the comments down below if you read this book or the star touch Queen or both of them which one do you prefer or any of your thoughts on either of the books also don't forget that the crown of wishes live show is on may 5th on the Tosh's channel again all that information is in the description box and you can also follow all of us on twitter we will be talking about it and mentioning it there or on instagram anywhere you'd like but thank you all so much for watching this video I hope you enjoyed and I will see you in my next video bye you youhey guys it's Hannah and today I'm coming to you with a spoiler-free review of a crown of wishes by Rashmi Choksi this video is being sponsored by st. Martin's Press so thank you so much to them for sending this book my way and for sponsoring this video a crown of wishes is the fiction faction book of the month and if you don't know what fiction faction is it is a book club that myself Maureen Natasha and Zoe all started and we read a different book every single month and this is our April book of the month on May 5th we will also be having a live show on Natasha's channel where we all discuss this book together so if you guys have read this book this month as well then you should definitely come and join us over there I believe all the information for the live show and the book club in the description box so if you would like to join us and discuss a crown of wishes with us on May 5th then we would love to have you crowd of wishes is a standalone companion novel to roshni chok she's debut novel the star touched Queen so both of these books take place in the same universe and they can stand alone as individual books so technically you don't have to read one before the other one I actually read a crown of wishes before I read the star touched Queen but I know a lot of people do recommend that you read the star touch screen before you read a crown of wishes which is something I will get more into in my review this book takes place in a fantasy world but it's heavily based off of Indian mythology and we follow around our main character Gauri who is the princess of this one Kingdom and at one point she tried to overthrow her brother so her brother has sentenced her to death clearly you can tell they don't have a very good relationship our other main character is Vikram and Vikram is the prince of a different Kingdom and Gauri and Vikram end up joining forces reluctantly in order to enter what is called the tournament of wishes essentially whoever wins the tournament of wishes will be granted one wish and both of them really need this one wish dari is trying to escape her brother who is trying to have her killed and Vikram is also trying to save his own Kingdom and his place in that Kingdom like I said this is a companion novel to start touched Queen and in this book we are following characters that are related to the characters in the star touched Queen so I totally understand why people recommend reading the star touch Queen before reading this one because I will say there was a time where I was very confused with what was going on this definitely can stand on its own and the confusion does go away after a little while once you get used to the world but I do think that if I had read the star touched Queen first I would have gotten a better grasp of this world and there are a lot of illusions in this book two things that happen in the star touch screen so really if you want to read both of them I would recommend reading the star touch screen before reading this one but if you only have plans to read this one then I definitely say go ahead and read it you won't like be completely lost it will make sense to you and it absolutely can stand as its own story personally I enjoy a crown of wishes more than I enjoyed the star touch screen even though I read this one first I really liked the story in this one actually and it took me by surprise for a while while I was reading this one I didn't really have any sort of connection to it and I wasn't really feeling a lot of the characters the plot wasn't doing too much for me but then after I got into like about maybe a hundred or so pages it started to pick up and I really started to like where the direction of the story was going so I definitely say that if this one is kind of iffy for you at the beginning try and push yourself through it because the rest of the story and the ending especially really wrap it up nicely and I think make the beginning of it even though it's a bit slower kind of purposeful one of my absolute favorite things about the book though was the writing I really really loved the writing it has beautiful beautiful prose and it's so descriptive and you can see everything very vividly and it really does give you that magical feel which is what I'm always looking for in fantasy I also really loved this world and I felt like I could imagine so much of it but the one thing that I really wanted was just a bit more world-building in my opinion there were just some gaps sometimes where the world just wasn't as full or lush as it could have been or maybe as much as I wanted it to be and I think that's what kind of led to some of the confusion for me at times because there were just some gaps that I couldn't exactly fill so as many of you know I am very much a character-based reader I loved character-driven stories so characters really make the book for me and it's a very important part of the story when I'm reading like I said at the beginning of this book I really didn't have much of an attachment to these characters and I wasn't really feeling much of anything but then again once I got to a certain point something just clicked for me and I started to feel that attachment to the characters I would say in many ways that this book is somewhat character based because the relationship between Gauri and Vikram is an essential part of the story as well as gaara's relationships with several of the other characters and it's really relationships that kind of drive the plot forward but I would say that it's kind of equally plot based and character based because the plot is also an extremely integral part of this book so personally for me I think that's why it was a little bit more difficult for me to connect with these characters because I do tend to read more just straight character driven books but as I warmed up to these characters I really did start to love them sari and Vikram really do have this amazing banter throughout the entire book and I'm a huge fan of banter and like angst which is what we got a lot of in here and sometimes I know it can get like a little bit annoying but in here I actually ended up enjoying it they're so so funny at time and their relationship and just develops in such a beautiful way and it was great to get to see that but I also really enjoyed their characters as individuals as well I feel like Vikram is such a great male character in why a literature especially in fantasy I feel like I've talked about this several times about how there is this male character trope in a lot of why a fantasy that I've been seeing lately that I just don't like where he's like super territorial and just overprotective of his female love interest to the point where male characters sometimes act like they have ownership over their female love interests but Vikram was nothing like that at all he was so fun to read about he was light hearted but he had like his whole deep tortured past side to him as well which is something again that I really love and dal-rae herself was also a great female character she'd gone through a lot of hardships in her life and that's given her a very harsh perspective on the world throughout the book we get to see her dealing with that and then we also get to see how her perspective changes because of the things that happened to her throughout the story so I feel like she really does have great character development which is something that I am always happy to see like I said I really did enjoy the fact that this is based off of like Indian mythology because that's not something I usually read about and it's really great to see that in why a fantasy there was a lot to the mythology in the world that I didn't know about and I didn't have any prior knowledge of so it was really exciting for me to get to read about something that's different from what I usually read about but apart from that this wasn't anything that was too new or revolutionary for me the plot of this type of tournament is something that I've seen several times in other books and the characters and the way that their relationships develop are also things that I've seen in variations before so for those reasons they didn't necessarily like blow my mind but it still was very enjoyable and fun I would definitely say that this is the type of why I fantasy that I would like to see more of that's magical worlds with very lush writing and also healthy relationships and romances that don't normalize or romanticize abusive traits so overall I ended up giving this book a solid four stars like I said the beginning was a bit slow for me so it took me a little bit to get into it and then there were some like holes in my opinion in the magic system in the world but once I got into it and started to gain an attachment to these characters I ended up really really enjoying myself all reading it so that's why it's a solid four stars alright guys so that is it for my review of a crown of wishes by Rashi chock she let me know in the comments down below if you read this book or the star touch Queen or both of them which one do you prefer or any of your thoughts on either of the books also don't forget that the crown of wishes live show is on may 5th on the Tosh's channel again all that information is in the description box and you can also follow all of us on twitter we will be talking about it and mentioning it there or on instagram anywhere you'd like but thank you all so much for watching this video I hope you enjoyed and I will see you in my next video bye you you\n"