A Crown of Wishes

By: Roshani Chokshi

Narrated by: Priya Ayyar

This program includes a bonus novella, Death and Night, written by the author.

From the author of The Star-Touched Queen comes a beautiful lush fantasy, Roshani Chokshi's A Crown of Wishes.

Gauri, the princess of Bharata, has been taken as a prisoner of war by her kingdom’s enemies. Faced with a future of exile and scorn, Gauri has nothing left to lose. Hope unexpectedly comes in the form of Vikram, the cunning prince of a neighboring land and her sworn enemy kingdom. Unsatisfied with becoming a mere puppet king, Vikram offers Gauri a chance to win back her kingdom in exchange for her battle prowess. Together, they’ll have to set aside their differences and team up to win the Tournament of Wishes – a competition held in a mythical city where the Lord of Wealth promises a wish to the victor.

Reaching the tournament is just the beginning. Once they arrive, danger takes on new shapes: poisonous courtesans and mischievous story birds, a feast of fears and twisted fairy revels.

Every which way they turn new trials will test their wit and strength. But what Gauri and Vikram will soon discover is that there’s nothing more dangerous than what they most desire.

Critic reviews

"In this high fantasy steeped in Hindu legends, narrator Priya Ayyar uses accents and character voices to distinguish the wide variety of creatures inhabiting a richly magical world within a world. ...Ayyar's presentation of Vikram is playfully perfect." -AudioFile

"It's rare when a book surpasses it's predecessor and leaves me wanting more but the audiobook of A CROWN OF WISHES by Roshani Chokshi accomplishes that and so much more. It's an epic tale as magical as it is action-packed and narrated with such realism and depth of emotion that you will be hard pressed not to close your eyes as you get whisked away to far away lands of dreams and wishes." -Tales of the Ravenous Reader blog

So Good!

I'm in love with the magic of these books! The author is so amazing!!! I had read the Star Touched Queen, and picked to read A Crown of Wishes without even realizing it was the same author! It was a delightful surprise!!!

Oh! And I LOVE this narrator!

Great secondary book

This is book 2, so make sure you read book 1 first!

An easy listen, likable characters and a story that kept my interest throughout. The narrator does an excellent job of accents, voices (even male voices) and I felt fully immersed in this captivating Indian mythology. The author does a good job of balancing the romance with the overall story.

Great fun

As I suspected, I liked this one 1000% better than the previous book. The writing was tighter, with less excessively flowery descriptions, for one thing. Mainly, though, I suspect that I was just more drawn to the protagonists -- political enemies, both fighting for their respective thrones, thrown together in a magical tournament of wishes. They bicker and annoy one another, with lots of amusing banter in between the fighting for their lives. Would definitely read this one again. The narrator was also quite excellent.

Window's 10 app duplicated some chapters

First off I love this book. However I used the apps on the Apple app for my iPhone and the Windows 10 app on my computer. It downloaded fine to my iPhone but somehow when it downloaded on my computer for the app it added 55 duplicated chapters after it ended. I thought not all of the audio book downloaded initially to my phone of additional material but that wasn't the case. I don't know if this was a one time error on the app or is a reoccurrence for others as well.

Very entertaining!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Unquestionably! Priya Ayyar has great instincts for bringing this type of story to life.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Crown of Wishes?

When Gauri finally encountered her sister and briefly met her brother-in-law before he left them alone for their family reunion.

Which scene was your favorite?

The gift giving policy scene. Gauri and Vikram had very different ideas about how gift giving works, haha!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The entire scene in the garden Vikram created in Gauri's honor. It was the perfect setting for them to openly and fully declare their feelings for each other.

Any additional comments?

Gauri's run-in with the talking horse and their discussion about being alive and self-hood made me think of Kamala from A Star-Touched Queen in a very smart and funny way. I also liked that Vikram had a pet snake who doubled as a lie detector.
★¸¸.•*¨*•★★¸¸.•*¨*•★
You could read this one as a stand-alone novel because it's about Maya's sister, Gauri who has a very unique journey and destiny. I enjoyed both novels in this series, although the first novel remains my favorite of the two.