The Game of Stars (Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond #2)

Interesting!

Book One in this series, The Serpent's Secret, was one of my very favorite books in any genre last year, but I think Game of Stars is even better, which is saying a LOT.This series is filled with so much exuberant, over-the-top, 100% delightful FUN and silliness and true heart, along with really dazzlingly imaginative images. In this book, Kiranmala is thrown into a reality TV show in the Kingdom Beyond that's been organized by her evil birth-father, the Serpent King. She's forced to fight against demons while putting up with all sorts of reality-TV nonsense AND trying to work out how to save Prince Neel (the grumpy half-demon boy she likes) from her birth-father's prison with the help of a really fantastic army of skateboarding rebel girls. I laughed again and again as I read, sometimes at the fantastic comedy, and sometimes in sheer delight because I was enjoying it all SO MUCH.And now I can't wait for Book 3!

Another fun installment, but not as good as the first. I enjoyed the main character and the supporting cast, but this book suffered a little from what many of these middle grade, mythology centered books suffer from: over the top zaniness in place of understandable plot and character development. The idea of competing in a games show was cool, but I struggled to remember why it mattered as the story moved along. Still, an enjoyable read. Onto book 3!

We absolutely adore this book! Kiranmala’s adventures are even more humor filled and daring in this sequel. The Bengali folktale inspirations are especially meaningful. Representation does matter. Our stories told to us by authors who share our identities are worth gold. Brilliant storytelling! We’ve been recommending these books to all our friends and there might even be a 12 year old “fans of Kiranmala” book club firming among our homeschool friends.

The book was very adventurous and exciting. It was one of my favorites to read and I recommend it to kids age 8-14

I read the first book in this series and enjoyed it. I started this second book anticipating a similar experience. Unfortunately, fairly early in the book, there's a scene where a character rips the wing off a bee and uses it to open a lock. The heroine, while feeling somewhat bad for the bee (who is wailing in pain), keeps moving on with her friends and no one makes any attempt to at least put the bee out of its misery.This offended me on two levels:#1: This is a book advertised for 8-12 year-olds. I think it's reprehensible to teach children that it's okay to torture living creatures.#2: This is a fantasy novel. There is absolutely no reason to rip wings off bees for some kitschy plot device. The author could have easily come up with something else that would have served the same purpose -- off the top of my head, the heroine could have befriended a magical bee that could unlock all locks.Against my better judgment, I kept reading, and sure enough, another scene where a bee's wing was ripped off. At that point, I stopped reading and have no plans to read anything else by this author.

My 11 yr. Old loves this series.

Was given as a Christmas gift to my 12 year old granddaughter and she loved it!

What a refreshing and new story with a strong female heroine. My daughter loved it and can’t wait for the third book.

My daughter really enjoyed reading this book

Amazing book. Full of adventures