My opinion summarized: Don’t buy it.

I’ve never done a book review before, so pardon my french and any possible errors. Also, if you want me to do other book reviews or recommendations, please leave a comment below.

I must have read, at least, ten books by Marc Boney. His books are not really books, but collections of essays, which is akin to me just dumping some of my blog posts and calling it a book. Still, I tend to like his books. They are informative, fairly good and interesting. But this is not the case with this one.

The proposal of the book is illustrating the nakshatras through birth charts, and explaining their meanings and expressions. An excellent idea. But with a subpar execution.

For most of the book, he is just quoting other authors, then giving basic explanations that add nothing of value. It is like reading someone’s kindle notes, instead of an actual book. Considering that, on his introduction, he specifically mentioned his goal of adding “something original and of value to the existing literature“, it’s a complete failure.

What’s the point of reading a book that is mostly a patchwork of quotes? Just read the original books from where the quotes came from. That’s my opinion.

Another trend in the book is pivoting. He will write shortly about the nakshatra in question, then spend the rest of the time discussing anything else in the chart presented. Yogas, other placements, dashas, really anything else. Except the subject of the book, which was supposed to be about nakshatras.

On the Ardra chapter, his Taylor Swift section is the most glaring example of this trend. He spends multiple paragraphs discussing the chart, her life, a special yoga there, what he thinks of her; and then he comments on Ardra as shortly as possible.

He mentions the stormy nature of her relationships, and how that turned into gold and success through her music, a typical Ardra theme. Thank god! By that point I thought he wasn’t going to say anything about Ardra, by the sheer amount of pivoting and stalling involved.

But more can (and should) be said, if your proposal is discussing nakshatras:

  • Ardra deals with controversy. Taylor, as any massive celebrity, is no stranger to this; facing criticism and backlash. Her VMA’s episode with Kanye West was both an example of controversy, and the Ardra trend to turn tears into gold, as her career only rose after that event.
  • Ardra is witty, cutting, provocative and kinda sarcastic. Her style of writing, mocking her detractors or rivals illustrates that tendency.
  • Ardra deals with a strong sense of justice, and this can harbor a desire to “destroy” things or people they deem unfair. Her conflict with the industry, and powerful players, about her masters is a great example of this.

Through countless other examples, it feels as if nakshatras are just an excuse, as he talks mostly about other chart factors and interpretation points. It sounds like he didn’t know what else to say about nakshatras, so he went into his comfort zone, focusing on his knowledge of yogas and other factors.

In other instances, his examples are just kinda bland and boring. His Purva Bhadrapada chapter was that for me. I like my weird examples, and this nakshatra has a lot of them. Dozens and dozens of interesting, weird and bizarre stories. What did he choose? A movie star and some woman he watches on TV. Boring, I want to go home.

If you want a book on yogas and how to interpret a chart, this is an OK book. If you want a book on nakshatras, this is a bad book. He has the knowledge to back up an interesting book on interpretation, but that is not what he sold.

You can’t sell X, and deliver Y. If I randomly inserted a brownie recipe in this post, no matter how great my brownies are, it would be a bad post. I proposed a book review, I have to deliver a book review, not a brownie recipe.

Similarly, Boney proposed a nakshatra book, he delivered a collection of random interpretation points and yogas. It’s a bad book.

I wish he had named it “Secrets of the Nakshatras”, as it would align with my personal pet peeve about the word secrets always being followed by the most bland, cliché and common knowledge in astrology.

Anyway, I want my money back.