Crown of Starlight
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Average rating2.7
Greek mythology takes to the stars in this steamy sci-fi reimagining of the tale of Ariadne and Dionysus—the first book in a snarky, queer, lushly romantic duology set in a galaxy of monstrous mortals, bloodthirsty gods, and love fierce enough to shatter the cosmos. Raised amongst monsters, Ariadne Tholos, Crown Princess of the interstellar Cretan Empire, fears nothing more than becoming one herself. But trapped within the labyrinth of imperial politics and the puritanical restrictions of her father, King-Emperor Minos—and his totalitarian regime of militarized death cultists—she might not have another option. When the chance arises to take her fate into her own hands, Ariadne seizes it, only to find herself on the run—injured, alone, and in desperate need of a miracle. Enter Dionysus—the exiled god of wine, madness, and revelry. He needs a Cretan royal to join his cult in order to end his banishment and return home to Olympus. Meeting Ariadne is the opportunity he’s been waiting for, but there’s just one problem: The Cretans are heretics, and she is no exception. With a vengeful Minos closing in, Ariadne strikes a bargain. She’ll marry Dionysus and “join” his cult. In exchange, he’ll hide her away in the only corner of the galaxy beyond Minos’s reach: Olympus itself. But while Ariadne can handle the deadly politicking of the Olympians, a life of repression has left her unprepared for how powerfully Dionysus’s uninhibited debauchery will call to her darkest desires and make her question parts of her identity she’s kept locked away her entire life.
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Okay, so.
This book doesn't get ENJOYABLE until Ariadne meets up with Dionysus. I'm serious – the first third of this book is almost unbearable. The dialogue is horrendous, bordering on painfully bad, and the action is only so-so. Ariadne's life is miserable, and apparently we have to be miserable reading about it, too. I seriously considered DNFing this about 20% of the way into the book, because I was straight up NOT having a good time. Crown of Starlight has been seriously hyped up on X/Twitter and honestly? I was ready to start posting about what a let down this was.
And then I got to the point in the book where we meet Dionysus. You can tell IMMEDIATELY that this was the character that the author wanted to write. Ariadne is the main character, but Dionysus is the run away star. The writing finally LIGHTS UP. The characters become people you want to know, the action is something you want to read more of. IDK what happened to the beginning of this book, but it is leagues and LEAGUES behind the rest of it. It honestly does a complete disservice to the rest of the novel, and I will remain somewhat hopeful that the book will go through another round of edits to fix it because its ROUGH y'all.
BUT MOVING ON.
Dionysus is immediately taken with Ariadne, and we as the audience are completely taken with him. Right away. He's interesting, funny, and eager to do what he can to help Ariadne with all her (horrible) problems. Their relationship starts off platonic, but eventually shifts into a full on romance. Yes. From BOTH sides. There is no unrequited anything here, I'm so happy to say. The steamy scenes are HOT and way way more sexy and kinky than anything I've read professionally published in awhile. Kudos to Miss Corrain – she did the God of Hedonism proud.
And yes, we see Dionysus in all his different aspects. God of Hedonism, of wine, of sexuality, of revolution, etc, etc. Corrain doesn't shirk from any of part of him!
The plot of the book is...fine? Like, there's nothing wrong with it. It was easy to follow and made sense within the scope of the book. I was 100% reading to see how Dionysus and Ariadne developed their relationship. I really couldn't have cared less about the actual plot. Give me more smooches and tender face touches, okay? I loved watching them together, I loved seeing Ariadne open up, and bloom into the person she was meant to be.
SO YES, despite the horrendous beginning of this book, please pick it up and read it once it comes out. It's a lot, LOT more fun than the beginning lets on.
