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A review by tashasbooks
Crown of Starlight by Cait Corrain
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
EDIT: I do not support or condone this author's actions. I will leave my initial review while removing the star rating.
Crown of Starlight was an endearing Greek retelling of Ariadne and Dionysus that is steamy and set in space!
Ariadne is the Crown Princess of the empire of Crete, a violent and oppressive world that her father, Minos, is the leader of. Cretans take pleasure in violence and her father is no exception. When her brother is born as half-bull with cannabalistic tendencies, Minos looks him the in Labyrinth underneath the palace. Each year, Crete requires sacrifices from Athens in order to punish Athens and feed Ariadne's brother, the minotaur. She is sick of the violence and wants out, leading her to make a deal with Theseus to take her with him if she helps him beat the minotaur. This leads to Ariadne lost, alone, and injured when Dionysus finds her and introduces her to hedonistic debauchery. The only way to keep herself safe is to hide from her father on Olympus, which means marrying Dionysus.
What an interesting world (solar system??) to adapt the Greek myth to! I found that they were able to translate the original ancient setting to a space setting very well. There was a lot of Info dumping in the first few chapters, rather than instead of learning over time. This did bug me at first, but once I was used to the author's writing style, I was able to learn about the world and enjoy it. Truly, I don't think the setting really added much to the story, like I felt like the actual plot and character growth could have been transplanted into a modern world or Ancient Greece. It was fun to read Greek gods in space though, with added blaster guns, coms, and spaceships!
There is a bit of modern language in this book, which was a little jolting at first. However, it kind of makes sense since this is technically a futuristic world where modern slang would have been picked up. But things did throw me off occasionally, like when holodramas are watched called "The Housewives of Troy."
Ariadne was a very strong character who spends a lot of time healing and developing. She is raised in a very puritiancil and patriarchal society, and is forced into expectations of remaining pure. Once she leaves Crete, she has to heal from that trauma and learn for herself who she is and what she wants. I really did enjoy her perspective and found that she was not a one-dimensional character. Dionysus on the other hand was also just an amazing character. He truly is one of the best love interests I've ever read in a book and my favorite part. He is always looking for fun and is not very serious most of the time. But he is also very sweet and perceptive of Ariadne's needs. Dionysus just has such a confident and vibrant persona, and honestly seems a bit Cardan coded (Cruel Prince) to me. Based on the broody, dark love interests I normally read about, it was SO FUN to have such a silly and charismatic love interest.
Their romance was the true highlight of this book. Dionysius is so tender to Ariadne and helps her face her trauma and find who she is and what she wants. It is definitely a slow-burn, as it takes time for Ariadne to face her anxiety and shed the expectations that were always placed upon her. The anticipation pays off, and their romance was so raw and beautiful, not to mention spicy!
I was very surprised how accurate Greek mythology was in this book, at least to my knowledge of the myths. Of course some liberties were taken, but I found it to be a pretty accurate retelling. Another thing that was detailed in the author's note was her interpretation of the original myths of Dionysus. Over time, he has been reduced the God of Wine and Parties. The author makes a great deal to note that Dionysus also was a patron of marginalized people and rebellion, and did not have a defined gender or sexuality. I think this book seriously made Dionysus so much more than how is normally depicted in Greek myth retellings and I really loved that.
This book was just a delight! The ending was perfect and I'm happy that it wrapped up into a standalone. I'm very excited for when this officially releases so that I can buy the physical copy and have that on my bookshelves.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine/Del Rey and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Crown of Starlight was an endearing Greek retelling of Ariadne and Dionysus that is steamy and set in space!
Ariadne is the Crown Princess of the empire of Crete, a violent and oppressive world that her father, Minos, is the leader of. Cretans take pleasure in violence and her father is no exception. When her brother is born as half-bull with cannabalistic tendencies, Minos looks him the in Labyrinth underneath the palace. Each year, Crete requires sacrifices from Athens in order to punish Athens and feed Ariadne's brother, the minotaur. She is sick of the violence and wants out, leading her to make a deal with Theseus to take her with him if she helps him beat the minotaur. This leads to Ariadne lost, alone, and injured when Dionysus finds her and introduces her to hedonistic debauchery. The only way to keep herself safe is to hide from her father on Olympus, which means marrying Dionysus.
What an interesting world (solar system??) to adapt the Greek myth to! I found that they were able to translate the original ancient setting to a space setting very well. There was a lot of Info dumping in the first few chapters, rather than instead of learning over time. This did bug me at first, but once I was used to the author's writing style, I was able to learn about the world and enjoy it. Truly, I don't think the setting really added much to the story, like I felt like the actual plot and character growth could have been transplanted into a modern world or Ancient Greece. It was fun to read Greek gods in space though, with added blaster guns, coms, and spaceships!
There is a bit of modern language in this book, which was a little jolting at first. However, it kind of makes sense since this is technically a futuristic world where modern slang would have been picked up. But things did throw me off occasionally, like when holodramas are watched called "The Housewives of Troy."
Ariadne was a very strong character who spends a lot of time healing and developing. She is raised in a very puritiancil and patriarchal society, and is forced into expectations of remaining pure. Once she leaves Crete, she has to heal from that trauma and learn for herself who she is and what she wants. I really did enjoy her perspective and found that she was not a one-dimensional character. Dionysus on the other hand was also just an amazing character. He truly is one of the best love interests I've ever read in a book and my favorite part. He is always looking for fun and is not very serious most of the time. But he is also very sweet and perceptive of Ariadne's needs. Dionysus just has such a confident and vibrant persona, and honestly seems a bit Cardan coded (Cruel Prince) to me. Based on the broody, dark love interests I normally read about, it was SO FUN to have such a silly and charismatic love interest.
Their romance was the true highlight of this book. Dionysius is so tender to Ariadne and helps her face her trauma and find who she is and what she wants. It is definitely a slow-burn, as it takes time for Ariadne to face her anxiety and shed the expectations that were always placed upon her. The anticipation pays off, and their romance was so raw and beautiful, not to mention spicy!
I was very surprised how accurate Greek mythology was in this book, at least to my knowledge of the myths. Of course some liberties were taken, but I found it to be a pretty accurate retelling. Another thing that was detailed in the author's note was her interpretation of the original myths of Dionysus. Over time, he has been reduced the God of Wine and Parties. The author makes a great deal to note that Dionysus also was a patron of marginalized people and rebellion, and did not have a defined gender or sexuality. I think this book seriously made Dionysus so much more than how is normally depicted in Greek myth retellings and I really loved that.
This book was just a delight! The ending was perfect and I'm happy that it wrapped up into a standalone. I'm very excited for when this officially releases so that I can buy the physical copy and have that on my bookshelves.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine/Del Rey and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!