A review by plumpaperbacks
Radiant Sin by Katee Robert

emotional funny mysterious tense 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

4.5

Katee Robert is ACTUALLY a genius for this entire series. Radiant Sin is where, as a series, everything starts to come together, and in Olympus, everything starts to fall apart. The political intrigue, the viciousness and ambition and power plays… it’s all so brilliantly done. This book only gets more intense as it goes on, and for the last third, my heart was genuinely racing. I had no clue what the hell was going on. I felt like I was reading a thriller. I have no idea what to expect from the next book or where we’ll be by the time the final book is over, which is both fascinating and terrifying to think about. There’s a fine line between keeping readers on their toes and overloading them, but Katee never crosses it. She’s a mastermind. Taylor Swift wrote that song about her.

It’s hard to explain without spoiling, but there’s one character in this book that gives off such strong Mephistopheles (from Stalking Jack the Ripper) vibes. Honestly, the whole second half of the book felt very reminiscent of Escaping from Houdini (SJTR #3) in one specific way, and I just. I am floored. I am so unbelievably impressed by all of this. Truly.

I loved Apollo and Cassandra, and I especially loved seeing their relationship develop. Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes, and Katee wrote it well. Watching these two try so hard to be good spies but fail miserably because they’re Horny™️ was absolute comedic gold.

The reason I didn’t give this a full five stars, though, is because I didn’t feel the same intense emotional connection to Apollo and Cassandra that I do to the couples in my Katee Robert Holy Trinity—aka the couples in books from her I have given five stars. They’re definitely entertaining, I definitely like them, and I like that they’ve got a sort of mutual softness for each other that feels unique to them, that separates their dynamic from dynamics other Katee couples have. But at no point was I kicking and squealing as I read because they were just so goddamn adorable, or feeling the urge to climb up the wall shrieking like a feral goblin because I was feeling all the things. This sounds demented, but like. Real fandomers get it.

Maybe I would’ve given this five stars if we’d gotten a Hades and Persephone cameo, because I’m so desperate to get an update on them but too broke for Katee’s Patreon. Maybe.

I’m kidding. Mostly.

Anyway, I did still thoroughly enjoy this book, and I’m EAGERLY awaiting all of the smut, shenanigans and imminent disaster that will surely be in the next few books. (ESPECIALLY Eurydice’s. 👀)

Representation:
  • fat bi/pansexual protagonist
  • Swedish-Korean bi/pansexual protagonist
  • various Black, queer and/or fat side characters (includes bi/pansexual and asexual rep, as well as a MMF throuple)
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