I read CAIT CORRAIN’S book | Crown of Starlight REVIEW

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Hi my name is Rachel and today we’re here to do did it deserve one star the series I do where if a book gets one star bombed then I review it to see if I think that from a perspective it deserved the one Stars I have to find a

Shorter name for that today’s book is crown of Starlight by Kate Corin you may have heard about Kate Corine unfortunately this author did something like astronomically awful I will if you don’t know what happened with Kate Corine I will leave a link down below to jiron jiao’s videos addressing the

Entire thing the book is no longer being published either in the US or in the UK her agent Rebecca poto her agent dropped Kate Corine but I thought I haven’t done a did deserve one star in a while I keep meeting to and then like the last the

Last like opportunity for me to do this was Nate lmy and I tried to read that book and it was so terrible I quit that book was already published this one was not however I have an EC of this and I have no recollection of how I got this I

Don’t have any email from netg saying your request was approved so I don’t think I requested it I don’t have any memory of requesting it but I was like don’t I have that book an earch of that book and I did I had neck alley access

So I was like uh well all right let’s do a did it did it deserve one star we’ve got to find a different name for this series this series is where if a book gets review bombed which means a bunch of people go and one star it in Mass uh

Typically on Goodreads I then review the book getting harder to do this anyway because Goodreads recently as usual with Goodreads like the way they do things is just wacky business but I do want to say it is interesting to me that they have started stalling review bombing now

Stalled the review bombing for k bra’s book they started deleting reviews but as kayin Baron who wrote Cinderella is dead which was a delight as kayin Baron pointed out her book was getting review Bomb by a bunch of racists Goodreads was not stepping in to do anything about it

So I don’t really understand the shocking promptness now as opposed to all the other review bombs that we’ve witnessed again I want to do a video on good reads being ridiculous separately so we’ll save that for a later date what the author did if you don’t know was Target her peers fellow authors

Particularly the majority of them seemed to be debut authors who were she was going to be a debut author and all of their books were coming out like within the first like five months or so in 2024 but especially nonwhite authors Kate Kine set up fake Goodreads accounts and

Negatively reviewed their books by stock pu accounts while also like boosting her own book The affected debut books were selet Them Burn by Camila Cole the poisons we drank by Bethany Baptist to to gaze upon Wicked Gods by Molly exchang Voyage of the dam by by Francis

White Mistress of Lies by km enri road to ruin by Hana Lee and the Empire Wars by akur Phoenix unfortunately she also targeted Thea guanzon who wrote the hurricane Wars I I think who was her friend they also targeted RM virtues who also writes Greek retellings but is an

Indie author so what other motive is there other than jealousy plus racism there Katrina Quan Danielle L Jensen I only have an arc of one of these debuts I know the community is trying to boost these debuts um to try to like offset any harm the the intention was to harm

Their debuts so we are trying to boost them now and I do have an arc of one of them I was approved for one of them and it’s to gaze upon Wicked Gods Molly exchain and my friend Pat says that I’m going to like this this is things that

Very particularly appeal to me which is great because I thought so by the synopsis I’m getting off topic sorry the point is I’m going to try to do reviews of those as well and hopefully help them find their readership which is something that Kate actively tried to Pro event

Did it deserve one star is sort of a fun like personal exercise for me because it’s an exercise and like when a person does something bad I’m trying to figure out if I can not let an author’s actions affect my reviews if I’m like not like reading into things like in their book

Like trying to find like evidence for the things they’ve done outside the book I am a person I have biases and I try to reflect in these videos on if the actions of the author are affecting my feeling on the book it’s a thought exercise it’s certainly interesting like

As a reviewer something that is going to affect my reading of this book though and and did is I know shockingly little of Greek mythology I guess it’s not shocking if anybody who to anybody who knows me um since I grew up funy that’s not really like that was sort of an iffy

Territory you know Thou shalt not have other gods and all that any who all this to say I do think that that affects my reading of Greek retellings and this is a Greek retelling this is a Greek retelling but sci-fi of Ari Adney and Dionysus all I know about dionis is that

He is the god of wine that’s it I know even less about ariadne which is to say nothing I do think that dionis would be proud of me as I’m reviewing this sitting here drinking wine while reviewing this I know about as much about wine as I know about Dionysus this

Is a rosé that’s that’s what I know if you’re looking to make yourself into a version of dionis you can join me in drinking the fruits of dionis by checking out bright cellers you can’t actually be a great God just so we’re clear but any person can be a wine

Person with bright cellers why wine can be intimidating bright seller is the wine club that’s dedicated to making it easy to help you learn what you like bright seller 7 question wine quiz about your tastes helps you match with wines that you will love each box comes with

Cards to help you learn about each bottle and if you don’t like a bottle I’m sure even dius assess preferences I don’t actually know again no knowledge of great mythology no worries because your bright sellers concierge will replace it if you’re looking for the perfect gift to give yourself or the

Diis in your life you can give the gift that keeps on giving right sellers we’re also in cozy season which means more cooking and more dinner parties if you’re a social person and if you’re a social person you might want to hold a wine tasting at home or if you’re not so

Social me grab some wine for yourself and curl up with your favorite Greek retelling I think this Rosé goes good with pworld bright sellers is giving my followers their first six bottle subscription box usually $150 for just $55 click the link in the description and take the quiz to get started today

And thank you so much to Bright sellers for sponsoring today’s video and also for the wine that will carry me through this video I’m going to give you the synopsis for this book but first let me tell you something let me tell you something U Mona Hussein brought up a

Really good point um about how cover artists like there’s been a lot of talk about this K Corine issue and they’ve been using the cover of the book but when we talk about books we don’t in our discussions we are not actually crediting the cover artists so I

Appreciate Mo Mona for bringing that up and I wanted to go ahead and credit the cover artist because the cover art is gorgeous I’m going to sit here and have this sitting next to me for the next however long I need to credit the artist

From now on so help help help hold me accountable this art was done by Diana dvorac who I will link below and then the art Direction which is like creating taking the art and creating a cover out of it was done by Rachel a also linked below okay so the synopsis reads raised

Amongst monsters ariad NEOS Crown Princess of the interstellar Empire fears nothing more than becoming one herself but trapped within the Labyrinth of Imperial politics and puritanical restrictions of her father King Emperor Minos and his totalitarian regime of militarized death cultist 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 cheers Madness and rry he needs a creton royal to join his cult in order to end

His banishment and return home to Olympus their meeting is the opportunity he’s been waiting for but there’s just one problem the cretans are Heretics and ariadne is no exception with avental Minos Minos closing in ariadne strikes a bargain sh’ll marry dionysis 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 arandi can handle the deadly politicking of the Olympians a life of repression has left her unprepared for how powerfully di diis oh man I need drink uninhibited debauchery will call to her darkest desires and make her question parts of

Her identity that she’s kept locked away her entire life okay again I do not have a good knowledge of Greek mythology I have read some retellings again shout out Ponder world I do have aradne by J Jennifer sa something on my shelf somewhere and obviously I’ve read Percy

Jackson but I don’t really have a good understanding or knowledge of Greek mythology itself I sometimes find like retellings fun to read this one in particular was I think this could have been done better especially by changing its beginning like as in the first whole 20%

Of the book where we’re just with ar Adney and we don’t see dionis until like 20% after she’s done this like escape and Ari Adney is not caring the story on her own for that first 20% it’s honestly sort of miserable to read I kept falling asleep it just was really in general

Very boring I think they should have switched around the beginning a little bit to actually add in dionysis in some way and then also added in aradne and sort of like did a little back and forth for that first 20% to sort of like finally merge them together I just would

Have had more fun that way um Not only was it boring so she lives in cre which I’m going to be honest I’m not really sure exactly what I was supposed to be picturing because we kept we we were told like it’s the island of cre obviously but then we talk about like

Com bands airlocks and holographic Shields Hollow Shields some sort of Shield some sort of Spacey Shield thing and it wasn’t really written in a way that I felt like meshed like Greek retelling and ccih in a cohesive way this was compared to Gideon the 9th at least by the author which is something

That really Nails the combination of things in a very specific way that is not happening here again ariadne is the daughter of Minos Minos her dad who was always threatening to kill her and I wasn’t really sure um what was stopping him or why that wouldn’t be allowed the

Politics like let’s be so serious the politics and the religion honestly went sort of immediate ly over my head just the way it was fed to us was fed in not a way that sticks although again I wonder if that is very subjective and I wonder if the reason it’s so subjective

To me is because again I am not a Greek mythology educated girly I’m left to wonder if a lot of these retellings honestly are relying on the reader to know Greek mythology as well as the author does sort of like the author is trying to like take a short cut to

Building out their lore by relying on what is already known by the people who do know a lot about Greek mythology sort of like how in fanfiction there’s already things that are like like Baseline level of knowledge like you’re reading fanfiction because you already have like a connection with this like

With Rao which this author was a Rao fanfiction writer there’s sort of like this already establish connection with certain things like you already know right and that’s why you you read it is because it’s familiar you don’t have to reestablish any new Baseline you already have your Baseline and then from there

You do cool and new things jumping off of that I feel like I am not at Baseline here so again it it feels sort of like a shortcut was taken using lore that’s already known I assume but it’s known to them not to me if you’re going to write

GRE gryt tellings and want to appear to a appeal to a broader audience write for the girlies that get it and for the girlies that don’t or don’t do whatever you want I’m just saying that a lot of this was lost on me and if I wasn’t lost

If the author had filled in more gaps maybe I would have enjoyed it more okay I’m back to finish this and I have to say one thing before I continue I was talking to my friend about this book and my experience reading it and I realized

That I don’t say um dionysis correctly I say it dianis and it’s dianis so I’m sure that you all have been all you Greek girlies out there Greek mythology girlies have been cringing uh for the last however long and I’m so sorry I will say it correctly from here on out

Hopefully all right so we’re on cre Ari Adney aradne oh see I don’t know how to say anything is Onre and she is staring at her brother the minur Minotaur I don’t know how to say anything actually words are fun and she is staring at her brother through a you

Know Hollow Plexi glass whatever thing sci-fi glass and she’s you know reflecting upon her life how they both feel imprisoned because he’s imprisoned as a he’s a Minotaur forced to be not human and eat people and he has a mouthful a Bine mouthful of shark teeth which is an interesting descriptor I

Wasn’t picturing him like that though I was definitely picturing him as a liony from uh Zelda breath of the wild immediately when we start this book we learn how cringy the writing is I’m really sorry but I don’t like this honestly this is the kind of writing

When I if I’m reading fanfiction and the author of it writes like this and this is a very common thing you’ll see that this is like a a stylistic choice in fanfiction that I do not jive with at all I don’t like it guard’s upper lips

Are frozen stiff but anyone can see how Bor they are which fair enough this is how I’m going to read all the lines cuz that’s how how it read to me despite the chill and the foreoing sky and my miserable retinue this is my favorite place in the whole wide world she’s at

The beach well okay my whole wide world consists of the Palace of noos the aisle of noos and the Acropolis at our capital city so it’s not like I have a lot of options and then it says she’s affecting my best I have no thoughts in my head is

Empty expression another one is realizing that I’m being gaslit by my entire world doesn’t make it easier to deal with but hey at least I still have some part of my soul you know those old older style like Disney shows I don’t know what’s on Disney now I don’t have I

We we watch you know like ratou and I those older style Disney shows where everybody talks in that Cadence and then there’s a laugh track at the end that’s how it felt reading the narration in this book it was it’s really cringy so her dad Minos is the ruler of cre and

And he is part of some sort of cult that I think worships the moir I don’t know it was kind of unclear and something that I don’t remember because all of this went right over my head and it was never reinforced like brought up again in the text so I don’t really remember

What happened but for some reason I think her mom had sex with somebody and had that minor and then the minor and then her other brother is dead her actual dad’s like son is dead so so now ariadne is the air but he hates AR Adney

And he beats AR Adney and I’m like why doesn’t he just kill ariadne what’s stopping him that’s never really answered and he threatens her and it says the air goes out of the room my status as air affords me a small amount of protection murdering me out of hand

Would raise questions in The Wider Galaxy about how valuable his first air actually was to him and I’m like what what do you mean I just feel like I feel like this book is holding me at arms length and it’s over here with the information and I’m over here like hello

Like peering in the window trying to understand a conversation that’s happening behind the glass you know what I mean and it’s possible that I’m just stupid I don’t know is it the book’s fault is it my fault who knows the thing that I know was not done well

Here is the religious aspect so like Ari Adney is supposed to be like nonsexual according to everybody who is in power over her in her life and it says the doctrine of the order is riddled with inconsistencies that the sisters she has like three sisters following her around

That are part of the cult she’s allegedly a part of the sisters can’t quite explain away and in the 21 Cycles I’ve been alive I’ve seen no evidence that the amount of blood my father and his Copan spill has done anything to convince the moir to forgive us for

Centuries of worshiping the false gods in their stad I don’t understand this religion at all the moir exist the other gods also exist so is it that the moir are jealous I don’t it’s hard for me to see you have to explain all of this

Because I grew up Fundy so like I very very specifically understand my religion so my understanding is that you can’t worship another God because those gods do not exist um so when you say false gods to me it means a God that does not exist what why would are the moir

Jealous why are they jealous I don’t really understand the the the dynamic here so I guess they worship the moir while other people worship the Theo the the the the Zeus in them the pantheon so what the cre people do is they sacrifice Athenians to the minitar for the moir

But it’s not really for the moir because it’s a cult and ariadne understands that it’s a cult but then she still holds on to this Purity culture belief even though she just said that the the doctrine of the order is riddled with inconsistencies we don’t really do a good job of deconstructing religious

Belief here because we never really establish what the religious beliefs are and I feel like the only reason we were setting up ariadne to be like modest and pure is so that we could have that Trope of now the impure person is having sex with the god of orgies and it felt very

Shallow and not like an actual character Arc it felt like and now I set up these puppets to do this it felt like like like people playing The Sims instead of writing character arcs you know what I mean so here it says one of the most Ironclad tenants of the order of the

Moir is unimpeachable Chastity to hear them tell it sex outside of wedlock is the gateway to all other sins and sex within wedlock is a duty I must someday perform for the sake of furthering my bloodline and nothing else apparently men are allowed to enjoy the experience

A bit so long as it’s in a moir fearing way because that’s just how it is now stop asking questions and I’m like wait so she does have questions so why she only seems to hold to these beliefs once we get to the parts where she’s watching

Like diis is is Revels where people are having sex like openly and then she starts feeling like oh my God I’m I this is so awful and and bad because sex and this is disgusting but like when she’s actually at in cre it doesn’t feel like

She feels that way and in fact she talks about how she reads like you know erotica the first few books I read were titillating enough to make my heart race and my face flush and at the time I felt tremendously daring for even having them on my tablet creton literature tends to

Be as dull as paint but these stories were fun full of high stakes drama Fantastical Adventure in IM imaginary worlds and scintillating romance naturally I developed a bit of an addiction I don’t like using addiction like that I wish the editor would have taken that out I knelt on the stone

Floor reciting the prayer of atonement for lustful thoughts on repeat for hours until my voice gave out and my eyes blurred with exhaustion so like ran randomly she’ll bring up feeling like she needss to atone but I I wish that we would have had a good understanding of

Her religious beliefs and had those like had it come up in different ways and not just about sexuality because the moires aren’t just goddesses of Chastity right so like what else do you believe about these Gods then I thought we were going to we’re still only the first 20% I

Thought we were going somewhere that seemed interesting because we started talking about things like Words knowledge information are the most dangerous things in the cosmos if you know a secret other people don’t they’ll want to know it too maybe they’ll try to buy it maybe they’ll try to take it or

Maybe they’ll try to hurt you to keep you from telling anyone else and she’s told by D deliss who’s the father of Icarus you need to be sneaky and careful I have complete faith that you’re capable of both so I thought we were going a direction where we’re like about

To find out that ariadne is also like under the surface very sneaky which I thought okay that’s going to be in cont in in contrast with her religious belief right so we’re going to have to deal with like how she you know feels like okay well I’m sinning cuz I’m lying we

Didn’t do that not only did we not do that like contrasting those things we didn’t make her like that she’s not like some I thought oh we’re setting this up to make like our are need be like secretly she’s been defying her father and she’s been Gathering all this Intel

To make this great plan and instead it was just like SP the moment I have decided that I would like to get the away from my dad and I’m going to rely on a lot of other people’s help to get me there instead of like dealing in

Secrets to get herself out of it you know what I mean so her dad’s like you are going to send the aans to the minitar to die this time around instead of datalist cuz normally he makes datalist do it while threatening datus dat’s son Icarus ariadne’s like datus I

Have a plan I’m going to I’m going to release the Athenians you get us out out of here you also get out of here and I will run away so the Athenians show up and they have to do this pre- murder ceremony and then do a pre-murder party

And then do the murdering at the pre-murder ceremony where there’s like blood drinking on minos’s part she sees SE a guy and she’s like wow that guy is super hot I am feeling super horny just looking at him and then that guy is like King Minos I am Prince Theus and I have

Come to beg for my people’s lives and Minos is like well uh you are Athenian so you are here and if you want your people to live then why don’t you just kill the Minotaur and thesis is like how do you expect me to kill the

Godamn Minotaur and like this is like a whole production right like minus is very into this whole production and in fact there’s this thing where they have holy bones where they take and this I actually liked they took the bones of the Athenian gild them with precious

Metals and fashion them into jewelry so like she wears like this this collar thing made of the Dead Athenians bones which is like really sick it says they’re one part trophy one part intimidation tactic but then it also goes on to to constantly describe how big and cumbersome her breasts and hips

Are and I’m like okay stop we don’t need to talk about how annoyingly big your titties are for several paragraphs okay so the 14 Athenians are there Theus is there he’s like I’ve come to beg you for my people’s lives and minus is like nah and the thing is that they they they

Knew each other like their dads got together so they they they like hung out as like 12-year-old kids and Theus was rude to her then and she’s like oh I remember him he is super hot I would like to him no wait I can’t do that

Because I am prim and proper and not a lustful person even though I read erotica regularly and thesis is like haven’t enough of us died haven’t we paid enough and minus is like no you have not I could bleed every last atheni and dry and it still wouldn’t be enough

Your people took my air my son from me so apparently they killed his Heir I don’t remember this at all you will go into the Labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur you will die and if you die then perhaps AIS will finally understand what it’s like to lose the only thing

That matters to him and AIS is the father of Theus the king of Athens while awaiting execution the Athenians are locked into a secure Suite of rooms in the palace basement except when they’re let out to go to a party the pre- murder party and get drunk should they wish so

At this party ariadne’s like I’m going to tell thesias let’s team up I’ll get you out of here you get me out of here and he’s like all right if we pull this off I could make you Chief tactician of the Athenian Fleet or our future Queen

And she’s like I would love to be future Queen because she’s really stupid and thinks this guy is for Real she goes and talks to her dad her dad once again threatens her and it says it wouldn’t do for people to question his treatment of his current air it would be a PR

Disaster what do you mean what would happen who’s who’s more in charge would the people rise up and if so why haven’t they already if he kind of sucks like what are the broader implications of that and also are we on different planets are creting Athens on different

Planets I actually never never found out for sure what’s the dynamic I’m going to be real honest I don’t really understand this universe it wasn’t really explained well so the Athenians the 14 of them 16 of them go into the Labyrinth and datalist Icarus and ariadne are like all

Right got this plan thesias is is in on it he’s going to help us out he’s going to have to kill the minitar and then we’re going to we’re all going to swoop out of here right okay well Theus gets like kind of mustache twirly all of a

Sudden he shoots the Minotaur in the knee with a blaster and then kills him kills her half brother the minitar in sort of like a like a gotcha kind of way which is like depicted as bad because that’s ariani’s half brother but then again that Minotaur has kind of eaten a

Bunch of people and is symbol of um Athenian mass murder for thesis so if I was supposed to feel bad for thesis at this point I did not so they do you know Yeet themselves out of there and then when they’re in space ariani is taken prisoner and thesis is like I cannot

Believe you were so stupid you actually thought I would marry you and I’m like that was stupid that was and you know what if I’m supposed to feel again like thesis is the villain here he’s just trying to help his people like if the roles were reversed that would be like

The main character in another book and we would all be rooting for him like yeah kill that minitar yeah lie and cheat and steal your way to to getting your people a victory after they’ve been murdered repeatedly for a really long time so she’s like oh I got to get

The out of here they’re on a different planet they’re somewhere they’re stopped She runs into the Entertainment District which is really confusing for her that there’s an entire Entertainment District somewhere and she runs straight into the hangout of dianis and his what are they called mads and

She hides in a crate of wine because of course right it’s Dian Isis of course there’s crates of wine everywhere immediately and it says again a really cringy line where it says but no with four O’s four of them I had just had to stick to my principles and now I’m going

To die surrounded by wine bottles okay all right so Theus shows up and he’s like where is AR Adney I think she ran in here check these crates and the manads are like off man you don’t give any orders here and so he start starts being a dick to the main ads

You’re all going to be sorry Theus says dianis comes out and he’s like a I wasn’t talking to you B I am now C did you just call my mads and I’m like oh well this is kind of cringey like at least it’s more lively now that

He’s here but at the same time it’s still cringy so that kind of sucks and Dian Isis just decides you know what I’m just going to be nice to this human person even though I am a longtime old Immortal being sure sure random woman jumping into my crates of wine I’ve

Decided to be extremely nice to he’s like I’m the god of wine Madness and general rry amongst other things the ladies who just left are my main ads and I just want to make sure you’re all right but why Ari Adney says I thought it might be entertaining okay I feel

Like we could have like we could have done a better response than that but all right he’s so kind and Charming every word he says every bit of kindness he shows me makes me want to like him to trust him it just feels like we’re being spoonfed that like he’s so kind and

Charming isn’t he you better think that too so apparently the people who follow him are a cult I don’t really understand why I think that cult is taking on a different meaning than I am used to it meaning so again maybe I’m just stupid they try to teach her some stuff they’re

Like we’re the cult of dianis and dianis is is a real fine chap also did you know that the original six theoy King Zeus Queen Hera Lord Hades Lord Poseidon lady demer and Lady H and Lady Aphrodite have been here since the time Untold but the

Rest of the pantheon was born later Lord dianis is a young God but not nearly as young as he looks love him or fear Him everyone who meets Lord dionisis bows to his divinity in the end and then they also tell her uh they they like immediately just decide to take her in

Like a lost puppy and um take care of her says once I no longer looked like death incarnate who elany tells me is a sleep deprived workaholic named Thanos and I’m like what who’s Thanos I don’t know about this stuff this whole section felt a little a little

Unpolished like and again I’m reviewing an arc and they always they like don’t quote arcs and here I’ve been doing nothing but that don’t quote arcs because it might change I hope they had plans to change this line because when he talks to her it says his tone makes

Me tingly okay cool woof so hanging out with them is awkward for her because they are all very like touchy feely with each other she comes out of her room one day and they’re all like laying on the couch together like being very affectionate and she’s like am I

Interrupting something one of the main ads seala says only galin’s Anatomy stop right there stop right there no no I don’t like it I don’t like when we take real world TV shows and then change them slightly to fit into a fake world I hate

It it feels lazy it feels cheap I don’t like it it feels like you know what it feels like you know that show Zoe 101 how they they didn’t have like apple licensing so they put the pair that’s what that feels like it feels like a

Kids show stop it that’s not the only one by the way there’s another one later and it’s worse and they’re like oh do people not do casual affection over on your world and I’m like no so what do y’all know about the the moir worshiping people people is it very little why I

Don’t understand what are the Dynamics here my face Burns hotter than the core of an energy cell for all my blessed her there’s so much skin on display and the Olympians humor is so overtly sexual she doesn’t like dick jokes I get it okay so King Emperor Minos tholos of the cron

Empire she learns from the news has issued a statement accusing Athens of violating the treaty between two empires the treaty that of course leads to Athenians getting murdered regularly but all right um and apparently Theus has like a a fake ariadne that he is holding and being like minnow you have to stop

Attacking us cuz I have your daughter and the news says should these allegations prove true it will be the second time in less than a decade Athens has interfered with the air parent of house tholos a fact that has Interstellar conflict Scholars concerned about the ongoing stability of the

Galaxy what wait what do these two are they different worlds have to do with the stability of the Galaxy what do those what do those two worlds do that would so if we just erased them like if if the God if if Zeus just went poof lightening them out of existence right

What what what are the effects on the rest of the Galaxy what do you mean explain can I hear from one of these conf conflict Scholars please cuz I would like to know their expert opinion then she gets caught by Craton spec ops her word the book’s words but don’t

Worry dionis yoinks her back and then they enter the sticks which is a part of space dianis tells her his backstory his mom was Immortal and Hera got jealous because Zeus his mom and his mom got um pregnant and then Hara convinced Zeus to appear to Dion isis’s mom in his

True form which caused dianis mom to burn to Ash and then Zeus scooped up I guess fetus dianis and put him in the primordial ooze and then um he was incubated there until he was born born apparently if you spend a cycle bathed in power like that it’s enough to Grant

You full godhood and that’s how he became a god cool and she’s like I can’t help but notice all the places where his story and mine mirror each other though and I wonder how many other families Zeus has wrecked how many people he has hurt like this and like wait where do

You two mirror each other I’m confused I’m going to need you to start spelling things out for me because apparently I’m too stupid to get this book then it explains like the hierarchy of where magic and came from here Divinity stems from chaos from chaos came the

Primordials from them came the moir and the Titans and from the Titans came both came both the Theo and humanity and the Theo is like Zeus and them so is the problem that the moir want to be more important than the Theo but then she meets the moir later and they don’t seem

To feel that way I don’t understand any of this they go to some Planet I guess and they hang out there for a while and she like gets used to the well she doesn’t get used to it she gets she gets introduced to what a diis revel looks

Like which is basically a party with an orgy she does not take part it says things like I drop my hands to cover my arms across my chest hiding the evidence of my perversion her nipples are hard Wicked and wanting girl shrieks sister aaya in the back of my mind you base

Yourself with lust and then also another voice give in it says in Counterpoint to the sisters catwall give in and free yourself so basically this author is writing Purity culture as if it’s like an angel and a devil on your shoulder and like oh my God this is the worst

Attempt at writing like the internal conflict of Purity culture that I have ever seen from somebody who’s like actively trying to write you know against Purity culture this is failing so she goes to one of the parties and there’s ecstasis which is ecstasy and so she’s doing ecstasy and she ends up

Making out with dionis and she’s like I don’t want to accept his gifts and surrender to his power even though I really like kissing him and then it talks about like the power Dynamic of worshiping dionis when he stands next to humans like me he’s always the more

Powerful being he can’t see how dangerous it is to fully rely on someone else for protection with no guarantee that said protection won’t be revoked without warning even if it looks like I’m getting the better deal the balance of power between us will always be in

His favor and I’m like okay but so do you believe in the moir and how is the moir different and so after her like making out with him while she’s on ecstasy she’s like oh my God I can’t believe I did that the sisters were right about one thing sex is dangerous

And wanting it is a failure of the discipline I need in order to keep myself safe and I’m like what what since what that’s what you believe since when I don’t know like what she believes about sex and because of the moir is kind of wishy-washy I’m not if the moir

Really feel that way like why so like in fundamentalist Christianity Purity culture we’re taught Purity because the highest you can get to in your marriage like the the the most um Godlike and god-honoring you can be in your marriage is to have um both people be virgins and

Only having sex with each other ever and like sex is viewed as a form of worship that’s what we’re told and if you sleep with somebody else then you have like tainted the sex that you’re supposed to be having with your spouse V which is

Again a form of worship so like I don’t understand what the beliefs about sex are regarding when you worship the moir so I’m just not really understanding and you need to explain it I don’t get it like again this is like I feel like I’m reading fanfiction for a a a piece of

Media that I never watched it would be like me being like oh let me go watch some or let me go read some Hannibal fanfic but I’ve never watched Hannibal so they talk about like what the future plan is and I’m like it took you this

Long I don’t understand why like what is your long-term plan area I you’re on the run from your dad what is your long-term plan what are you planning to do with your life and apparently her long-term plan is just I want to be protected I’m like but okay but like couldn’t you just

Have him set you up somewhere to be okay fine and she’s like I would like to do something for you since you are protecting me you have all the power in this Arrangement if you want me to trust you then we need to shift the balance

Between us and he’s like okay listen so Hara made it so that I can’t be part of the pantheon and I have to in order to be part of the pantheon I have to have devotees within the governing governing body of each polus which includes cre

He’s like ironic isn’t it that I got kicked out of my home for wanting to fit in there and I’m like yeah I don’t really know why you want to fit in there I don’t know what it like you don’t seem to have any sort of connection to the I

Don’t I don’t get it he’s like there’s one place where your Dad’s military might and all of his money can’t reach you and she’s like Olympus I guess since you are part of the governing body of cre if you join my cult then I have all

Of the standards that Hara said that I need to meet in order to become part of the pantheon and I just want to remind you that this is the synopsis it took we are now 40% through this book and it took us this long to just catch up to

The B basic synopsis okay and he’s like all right as the moir would have it you are a member of the government of cre you are the person I need it and he she’s like but I don’t worship you and he’s like but Hera doesn’t know that

Come to Olympus with me Proclaim your worship to the pantheon and help me return my rightful place there you’ll be beyond your father’s reach humans cannot enter Olympus without our Aid and none of us would ever help Minos this will also give you the collateral you want

Because if you ever decide to tell Zeus and Hera the truth I’ll spend the rest of my eternity sharing a cage in Tartarus with this with the Titans and also the only uh humans who can live on Olympus are consorts of gods and he’s like so you have to become my wife in

Order to in order to go to Olympus and be safe and I’m like and immediately her thing is like would you marry I I don’t want you to marry anybody El and I don’t want you to have sex with anybody else and I’m like hold on hold on what is the

Long-term plan here is this forever they’re not having a conversation about whether or not this is forever you guys are going to be married forever now for dianis that’s probably not a big deal except for the fact that she doesn’t want him to other people so he the

God of revelries orgies is not going to be able to other people why is he willing to do this for somebody he’s known for like a week I don’t understand I don’t understand and I don’t I definitely don’t understand what is Ari adne’s long-term plan what do you mean

What do you mean what are you going to do you’re going to live there your whole life being married to Dian Isis that’s your plan see normally when we do like this marriage this fake marriage thing you they do it for like a temporary amount of time and then there’s like an

An end goal that they have to meet and then by the time we meet that end goal they’ve already fallen in love so like everything’s fine because they’re actually married married cuz it’s not just a paper thing cuz they’re actually in love here it’s not that it’s like

We’re going to be married for forever and that’s it like wait hold on we also don’t have a coners ation about the fact how are they going to get away with this obviously he knows the pantheon is and metalsome and finicky and rude and they’re going to try to test her and

Like prove that it’s not true right and how does he prepare her for this he doesn’t he just doesn’t she just walks right into a terrible situation no preparation for how to deal with the fact that people are probably going to be on to them nope it’s fine and like

The first test of this is that who’s the guy who runs Hermes the messenger guy he shows up and they’re like we have to pretend to be married so you have to you have to drape your yourself all over me and and worship me and pretend you know

To be like into me hery is later like oh yeah they’re they’re nauseating together and I’m like listen I agree that this is nauseating but it also is confusing because I don’t understand if you if even just Hermes you have to play this off in front of and he’s like your bro

Your ally right how are you going to prepare her to pull this off in front of Hera who hates you what when we get to Olympus we have these conversations and Hera is obviously suspicious again we have not figured out how we’re going to prepare her for that and we just don’t

And then obviously she fails at it Zeus is like oh cool okay you’re here yeah um my wife still hates dianis though oh this is so awkward so they basically just hang out on Olympus and it’s awkward for several chapters and mostly we’re just dealing with like wow

Hara really hates dianis and she also wants to get information on cre but she can’t because the issue is that as soon as she showed up Zeus was like sure daughter-in-law you can live here the only thing is that you are never allowed to have contact with K ever again

Because I hate them and I’m like wait why don’t you just kill them what is Stopping You Zeus from killing them it doesn’t seem like the moir actually care about the cratons is that they’re called so what’s stopping you from killing them it is it the moir can you

Explain if not what you don’t want anybody in Olympus to have any contact with the crans why don’t you just kill them if you hate them that much what is stopping you I don’t know the stakes here I don’t get it what I did like though was Artemis Artemis shows up and

She’s like oh dionis I should steal every woman in your cult and I was like oh Mommy and that really was the only part of the book that I liked ariani and dianis have this like dianis is super into her clearly from the gem and it

Felt very install lovy for me I didn’t really understand that and they hang out a bunch and they you know watch TV together and one of the he’s like do you want to watch a show with me and she’s like what show and he says it’s always

Sunny on Olympus stop it okay she eventually admits after sitting through several orgies and pretending to you know flirt with each other um even though they never kiss in front of anybody even though they’re supposed to be keeping up this ruse that they are married and that she worships him

Otherwise he’s going to get kicked out of the pantheon which I don’t even understand why he wants to be in the pantheon but okay so she admits eventually admits she’s attracted to him and they have sex multiple times what even one time when he’s in his woman

Form which we like to see a you know gender fluid dianis I’m I’m happy about that that’s great the prise just this book sucks I feel like these sex scenes honestly feel like every other sex scene that you have read recently where there’s like light bondage and she gets

Called a good girl and she has a praise King every book is like that now and I don’t know how I expected this book in particular to set itself apart but I did I did expect it to set it itself apart in that regard I don’t know how exactly

But I think that it’s because I assume that because Dian Isis is this orgy God and we kept seeing people like having sex in public public whenever one of his Rebels was going on and ariadne kept saying like like a deep part of me wants

To do that and that and that and all these things she’s saying and all there was was like some light bondage and like oh we almost might get caught I thought that this was going to Veer into like Katie Robert territory neon Gods like dark Olympus but better because this is

An adult book I thought that we were going to do a less cringy version of neon God and we didn’t I was just very surprised I was very surprised that there was no orgy that she was a part of I just thought this book would lean in

Hard on something I thought that since it was half-assing the politics the Sci-Fi elements the Purity culture deconstruction and it did insta love I thought okay maybe what we’re going to lean in hardest here and do the most of is when we get to the six and we did not

I was really surprised I don’t really know what this book was trying to set out to do well but I don’t think it did anything well I wish that it like I I’m not saying like oh I wish this had done like great sex scenes I just wish it had

Done something if I had to pick something that I wish it had done well it’s obviously the Purity culture bit the deconstructing like puritanical belief but we never really established what it is the Arad beliefs and why I understand Purity culture in relation to like the religion I was a part of and

Many religions in our world but I was never offer that understanding in this book it was very shallow I don’t really get it it felt like it was relying upon an understanding that I don’t have so then she hears that Hera and Aries and Athena are scheming about the uh war

Between and Athens which they’re not supposed to have any contact with Creek they’re like Athens needs Fighters and allies she’s like why would Hera get involved in that and it’s literally just because Hera hates her and dianis like that’s it that’s the answer like Athena says I still don’t

Understand your obsession with her yes she’s married to dianis but you’re the queen of Olympus she’ll be dead and gone in 60 some Cycles at most you can endure the irritation of her presence till then you’ve taken naps longer than that and like we get an answer but it’s not a

Good one like it’s just like well I hate her so I’m like oh okay cool also I don’t understand how Hera is the goddess of marriage but then she and she’s like I can tell that you guys aren’t really married okay then like call them out on

It I don’t understand what are the extents of that like I don’t get it so they go tattled to Zeus on because only Athena is supposed to know about cre they go tattle to Zeus about Hera and Aries being involved with cre and hara’s like that’s not true and Zeus just

Believes her because he always picks his wife dianis and his main ads and arus all decide well we’ll just go step in because um people are being massacred and Hara set it up that way because she knew that Ari Adney would feel like she had no choice but to step in which would

Get her in dianis like at a minimum kicked out of Olympus or murdered by Zeus and so they do they step in with the whole cre thing but they split up but before we even get to the splitting up part Artemis decides that she wants

To be part of it which like Mommy again she’s like I am going to hunt Theus and I’m like oh man that would have made a better book wouldn’t it I mean I just really like Artemis Mommy and before we even do any of this we get told what

Literally everybody who is going to war is wearing like several paragraphs of what everybody is wearing so ariadne goes and and does like a like a cal to like blast out to the media like Theus doesn’t have me you guys are going to war over nothing I’ve been Olympus in

Olympus this whole time I’m married to dianis you’re going to war over a lie and my father wants to kill me and so she blasts that out and then Aries shows up I think like drops her off to her dad her dad like beats her half to death

Dianis shows up kills her dad then Aries pops back out of the Shadows goes to stab dianis with like a god killing weapon and instead uh stabs ariadne because she steps in front of dianis because she loves him and then she dies the next things that I will list all

Happen in the span of 20 minutes okay she ends up in the sticks goes to hades’s domain sees Theus again and is like how dare you and he’s like I was just trying to protect my people and I’m like yeah ariadne he literally was just trying to protect his people I don’t

Understand why why are we all on Theus when he was just trying to do right by his people who were getting regularly murdered sees the moir who tell her a bunch of cryptic and you know surprisingly don’t bring up anything about her Chastity huh that’s weird they insinuate it’s not the end

For her she sees her brother aerian who’s no longer a minor and they like U you know share a moment uh she causes a general Ruckus in Hades domain so by the time she comes upon Hades and panie pan is like let her the out of here

Before she does a bunch more damage she goes back to the regular world and back to di Isis and they live happily ever after that’s that’s it um also this book was supposed to end with an excerpt from the author’s next book which if I had to

Guess is probably about datalis am I saying that right and Icarus who we never saw after they escaped at 20% so I I get I would guess it’s about them I’m not sure I just I had so many questions while and we were sitting in like the

Same spots for so long what was her long-term plan Zeus and Hara could not find out like ever that she did not like worship dianis they were going to be married forever until she dies like we were 58% through and I still didn’t understand what her long-term goals were

And I wrote that down I didn’t understand what her long-term goals were the whole book like even at 100% I’m like wait what was going to be her plan does she have none then why are we not having a conversation about the fact that she has resigned herself to this

Forever in the name of safety what’s stopping her from actually being his wife and taking on that relationship and actually wor worshiping him and not just having it be a ruse it it’s not temporary so why don’t you just be his wife why don’t you want to worship him

You don’t seem all that attached to the moir what’s wrong with worshiping dionis also normally when you again when you do fake marriage you’re like there there’s like an end goal and you’re going to like plan a way out by then there is no planning a way out if she tries to plan

A way out Zeus and Hera who are literal Gods will kill her I just don’t understand like how this wasn’t even like a fake marriage like you’re real married why don’t you just be real married what ruse is there to keep up I didn’t really understand the stakes here

And like dianis was already game to marry her which I still don’t understand how he was just like instantly in love with her Zeus is fickle about adding dianis to the pantheon because Hara is a dick him being fickle is something that I know is normal and I get that in that

Case why does he suffer the cretans to live when he’s willing to with his own pretty dangerous wife and son speaking of which he makes a sexual comment at some point to per to um ariadne and kisses her and this pisses off dionisis and again this sort of like

Flippant Behavior makes sense because they like say that they see human beings as things so again if she’s just a thing then assumedly crans are also things so what is stopping him from not letting them live what’s stopping him from wiping them out I have not read a ton of

Greek retellings the only ones that I can think of that I’ve read are pund World which is a graphic novel which I fully understood everything that was going on here it’s just you know like your typical pepan and Hades relationship but it was like really sweetly done and I really love the

Artwork and like I understood this story neon Gods is a story that I mostly understand except the way that the real world the the Greek myth retellings got transferred into real world I felt like was not explained in a way that I understood this sort of has that problem

Where that did not get understood but then like the basic lore where like the neon gods did not have all this like religious the none of the religious got explained here I have a couple of other Greek retellings that I’m planning on reading when one is Media

Which comes out in February I got an arc from the publisher which is Atria and this is about like the most hated woman in Greek mythology um but like what if the story was different than how you were told it and then I also have a copy

Of ariadne by Jennifer Saint which is also about ariadne and Theus I have heard that this one is good from a friend of mine so I’m hopeful that I will like this one better than I like crown of Starlight because I’m not even though I have very little information

And understanding about Greek myth Beyond like Percy Jackson and pund world I would like to find Greek mythology retellings that I jive with that are actually like in like adult novel form I just crown of Starlight was not it for me if you have anything that’s like pund

World but in novel not graphic novel format can you let me know Jesus so I have Ari Adney I will try this one by Jennifer Saint obviously I want to try meline Miller’s books I have hoped that I will find adult Greek myth retellings hopefully ones with some magic that I

Will like I do prefer like fantasy with magic over sci-fi out in space I do prefer one over the other so I think that that may have had a little bit to do why with why I didn’t like crown of Starlight but also like the Sci-Fi was

So underdone it it felt almost pointless like it felt like oh I forgot this was sci-fi let me squeeze some sci-fi in here I’m like uh we don’t have to we we just leave it out so I didn’t like this if I have to rate it I mean I

Appreciate like the queerness I guess maybe I would give it a two if I’m being nice I didn’t really like it the only person I liked in this book was Artemis and that probably has something to do with the fact that my cat’s name is Artemis all right that’s it that’s what

I have to say about crown of Starlite leave your comments and questions down below check out the authors who were targeted by Kate Corine and uh I’ll see you next time bye and before I go I to say thank you for being a friend to my therapy bills patrons first and foremost

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