Thank you to Del Rey for the eARC, however, I can't read or provide a review after the horrible actions of the author towards fellow debut authors. It appears Del Rey has no removed the book from their 2024 publishing schedule as well. It's a real shame, as the book sounded interested and seemed to be getting some praise prior to the controversy.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. However, due to the Corrain's behavior I am unable to recommend this book or provide a review.

I had high hopes for this book, but I simply cannot support an author who behaved as Cait has. Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read the book, but I will not support her works.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. While I was excited to read/review this story, given recent events that have come to light, I would not feel comfortable moving forward and doing so. Because I must assign a grade, I am giving three stars for the sake of neutrality.

DNF @ 7%. I received this as an eARC literally one day before Cait Corrain's review-bombing scheme against mostly POC authors was exposed on Twitter and Tik Tok (hence getting 7% of the way through). Upon discovery, I immediately ceased reading this book and went through Xiran Jay Zhao's 30-pages of receipts and decided that I could no longer support this book by being an early reader.

I urge readers to pick up the following titles rather than Crown of Starlight (all of whom were victims of the review-bombing scheme):
- So Let the Burn by Kamilah Cole
- The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste
- To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang
- Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
- Mistress of Lies by K.M. Enright
- The Gods of Hunger Series by R.M. Virtues

The only reason why I am rating it here is so that I don't bomb my feedback ratio by not giving feedback at all on this title.

I really want to thank #NetGalley and #DelRay publishing for giving me the chance to read this book, but unfortunately I will not be reading this book. I am extremely disappointed in how this author portrayed themselves. I was really looking forward to this debut author. Then I learned about the author has been review bombing fellow poc debut authors, including those from the same publishing company. Sorry, but not sorry. I will not be reading this author’s book.

I was really excited for this book and followed the author for years. I am incredibly disappointed in their racist and harmful behavior. This book was dropped by DelRey, Illumicrate, and the author was dropped by her agent.

Actions do in fact have consequences.

I was excited to receive this ARC and genuinely enjoyed reading this, however once I was about to give this book a positive review as I enjoyed the story and the concept of mixing mythology in a space opera setting. Prior to writing up my review I found out about the review bombing this author had allegedly done to indie / POC authors and I, in good conscience, cannot support an author that has behaved in such manner.

I will be happy to review this book in a fair and unbiased way if and when this author is cleared of any wrong doing.

I want to truly thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for granting my wish to get access to this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I will not be reading or reviewing this work or any future works by Cait Corrain. Due to the actions this author took to tear down fellow debut authors and POC, I cannot support this book.

I only rated 1 star due to NetGalley’s requirement for a rating - I did not read this book.

Thank you to the publisher, Del Rey, and NetGalley for providing an early copy.

Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read Crown of Starlight.
Though this retelling of Greek Mythology was a bit slow to begin with. This was a good standalone book.
Love, Death, Betrayal, and Enemies to Lovers tropes all come to play in this story.
Again Thank you for an early read!

There is a lot of world building to unpack here, which it’s definitely not a bad thing, but this book is not instantly immersive. The first part is tedious and takes a bit to become unputdownable. Once Dionysus comes to play, the plot becomes much more delightful. Now, the problem that I have with both this book and this author is that it is a disgusting practice to use fake, apparently POC, accounts to review bomb other upcoming books and authors, while upselling her own. I am rating two stars because I would have given this book four, but I cannot support this author, nor will I be purchasing this book in any capacity. I have cancelled my preorder and have no intention of continuing the series.

Uninteresting plot, lackluster characters with cringy dialogue. Just generally feel short of my excitement and expectations.

This book was fine, but I wanted more from it. I love mythology and retellings, but the plot was a bit boring. The writing felt juvenile and if it was going for relatable, it missed the mark. The combination of juvenile writing with more adult subject matter felt off. I think if the voice and tone of the writing were more mature, the story would have been better. ***The authors recent social media actions just further prove my point about her writing.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

Extremely disappointing. I was looking forward to this debut, but stopped halfway through it when learning the author has been review bombing fellow poc debut authors, including those from the same publishing company at that. I didn't even bother adding this as my current read on my fyp. It didn't help that the romance was as another fellow reviewer quoted, "lackluster", and the characters didn't seem to ever evolve.
Hopefully there will be another D&A retelling out there that is more brilliant with an author who isn't intimidated by others' success.

I really did not enjoy this book - I found it hard to get through. While I was very excited for this duo's retelling the characters and depth seemed lacking. I was definitely hoping for more...

After founding out the author was one star bomb reviewing POC books by creating fake accounts, I will not be reading or reviewing this tittle. I was looking forwards to reading it.

DNF @30%

First part of this review, which I wrote before the social media mess:

This had a lot of potential, but felt poorly edited. My brain was itching at all the redundancies, weird turns of phrase, on-the-nose descriptions that don't trust the reader to come to their own conclusions, the INCESSANT use of italics, and most of all the insane amount of infodumping. The author frequently interrupts what should be tense, fast-paced scenes with paragraphs and paragraphs of exposition. It was eventually enough to make me DNF. And it would have been SO easy to fix! So frustrating.

Ariadne's inner monologue felt obnoxious and juvenile, with forced humor and SO. MANY. ITALICS. This book's fatal flaw--besides the horrendously executed exposition--was that I never really bought Ariadne as a character. It was never really explained WHY she was a better person than the rest of her terrible family, having been raised in the exact same environment. She felt less like a character and more like the author's self-insert. I cringed every time a 2020s meme was referenced.

The worldbuilding was... fine, I guess? I don't really understand why it had to be a space opera, since the "space" part is really just aesthetic. I think that's okay, to a degree--I'm not one to crap all over science fantasy, a subgenre I truly love--but some books would just work better as fantasy and this was one of them. The little bits of sci-fi were so underdeveloped, they just felt forced and jarring.

The quick-paced, conversational tone of the narrative will appeal to some readers, I'm sure. It might even have appealed to me if it were better executed, but alas. If you enjoy LGBTQ romantasy with a YA feel (except, with lots of smut), you'll probably enjoy this. That's the highest praise I can bring myself to give this book.

Second part of this review, written today (time of posting):

A brief note on the social media debacle currently unfolding: I had been VERY excited for this book, as a space opera reader and writer, and promoted it wherever I could. I find this turn of events extremely disappointing. Even though I didn't personally enjoy the book, there is precious little adult sci-fi being published and watching an author in that space tank her own career in such a pointless, racist, petty way is... It's just so, so sad.

I find it ironic that this author went after Molly X Chang's book, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, in such a vicious way. I've read and reviewed that book as well, and the two have a LOT of problems in common: heavy-handedness, redundant prose, a very YA voice, and some of the worst infodumping I've read in trad pub recently. Yes, they share an editor. Del Rey (specifically Anne Groell), ffs, please start doing your job. TGUWG's writing is a little cleaner, and to my knowledge the author isn't problematic af, so.... if you enjoyed the style and atmosphere of COS but don't want to support Cait Corrain, I recommend checking out TGUWG.

Reconsider publishing this mess. Not only is the author’s behaviour inappropriate and appalling, but the book itself is poorly written with very YA prose (which is fine if this was YA—but it’s not), the dialogue beyond cringe, and the characters really not likeable enough. I also found it is a poor representation of my Greek culture. DNF at around 75%.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book! Below is my honest review.

DNF-ed at 64%. To be honest, I really wanted to like this. I mean, Greek mythology + sci-fi element = cool and exciting, right?

Well, not exactly. At first, the pacing was fine and I enjoyed reading about Adriane and her perspective on her father's terrible way of sacrificing people. After escaping her father, everything after that became really boring. I expected more fantasy and less drama/romance. Adriane doesn't really have any personality to her, and all the Greek gods are EXACTLY how you imagine them to be (which IMO isn't good because they're just labelled as good or bad, aka they're one-faced). There's also no real plot that makes me want to continue reading. Also, where is the sci-fi??? It's barely there.

Also, apparently this author supports reviewing bombing, which I don't like.