I will not be reviewing this book because of the author’s actions towards other authors on Goodreads and her lack of remorse or apology, as well as the fact the publishing company will not be releasing this book.

I commend Del Rey for their quick actions in dealing with this situation and I cannot appreciate enough the chance to review one of their books. I hope in the future you’ll allow me to review other books from the other authors on your label.

This review does not have anything to do with the content of book and solely based on the authors actions.

Good book. Shame I can’t give more details since the publisher dropped the author and the author’s atrocious behavior on goodreads.

Lovers of a two-thousand-year-old man and his nineteen-year-old girlfriend rejoice: I have a new addition to your collection.
I wanted to enjoy Crown of Starlight; the description is everything a lover of mythological adaptations could wish for. However, what was found within the pages left me wanting a completely different story; the issues within the book can be best organized into three points: one, the story; two, the characters; and three, the representation.

Trigger warning for SA

The plot
Crown of Starlight's plot is thinner than tissue paper, falling apart under the smallest questioning; the majority of the story uses Hera as the villain, which can and has been done well, just not by Corrian, who takes a complex character and reduces her down to a jealous woman who hates others being happy. The first 100 or so pages are the traditional myth of the labyrinth; the plot takes a backseat to a romance that made me increasingly bored; then, at least in the last 50 pages, the reader is subjected to a battle that makes me believe that it was written by someone who has only ever seen the Fast and the Furious.

The Characters
Ariadne, I genuinely wish she was more than a copy of a Sarah J Maas. protagonist, but she isn't anything else. For such a self-assured character, Ariadne spends most of the book telling the reader how she knows what she's doing and then failing. I would also like to point out that around every 44 pages, she will sleep or be knocked out by another character; over the ten times this happens in the novel, only one instance serves the plot. Ariadne is also dull as a character in a way that makes me long for the insanity of Piper CJ, throwing everything at the wall to see what is stuck. Despite the novel being in first person, the only things I can remember about her are that she likes flight simulators, Dionysus, and sex.

Dionysus a strange take on the character to make him the leader of a sex cult, but one I am not surprised by considering the original mythology. Again, like Ariadne, I wish he was more interesting because there is so much about this god that could be explored, exiled from Olympus; yet, we are only ever given a very loose reason. Why would someone choose to join his over that of another god? Free wine, maybe? I have imagined that this version of the god of wine graduated from the Sarah J Mass School of Feminism with honors because of all the fucked up shit in this book; he always lets Ariadne know it's always her choice; however, he is over two thousand years old, and she is barely nineteen.

The representation *Trigger warning for SA*
Crown of Starlight does what I have begun to view as a book crime, using sexual assault to drive two characters together. Ariadne is assaulted twice in the book. Both times, the story ignores how living through something traumatic would affect a person as she goes about her life as she would normally. The use of SA victims in the novel is truly strange as the fact that Hera was forced into marriage with Zeus and that he also likely assaulted her is not looked over but instead used as another reason that Hera hates Dionysus. When handling topics like SA, it is vital that the violence not be just another kind of needless horror but serve a point to the story instead; Crown of Starlight sees sexual assault as another in a long list of trigger warnings.

This book has been marketed as queer from day one, and where that, in theory, is a true statement, I would argue that for all this book does, calling itself a queer romance, it is not one in the way most readers would expect. Dionysus can change his gender at will, and I would have loved to see a genderfluid version of the character; this is only brought up during one scene for less than two pages. Which to me feels a bit lacking and that this was only added in at the last minute to get queer readers excited. Ariadne also has a few moments in which she describes wanting to kiss girls, and she does, but again it has the same feel: anecdotal like queer readers don't deserve to be more than something added to get another chance at being on someone's TBR.

Final Note: After seeing the author's behavior online, the rating has been dropped from a 2/5 to a 1/5. We don't review bomb anyone, but especially those who are marginalized just because you want more people to read your book

If I could give this zero stars I would. While I was originally going to have a very different review than this, the authors actions and lack of apology killed that.

I will not be reading or reviewing this title in light of recent issues with the author. I appreciate the opportunity to review worthy Del Rey titles and commend them on their quick handling of this situation. I look forward to reading other titles from Del Rey and Penguin Random House in the future.

This rating is not a judgment of the actual content of the book.

if cait corrain can write one star reviews of other authors books i can one-star hers to help my feedback ratio

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Seeing as this book has been dropped from its 2024 publishing date by Del Ray, I will not be reading or reviewing it. I was very interested in the premise, it sounded like a fantastic read. Unfortunately this author decided to be very unprofessional and review bomb their fellow authors, many of which are BIPOC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the ARC! I hope to read more titles published by this company in the future. Their response to this situation is admirable and I applaud them for taking action.

My star rating does not reflect the contents of this book but a star rating is required to submit feedback.

I had gotten this ARC but DNFd due to the problematic author who was leaving bad reviews of books people of color. Thank you to Del Ray for taking the correct steps in this matter and Netgalley for the ARC.

Finished about 1/3 of this book before it came to light that the author had anonymously review-bombed several fellow 2024 debut authors, most of whom are BIPOC. I will not be finishing my read of this title.

I'm just so disappointed. I was really looking forward to reading this; however, it was a DNF for me due to Del Ray pulling the book from its 2024 schedule as a result of the author's completely unprofessional behavior.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray for the ARC of this book

As other reviewers have stated: due to the author's actions, the publisher has pulled the book from its 2024 schedule. I will not be reviewing the book. I have not read it yet so I cannot say about the contents inside but NetGalley needs a star rating to submit feedback.

Uhhhhh nope nope nope. Unable to review and rate. I will not be giving feedback on this title.

Thank you for the arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray for the ARC of this book!

As a result of the author's actions, Del Ray has pulled the book from its 2024 schedule. Therefore I will not be reviewing the book. The star rating is not reflective of the book's content, but NetGalley requires a rating to submit.

Update December 12th:
Del Ray, I am extremely proud of you all right now and I fully support the actions you all took to ensure authors are supporting each other and working together to lift each other up!!! I know it wasn't an easy decision to pull this book, as you've already invested time and resources to bring this to market. But I love seeing this response from you all!!!!! Thank you, for championing all voices and for not tolerating this toxic and unprofessional behavior.

***
Del Rey Books
@DelReyBooks
We are aware of the ongoing discussion around author Cait Corrain. CROWN OF STARLIGHT is no longer on our 2024 publishing schedule.
2:02 PM · Dec 11, 2023

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November 29th:
It was incredibly exposition heavy, which I don’t personally enjoy. I wasn’t a fan of the voice. I stopped after chapter 1 (4%). Likely three to four stars from the target audience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

I didn't enjoy what I read, and I'm not going to push through given Corrain's awful actions AND the book being pulled by the publisher. Excuse me while I go focus on the books Corrain review-bombed instead.

DNF, 49%.

While the world building and space-meets-Greek-myth-retelling had attracted me to this book when I first heard of it in May 2022, I unfortunately was met with disappointment and frustration.

The plot, characters, and dialogue felt unpolished, juvenile, and repetitive - not the sizzling space opera I'd been promised. I found myself bored, clicking away to other books and other tasks, even on a vacation when one of my primary goals was digging in to read this book. This was surprising, as the author had previously written fanworks I'd enjoyed greatly.

I might've pushed through, had I not become aware of the social media reviewbombing scandal in early December 2023. The author is alleged to have created multiple sockpuppet accounts to downvote other debuts (primarily BIPOC authors) while upvoting this title, as well as allegedly creating a "friend" to blame. Author Xiran Jay Zhao has a complete breakdown widely published: https://www.tiktok.com/@xiranjayzhao/video/7310312405571996933?_t=8i2yWmS58d0&_r=1, and this story has now been picked up by NBC and other news outlets. Though the author has now publicly apologized, there is no place for this type of behavior in any professional role.

Taking the experience of reading the book together with the author's actions, I will be rating this title 1/5 stars and will not be recommending the author or title to anyone at this time.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.

This was originally a promising debut, but I won't be reviewing it given Corrine's recent behavior with review bombing fellow debut authors, many of whom were BIPOC.

A massive thanks for this ARC, but due to the authors extremely unprofessional behavior and attitude towards others I will not be finishing this novel. I did find it very hard to get into at first, but was trying to hold out with hope for the rest of the novel.

I was approved for this right before finding out about this author’s appalling behavior. I will not be reading this book.