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The Starlight Rite (2010)

by Cherise Sinclair(Favorite Author)

3.91 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Loose Id LLC

review 1: So...this book was interesting. Different--from other books I've read and from my expectations. It wasn't bad, persay. I enjoyed the read and got through it fairly quickly. But what I enjoyed was not what I expected to. Erotic BDSM futuristic science fiction. Not a phrase I hear every day. I'll admit. I enjoyed the world settings and found them interesting for the most part. Earth becoming a repressive Puritanical religious bastion was not as much of a stretch as I'd like to think it is. I did get a little tired of the constant Earth/ morality/ sexual fidelity=bad, new planets with relaxed sexual morals and standards=good. Yes, Earther culture, as described was pretty awful, but there was a time or two in the book where I felt like Sinclair was beating me over the head wit... moreh her not-so-subtle anti-Puritanical message. But most of the time that didn't cause a major distraction for me. The Nexan world Sinclair created might not have been incredibly original or sophisticated, but it was coherent and interesting, and as such kept my attention. Religion, culture, sexual mores, biology, criminal justice system, and even an evolved language or at least dialect, etc--all were pretty comprehensively covered. The sex was covered too, in the usual detail. and there was the usual Sinclair BDSM themes. I don't mind those in her other books; I actually generally enjoy them. But one thing I'm discovering that I am very much not OK with is blurry lines of consent. there were a lot of "reasons" why Mella had to have sex in this book, but most of them made me very uncomfortable. Sexual slavery as punishment? Ick. Date-rape type drug that requires sex for release? really ick. "You came to this sexual religious rite, so now you have to perform. with everyone." ugh. just ugh. not poorly written. Not even necessarily wrong. Just not my thing, at all. I didn't find the sex scenes sexy at all. I was too busy being distracted by the not-really-consensual nature of those sex scenes (and the lack of safety word/ procedure).All that said, I still found the story interesting and read it the whole way through fairly quickly. Dain as a character really grew on me. Obviously, I didn't like some of his choices at the beginning (consent. sexual slavery. no.), but I think more than any of Sinclair's other characters that I've read, Dain felt real and flawed. he was some perfect telepathic master. He had his own demons and scars, and they affected his relationship with Mella and made him more vulnerable to/ with her. Mella was a little more difficult to relate to, since she was so uptight and repressed/ suppressed. But she wasn't unlikable. Secondary characters were not very detailed, but they were interesting and diverse and served their purposes well. Blackwell seemed like a candidate for a companion novel starring him, much like Jake was in Master of the Mountain. And if that happens, I'd give the book a try. Maybe he'd be a little more concerned about consent and I could really fully enjoy story, setting, characters, and ALL their interactions.
review 2: Erotic sci-fi isn't a genre I'd usually pick up to read but with Cherise Sinclair as the author I couldn't resist. So glad I did. I really enjoyed this book - it was a great introduction/easing in to this genre (ie no strange appendages or tentacles!).It had a good, strong storyline and unlike some stories where you lean more towards one of the main characters, in this book I warmed to both Mella and Dain straight away.And if this ever becomes a series - well Dain's best friend.....*sigh*:) less

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