Radiant Sin by Katee Robert
Dark Olympus #4
Contemporary Fantasy/Mythology Retelling
02/07/2023 by Sourcebooks
ARC
Review by Angela
The fourth book in the deliciously reimagined Dark Olympus series brings us the love story of Apollo and Cassandra. Apollo, the seeker of information for Olympus, and Cassandra, who works for him and has a deep dislike of the thirteen and the dark underbelly of the city (for reasons).
Readers met Minos and his family in the previous installment, now he wants sanctuary for them in Olympus and citizenship. Zeus wants him to give up information on where he came from and what kind of danger he poses to the thirteen. Apollo is tasked with attending a house party given at Minos’s estate and ferreting out information on his background and future plans. Cassandra accepts Zeus’s offer of enough money to get her and her sister out of Olympus if she’ll accompany him. This leads to a dangerous mission and lots and lots of sexytimes.
This book felt like it was a bridge of a sort between the last three books and the rest of the series. Big things have been happening, from Hades making himself known again, to Ares securing her title and power in the city, not to mention the introduction of new characters, but it all kind of comes together here in Radiant Sin. All of the players in the next several books make appearances and readers will get glimpses into their personalities and ambitions. Yes, I REPEATEDLY visited his author’s website to see which upcoming books featured which pairings so I could kind of wrap my head around the relationship and power dynamics.
It doesn’t take long for Apollo and Cassandra to fall into bed with each other, I mean they’ve been hot for each other for five years. The forced proximity got to them and sharing a bed without making whoopie was never going to happen. This author knows how to write a scorchingly hot sex scene and it’s always done with thought, care, and consent. There is an added air of danger because of their quest, and the “shhhh, be quiet or we’ll be caught” scenes were a nice bonus. I liked Cassandra and Apollo, but they weren’t my absolute favorite couple. I think this series has me primed for bad boys and tough women, and they felt kind of, dare I say, normal to me. Smart, hot for each other, but just normal.
I will admit to being a little bit more intrigued by the mystery of Minos and what he was planning than the developing relationship between the MCs. And I didn’t understand what was about to happen until right before the big climax. This new development means big things to come in the overall series plot arc and I am excited, to say the least. Especially for the next book in the series, it’ll be interesting to see how she redeems a certain main character who did some pretty shitty things in the past two books. We’ll see.
Final grade- B-
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