Dark Wish

The Starlight Gods Series, Book 1

By: Yumoyori Wilson

Narrated by: Adam Rivington, Carmen Rose

My name is Makoto Heart and I've always wished for a chance at freedom. Every day, I prayed before the Starlight gods, asking for their divine assistance in accomplishing such a difficult task.

Being an experiment for as long as I can remember, my hopes of obtaining freedom have diminished, drastically. The disappointment, haunted me, as I and my spirits struggled to survive. I had no hope left, believing my final plea fell upon deaf ears, yet again.

But what happens when my prayers are finally answered? I'm thrust into fulfilling a destiny, with the help of six star knights. Suddenly, I am no longer experiment 555, but the stolen princess of Heila.

Freedom, how you have teased my troubled soul. May the Starlight gods guide me and my knights, on this path towards the unknown.

©2017 Yumoyori Wilson (P)2018 Tantor

Amazing book!

This was the first book I had listened to on Audible and it did not disappoint! I originally had bought it because it was the only format available after Yumoyori pulled all of her books from Amazon. She’s since released this book again under a new pen name Avery Phoenix, so now I can enjoy reading it too! I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to listen to the next one. The artist that read for Mako has such a beautiful voice! Highly highly recommend!

Keeps your attention for sure!

Not only do I absolutely love the story and this author, but the narration was fantastic as well. I love how it switches between male and female voice when the book changes POV.

interesting

This was an interesting story that kept my attention the whole time. I loved Mako and her spirits. She was a fun character that had real depth. The female narrator was good, but the male narrator sounded older than the characters he was portraying.

Sucks you in

The story is one that pulls you in. There was a few times where I thought the F MC just kept getting things thrown at her but the author did a really good job with actually making you more sympathetic/empathetic towards Mako. The author did a really good job at world building as well as character building without it being tedious and uninteresting. I think the narrators did a good job with their parts and I think it’s really awesome the narrators made different voices for the different spirits. Even the male narrator did a good job with the male spirits, yea they are deeper and older sounding but you have to remember the spirits are actually much older than their hosts and the gods place them in different hosts. Anyway well worth the credit and I already bought the second one!

Juvenile RH series needs a bubblegum pink cover

I admit it: I totally judged this book by its slick cover and Dark Wish title. I merely glanced at the summary during a sale and put it in my cart thinking this was sci-fi or space opera or something I could take even a little bit seriously.

Turns out this is a reverse harem featuring a ditzy princess who glows pink and her four “boys,” who are mostly known by their eye color and smell. This one’s got emerald eyes and that one smells like cinnamon and they all feel like the bestest pillows as they take turns sleeping with her. Ninety percent of this is all about the “cute” and their rock hard abs and tousled hair.

The ten percent that wasn’t devoted to RH romance was mostly huge info dumps explaining a convoluted, completely nonsensical universe and the four spirits inside Princess Mako: a demon, angel, dragon and Phoenix. Her being a prisoner is over fairly early on and the book then becomes about Mako going to school and being some sort of anime-ish Mary Sue.

Even the non-romance parts are hyper-sexualized in icky ways. I should have stopped at the beginning, when a girl is whipped, sexually assaulted, and then beheaded. Or maybe a chapter later, when a guy unzips and prepares to take Mako. Yes, they’re vaguely and quickly described, but it was very off putting how often the author used lecherous men as a plot device. I cannot believe how vapid and immature this was … and that I didn’t stop listening sooner.