Written in the Wrong Stars: A Review of The Court of Venus by Bel Banta
Title: The Court of Venus
Author: Bel Banta
Publisher: Tor Books (Tor Publishing Group)
Release date: September 29, 2026
Series: Book 1 of a duology
Rating: 2★ (DNF at 20%)
Content Warnings
Death, executions, murder.
Reported by other readers, not confirmed firsthand: animal abuse, grief, off-page dubious consent (not involving the main character).
A lushly written Tudor inspired romantasy with a planetary magic system full of promise, held back by a slow start and characters who never pulled me into their orbit.
I was really looking forward to this one. A Tudor inspired court, magicians born under the seven planets, a Moonborn heroine whose powers nobody fully understands, and a rivals to lovers slow burn? That's a lot of my favorite things packed into one book. Unfortunately, The Court of Venus and I just didn't click, and I set it down at 20%.
The Court of Venus at a Glance
Rating: 2★
What it's about:
In the Tudor inspired kingdom of Alvion, every magician is blessed at birth by one of seven planets. Bianca Mortlake, the first Moonborn magician in over a thousand years, is summoned back to a deadly royal court she never wanted any part of, where she has to team up with her childhood rival Roland to figure out what has gone so wrong.
Why it didn't work for me:
A slow intro, characters who never grabbed me, and a magic system tied to our own planets that kept pulling me out of the world.
Good for readers who enjoy:
Tudor history, astrology inspired magic, gorgeous prose, and court intrigue that takes its time building.
What I Loved
Let me start with what did work, because there is something here. Bel Banta can write. The prose is lovely, and the voice drew me in right from the opening pages. That's a big part of why putting this one down stung a little. I don't DNF books with writing I enjoy very often.
The magic system also caught my attention. Magicians blessed at birth by one of seven planets, with each planet shaping a different kind of ability, is such a fun foundation. And Bianca being the first Moonborn magician in over a thousand years, with powers no one fully understands, is something that usually keeps me turning pages.
Where It Lost Me
The intro felt slow. A slow opening isn't a dealbreaker on its own, and plenty of my favorite fantasy reads take their time. But a slow start needs characters I want to follow, and that's where things fell apart for me. Bianca and the people around her just didn't interest me or grab me the way I wanted them to, so I never had that pull to push through the slower stretches.
Here's the thing that bugged me most, though: the planets. The magic system is built on the seven traditional planets of astrology, so we're talking about our Moon, our Sun, Venus, Mars, and so on. I understand why. The book draws on Tudor England and the real astrologers who advised kings, so the connection makes sense on paper. But every time one of our planets came up, it yanked me right out of Alvion and back into our world. I kept wishing the author had built her own solar system with new planets, because the magic system itself seemed so interesting, and I think it could have stood on its own.
I also really love political intrigue in my fantasy. Scheming courtiers, shifting loyalties, knowing one wrong move could cost someone their head? Give me all of it. With two queens already sent to the executioner before the story even begins, the stakes are there. But at 20%, the court politics hadn't hooked me yet, and without characters I cared about, I didn't have much reason to care who was maneuvering against whom.
A Note on the Romance
The Court of Venus is marketed as a rivals to lovers slow burn between Bianca and Roland, her Venusborn childhood rival. Since I stopped at 20%, I can't speak to how the romance plays out. Slow burns take their time by design, and this early on there wasn't enough between the two of them to carry me past the pacing. If you're here mainly for the romance, other reviewers have had a lot more to say about it than I can.
Final Thoughts
I really wanted to love The Court of Venus. The writing is beautiful, and the bones of the magic system are fun. But a slow intro, characters who didn't grab me, and a world that kept reminding me of our own solar system made it hard to stay invested, so I called it at 20%.
It's very possible I just wasn't in the right headspace for this one, and I may give it another try down the road. For now, though, I'm rating it 2 stars to reflect a DNF rather than a completed read. If you love Tudor history, astrology inspired magic, and lush prose, and you don't mind a slower build, you might have a much better time with this than I did.
Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
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