Emissary to the Stars by Viola Grace

In this fantasy tale, the Goddess is a Star that really is able to bestow gifts like good weather and health to her worshipers. Her favorite ‘worship’ just happens to be sexual ‘favors’ preformed on her Priestesses, thus allowing the Goddess can share the experience. This makes the High Priestess truly the Emissary to the Stars.

An Emissary is supposed to be at her people's disposal but Siri wants what she can never have, a vacation away from the sexual demands of her job.

Siri has worked her way through the temple of Ilshara until the goddess tapped her as the Emissary. With her life now revolving around worshipers and organizing the temple she has no time for herself and with the great festival coming up, she needs some me time. She asks the goddess for some time off and is shocked to her toes when it is granted.

Life on Allacor is calm, serene and has a slow rhythm that Siri enjoys as she spends her days in baggy clothing that are completely different from her Emissary clothing. While the goddess lets Siri's biology come back to its rhythm, Mirkan, the next clan leader of the Sorro clan is there to seduce her into an attachment to his world. Time passes swiftly and when the representatives from her home world find her she is caught and her disguise stripped bare.

When the goddess inside comes out to put her foot down, she surprises her Emissary with a plan for this new world. A plan that includes Siri.

High Priestess Siralinalia Mzwin (Siri) of the Goddess Ilshara (a star), is the Emissary, her highest raking representative. Siri was happy to enter the service of the Goddess and pleased to become the beloved Emissary. She doesn’t even mind serving as a vessel for the Goddess when men worship her (yes, sexually). But Siri misses being her own person and has become restless and somewhat overwhelmed with preparing for the approaching yearly festival. Ilshara hears her yearnings and grants Siri an unheard of “vacation” when everything is ready early.

Siri goes to visit her friend Tahsha on the planet Allacor. While they have been communicator friends (like phone/email combo) for years, they don’t really know background details about each other; like Tahsha doesn’t know Siri is the Emissary and Siri doesn’t know Tahsha is a Clan Leader’s daughter. So Siri arrives on Allacor, a simple, somewhat backwards planet, just at harvest time, and is the guest of the Sorro clan’s leader/family. She is actually happy about this as it reminds her of her family and growing up before she entered service to the Goddess. She quickly shows she is able to help with the harvest and fits in with the clan setting well.

But the leader’s eldest son and heir, Mirkan, is drawn to her as she is drawn to him. She doesn’t expect this as her body’s ‘heat’ was stopped when she became a priestess. And she soon learns that even if this is a “vacation” the Goddess is still with her. It seems the Goddess wanted her here on Allacor for a reason, but Siri doesn’t know why…

So is she on vacation, or really still doing the work of her Goddess, but without know what? And if so, what does Mirkan have to do with all that? Or is that just wishful thinking on her part, part of her restlessness showing through again?

Emissary to the Stars is an out of the ordinary combination of ideas. Mixing part Greek God, one with actual powers, with future/scifi stories. Just like the mixing of future/scifi space travel with small farming worlds. And for anyone who wants to get upset about the sexual content/level in the story should really look at how much the first Greek Gods spent seducing almost every mortal they came across (I think that is all those Gods did. Well, they did start wars, but usually over something having to do with sex too…). This is my first Viola Grace story, so I don’t know how this compares to her other work, but she does a great job setting everything up and explaining how all this works. I understood her mythos (Goddess, scifi world, etc) with no effort and little space required. I like that this could be aliens or humans altered by the worlds they live on in the future. Emissary to the Stars never says and it’s not needed (kind of leaves that up to us and what we want).

As you can guess, I really enjoyed Emissary to the Stars. This Goddess truly seems to care about her people. Yes, she gains “power” and enjoyment through sexual worship. But she also cares that her Emissary is not happy. Yes, she may be using Siri’s ‘vacation’ for her own ends as well, but she could have just ordered Siri to go in any fashion, even undercover like she did without her getting any fun out of it. And the Goddess sent her for a good reason, to help others (I am trying not to give anything away, but the blurb does hint at this). And the Goddess even picked an Emissary that was not perfect, as we learn right off that Siri can’t dance, lol. Siri is nicely conflicting. Accepting and ‘giving’ as the Emissary, she is strong and independent as Siri. Obviously beloved by her Goddess, one wonders how she manages to blend these different traits so well.

Emissary to the Stars is a captivating fantasy. The blurb gives away a lot, but there are still a couple little surprises that I didn’t see coming (as I always like). To be honest, I expected to like Emissary to the Stars, but not near as much as I did. This is a little on the quiet side, nothing drastic happening, but still a vastly delightful read. And one that leaves me with the warm fuzzy feeling and smiling all over.