I bought it last night as an early Yule present to myself and so far I'm pretty impressed. I'd flipped through it before at Meg's house, and wasn't smitten, but after giving several signs a hard, critical read I can vouch for its accuracy.
To give you an idea of the structure and content, Sextrology is divided by sign and gender. Each section (Aries male, for example) gets an intro, Sign and Mind, Body and Soul, Sex and Sexuality, and a handy Couplings table that describes each possible paring between the signs, gay and straight.
What really prompted me to publicly sing the praises of the book is that it is one of the few books to tell me something new. Most astrology books tend to reiterate the same stereotypes to the point of caricatures. Save yourself the trouble and read Linda Goodman's Sun Signs, my astrology bible (she's an Aries!). Sextrology, surprisingly enough, features really deep psychological analysis and only gets to the eponymous carnal advice at the end of each section. Best of the best is the deliciously fascinating sidebars detailing the symbolism of the planetary glyph, sign glyph, mythical archetype, and Biblical symbolism.
As for the first two, I admit I am a bit of an arcane symbol addict. Alchemy, Kabbalic sigils, runes, ancient alphabets, you name it, I know the precise rhyme and reason for each stroke and swirl. So, these sections may play to my personal predilection exclusively. Nevertheless, it's worth praising, AND the descriptions are different of each sign's gender. Bonus points.
The mythical archetypes are, in a word, exquisite. The author has gone above and beyond the traditional planetary rulers and fleshed out rich deities for both genders. What I mean by this is, for example, Aries is ruled by Mars. Mars is the god of war and if you know me, you might see where a chit chat about warlike, competitive, impatient impulses is going. Mars is, however, ultimately a dude, and the utility of him to describe the female iteration of those qualities is finite. To solve the dilemma, authors Starsky and Cox introduce secondary and companion gods and goddesses to paint the full picture. In the case of Aries, it is Pallas Athena. Let me say this, I read a LOT of scholarship on classical mythology. We're talking secondary and primary sources. Hell, I've produced scholarship on classical mythology. Moreover, I actively worship said deities. To say that I am familiar with our dear Goddess of the Art of War is a sure thing. When I assert that this book came up with twists on Athena that were novel and creative (and accurate) to me is totally amazing. I am utterly impressed. (Even the distinction between God of War versus God of the Art of War is fascinating!)
You might be surprised that I was interested or impressed with the Biblical associations, but to be fair, I lucked out and Aries Woman got Lilith. Nevertheless, the reasoning behind the correlation was clear, historical, and revealing. Love it. (Taurus gals get Eve)
Another detail I love which is kind of incidental is the titles for each chapter, but I'm a word nerd, and that's just how it goes. Each gendered pair gets a pretty lovely set of his and hers nouns like the Natural and the Knockout for Leo or the Player and the Pearl for Cancer. (I'm the Original. lol)
The text is also acerbically straight-froward, which, to me, is a good thing. But I am an Aries and tend to construe things like, "She is selfish in the extreme... typically lacks compassion to some degree" as compliments anyway.
The most glaring inconsistencies I found tended to deal with the sex profiles themselves. A few signs tend to get the "one-note" treatment, but I think if you pay extra attention to the cited exceptions and treat them as common traits you'll get a better picture. (It's a good rule of thumb to know that agressive sorts often play against type in the bedroom, Aries included.) The keywords in the "turn ons" sidebars are a little random as well. I think mine left out a few significant ones (blood play? or is that just me?) and had a few outstanding ringers (lumberjacks? seriously?).
The arm-chair Oedipal psychoanalysis was a little iffy to me too, but I happen to have pretty awesome parents, so maybe I'm the anomaly on that front.
Overall, I give it 4 1/2 witchy stars. The half star off is for the occasionally patchy sex advice which is purportedly the purpose of the book. However, the book offers much, much more than said sordid divination, which is a pleasant and long-overdue surprise.
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