

Loading... Kushiel's Dart (2001)by Jacqueline Carey
![]()
Best Fantasy Novels (74) Female Protagonist (41) » 16 more BDSM Erotica (1) Overdue Podcast (340) Princess Tales (38) Slavefic (2) Alphabetical Books (182) Unread books (781) No current Talk conversations about this book. I got 18% of the way through this and just had to give up. I had no idea what was going on. It was too flowery, had far too many people introduced in too short a space of time. Trying to keep track of each of the religions plus the politics was just a chore. I really wanted to like it, but I couldn't force myself to continue, especially not with the length of the book! Such a good book! Beautiful imagery, strong and complex characters, intrigue, mystery, action, emotion, introspection... The length is daunting, but I got through it in less than two weeks, which is speedy for me. A book I may actually read again, just to catch what I was too busy being swept away to notice during the first read. :) Overwrought, excessively wordy, and yet sometimes frustratingly vague. I missed the magic that others found apparently. This series is a guilty pleasure beach read for me. I read it every few years and while it isn't the most engaging story or the best written I find it enjoyable and worth the time.
Overall, though, this is a really superior debut, integrating original themes, intelligent world-building, and skillful writing to an extent all too rare in today's fantasy market. It should immediately establish Carey as one of the most interesting and talented of the current crop of rising fantasy stars.
The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good ... and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt. Phedre no Delaunay is a young woman who was born with a scarlet mote in her left eye. Sold into indentured servitude as a child, her bond is purchased by Anafiel Delaunay, a nobleman with a very special mission ... and the first one to recognize who and what she is: one pricked by Kushiel's Dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one. Phedre is trained equally in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber, but, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Almost as talented a spy as she is courtesan, Phedre stumbles upon a plot that threatens the very foundation of her homeland. Treachery sets her on her path; love and honor goad her further. And in the doing, it will take her to the edge of despair ... and beyond. Hateful friend, loving enemy, beloved assassin; they can all wear the same glittering mask in this world, and Phedre will get but one chance to save all that she hold dear. Set in a world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess, this is a novel of grandeur, lusuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. No library descriptions found.
|
Popular covers
![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813 — Literature English (North America) American fictionLC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
UPDATE: 2018, after struggling through this first one, I picked it back up and made myself read through the entire Trilogy. I'm glad I did. I ended up reading through Kushiel's Universe. All the books. Yes. ALL. Her writing starts to blossom by the end of Phedre's trilogy and she comes into her own for Imriel's. Definitely a book that I recommend you don't do what I did and dismiss the first one off the bat. (