Kushiel's Dart

First off, I really think that people who dismiss this as just erotica or as trashy romance lit are missing out on a lot of the book, because I absolutely adore this series and I'm not really one for smut with no plot. That said, I'm reviewing all six books in the series here, and just giving stars to the others, so read at your own risk.

This is a series of six (really long) books that narrowly rides the line between fantasy and romance novel. Then, midway through the first book, it goes BAM Politics! Court shenanigans! Murder and mayhem! Politics! Travel to distant lands! Torture! Religious experiences! Even more politics! And continues in that vein for pretty much the entire series. The first three books are about Phèdre, while the second trilogy are about a prince named Imriel, and while I prefer the Phèdre books (I'm biased toward female narrators), Imriel's story is just as engrossing. Oh, and everyone is bisexual! There are gay people in my fantasy! Some of them even survive! No wonder I like these books. But what really gets me is the worldbuilding. Short version: it's amazing. It's set in a universe where the half-divine Elua, the apostate grandson of God (yes, that God), and his fallen angel Companions chose to live and love among the mortals. This means that Christianity never became a dominant religion - though there are still those who practice it - and so other cultures kept on worshipping the older gods, which, as you might guess, affects the religious landscape of Europe and nearby countries, which therefore affects the political world, which therefore affects everything. The author does a stupendous job in extrapolating this out realistically and well, and honestly, the universe she created is at least half of why I love these books so much.

DNF @ 6%

I know, I know, I didn't get far in this book AT ALL. Ot has been recommended to me by 2 different people and yet I can't take the writing style. It is the main character talking about her past, mentioning the.. present?, future?, still somewhat past since they say “we laughed about this later.”
Definitely a ‘me' problem, so I won't be rating this one.

3 or 3.5 ⭐️, haven't decided yet. full RTC but this was an exhausting and fascinating read. i know i'll be picking up the sequel.

Got the Audio book version and the narration is very dull.

I knew this book would be 100% my shit but have tried to start it many times and failed. Finally, I persevered and it was so worth it 😭

Först of all, if you do not enjoy stories with explicit sex, stay away from this book.

I found this as “included” on audible, and I've been meaning to read it for years. I really enjoyed it. It is complex, lots of court intrigue and drama. And I really enjoyed the language, there is a rhythm and a melody to it that is a little old-fashioned perhaps, and quite ornate, and rather beautiful.

There is a section that I enjoyed a less, but overall I loved it.

This book seamlessly mixed all the elements that usually don't appeal to my taste, or even bring me to pick up a book, yet astonishingly managed to captivate and engross me in it. A very unique read.

It's not really a 5 stars since i have some problems with it but my enjoyment for the first and middle parts overweigh these problems.

This review is also featured at Behind the Pages: Kushiel's Dart

Kushiel's Dart is an intricate and complex high fantasy filled with politics and desire. Phedre carries a red smote in her eye, declaring for all to see that she is chosen by the God Kushiel. She is an anguissette, a woman who can find pleasure in pain. Castaway as a child for being different, she is sold into the Night Court to become a member of a pleasure house. Until Delaunay discovers what she is and buys her mark. Raised in Delaunay's household she is treated with respect and educated. While she will still be a servant of Naamah and provided bedroom services to clients, there is more to it than simply money. She is Delaunay's eyes and ears. Listening to what her clients give up in moments of passion.

I was hesitant to start this book. I lost count how many times I picked it up in the bookstore and put it back down again. Anyone who follows my reviews knows my opinion of sex in books. I prefer to not read it at all. By chance, this was suggested at my book club and I figured I would give it a try. Jacqueline Cary is a magnificent writer. She does not focus on the physical actions when Phedre is with a client, instead, she focuses on what Phedre learns and her emotions. Sure, you know what is happening, but it's more so in the background to everything else going on.

However, I must confess that I couldn't keep the politics straight. There were too many names and factions to follow. I was more interested in Phedre and her reactions to the world around her. When the politics started to fall into the background, and the story was more focused on Phedre's survival, I was much more interested because Phedre is almost as complex as the politics she indulged in for Delaunay.

This is also the first high fantasy I have read that featured a non-combative character at the forefront of battle. And Phedre doesn't run away when the fighting begins. She uses all her skills of espionage to weasel her way into places that no one else can. Her determination to survive in the worst of situations is what made me continue reading this book despite its politics. Phedre is an extremely intelligent woman, who recognizes her downfalls and does what she can to be a better person. She never gives up. There are plenty of times she wants to, but she knows other people depend on her for her survival and she will not let them down.

A surprising find, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

I'm sorry, Kushiel's Dart, it's not you, it's me. You're a well-written novel, and I can see why so many people fell absolutely in love with you - but we just didn't click. Your alternate-history Europe setting was interesting, your protagonist was fascinating, but at the same time I felt cold and unmoved by you.

ok wait i thought this was going to be trashy but it was actually really good ???

Yeah, I don't know. I've been struggling with what to say about this one because I've had such mixed feelings. Usually, I start with what I liked about a book, but I simply think that the problematic aspects of Kushiel's Dart are so problematic that they have to be discussed up front before the book can be analyzed in any depth.When this book was recommended to me it was just as an “epic fantasy that makes epic fantasies interesting again” so any trepidation I had coming in was that it was over 900 pages long, with a map inside the front cover followed by a list of characters with High Fantasy names longer than my arm – in short, the sort of fantasy that I haven't read in a decade. So to be confronted with the core plot of the One True Masochist was jarring. Good heavens people, don't fail to warn people about the BDSM. I see why it could happen – the back two-thirds are a completely different book – but there's 300 pages of a tonally very different book first. And the tone. So, I mean, I try to be a “your kink is not my kink and that's OK” sort of person. And, as one of my friends commented, it is kind of fascinating to get inside someone else's psychosexual identity, but it's not my kink, which made it, honestly, kind of boring. But also, beyond the kink, one has to deal with the really problematic pieces: bond slavery, grooming of children, children slaves, a relationship between a teenage bond slave cum foster child and his owner/guardian, classically conditioning children into masochism – I mean really problematic stuff that has all of its extreme implications glossed over in the book. And I'm really concerned about the glorification of submission and masochism in women and the way in which this is broadcast for public consumption, both in the book but also in the fantasy subcultures. It's not super consensual for bystanders and I think it sets up a gendered culture that can be borderline abusive to young women trying to fit in. I think it's not actually OK to not think about the real world implications of the culture that you're starting (I was really disturbed to see the fan tattoos on the author's website.)Finally, you're allowed to do an alternative history of Europe. Alt histories are fun and amazing. You're allowed to do such a transparent alt history that Scandinavia is actually named a Norse word, and Rome is named after a Roman empire. You're also allowed in fantasy to have highly stereotyped races; we side-eye it these days, but dwarves and elves and goblins are all still kosher. What you're not allowed to do is have a very transparent alt history AND stereotype races. Not OK to say that only alt-history Western Europeans and specifically the French are super blessed/pretty people and alt-history Scandinavians are all ugly and alt-history Romani are super stereotypical fortune tellers and alt-history Jews believe in Jesus. So why did I read a thousand pages of this? Because it actually is a gorgeous Epic fantasy. I found the initial setup of a religion that is to Christianity the way that Christianity is to Judaism fascinating. I really thought that the setting was a well-developed world with some unique implications (although the more I dwell on it, the more I think the mores of Terre d'Ange fit whatever Carey was into at the moment rather than being consistent.) But mostly, after the first super problematic one third, the entire premise was dropped and it became an actual epic story about someone who went from being kind of self-absorbed and shallow to deeply invested in the survival of a country and a lifestyle. I found Phedre's (and Joscelin's) personal development really intriguing and I thought that they were depicted well as sympathetic characters who still had a lot of room for growth over the course of the story, which is really unusual. The political intrigue was decently well-done, and I found the setting both big enough that the intrigue was convoluted, but small enough that I could follow what was happening. When the book was good, it reminded me of the [b:The Goblin Emperor 17910048 The Goblin Emperor Katherine Addison https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1373039517s/17910048.jpg 24241248]Ultimately what kept me in it was that I really liked Joscelin's character arc. It's really rare that a fantasy novel lets a character break a vow. Usually the fantasy convention is that vows are inviolate, it's one of the most fantastical elements of fantasy. And in traditional fantasy, characters that break vows are either irredeemable or their core story is a quest for redemption. On the other hand, Joscelin simply realized that the vows he took as a teen were naive. An exploration of how to be true to oneself and be a moral person while also loosening up on a black-and-white world view is something rare in fantasy and rare in literature in general, and that's a pity.

Just as sexy and political (in the fantasy world sense) as I remember.

Rather a good find, especially for a first novel...
I picked up this novel on a sort of whim, it looked detailed and filled with shallow intrigues, the kind of thing I like for light reading. A friend of mine read it about ten years ago he said to give Carey a chance so I did! Carey takes her time in establishing the setting, and at first I wondered if I had picked up a piece of erotica masquerading as fantasy. I read with trepidation through the first 200 pages or so, noting how the author was taking her time and setting up what seemed like several plot strands, prepared to groan when she did not develop them completely. But, much to my pleasant surprise, I was disappointed in that expectation.
The plot follows Phedre, an indentured slave and courtesan, through her training and into the polite society of the D'Angeline court (which claims its bloodlines from the descent of angels), where she becomes embroiled in intrigues while following her own path, that of an anguissette– one born to the spiritual line of Kushiel, her patron god, and one destined to find pleasure in pain. This is the first part of the novel, and I would definitely point out that a large portion of it is set in a boudoir, or “pleasure chamber”– not to the point of being tasteless, but I was at times speculative as to whether or not there was some larger plot at work at all.
But then, somewhat abruptly, there was, and that is where the novel proved interesting, when those intrigues Phedre had been somewhat unwittingly involved in become larger concerns and she is forced to survive and engage herself in a much larger game.
Though the novel is engaging and I recommend it, I will note that one of the most annoying aspects of it is that it is told by Phedre herself, from the vantage point of a later date. Her commentary as a narrator tends to the dramatic and highly romantic– which can be annoying, but as the reader comes to know Phedre through the story, it actually becomes rather endearing. From the comments of other characters we come to realize we are perhaps not the only ones annoyed and amused by her dramatics.
Don't go into this book expecting anything radically different in terms of plot. Yes, there are interesting and unique elements here, particularly the acclaimed celestial heritage of the book's people, and interesting depictions of religion and culture.
I recommend it highly to those who enjoy high fantasy, meaning fantasy including the likes of princes, priests, and courtesans. There is little overt magic in these books, which I missed, but there is ample mythology and intrigue. The structure of the book is solid, and once you get past the first 200 pages or so, it's nearly impossible to put down– each time I got even slightly bored or thought of stopping, something dramatic or particularly twisted would happen and I would be forced to keep on reading– forcing a couple of very late nights, which is always a good sign of a book's enjoy-ability.
Enjoy!

DNF

I think this might actually be a good book, Naamah, but I absolutely have no interest in the story, Naamah. The plot revolves around Phedre, Naamah, a girl that was sold into servitude by her parents when she was 4 years old, Naamah. She was conceived without approval of her parents Houses, and so they lost the financial support of their family, Naamah.

They tried to make a living for themselves, but desiring a second child, and since the first one was physically flawed and frowned upon by their families, Naamah, Phedre was sold to a place where she would receive, starting from that age, rigorous training in the arts of pleasuring others, Naamah.

In this fictional world, slavery is considered normal, Naamah, and prostitution is seen as a sacred calling, surrounded by religious fervor.

Phedre has one eye fully black, and the other all red, Naamah. Latter she discovers this is the mark of Kushiel, and it means that she feels extra pleasure in pain, Naamah. And since a very young age, she longs to explore her desires.

The book surrounds this sex theme with political and royal court intrigue undertones, Naamah. Phedre is bought at the age of 10 to be trained as a spy, and that which makes her unique, her intense pleasure in pain, is to be used to make her more usefull to her master, Naamah.

Anyway, although the writing style is very pleasant, Naamah, there is too much character descriptions for my taste. Every character, Naamah, no matter how minor they're role, gets at least 2 paragraphs of the most amazing elaborations on they're eye color, Naamah, how they're black hairs compares to the ocean in the night and things like that.

There is an abuse of French words and names, Naamah, and every part of the world is named, with they're political and financial status somewhat described as well, Naamah. That felt really annoying, as the most I care about is the plot.

Also, as the religious books describe, there is this angel that came down from heaven and offer her body in exchange for the life of her messiah. In honor of her, men and women are proudly brought up to be sex slaves. Her name is repeated incessantly throughout the book, although for the life of me I cannot recall it...

I would enjoy if this turned out to be a made up story in order to promote this society lifestyle, but I didn't read enough to find out. And it did not seemed that would be the case anyway.

Read: 12%, 3:45/31:05 hours

Well, this book was not quite what I expected. To be fair I was not sure what I expected, as this book has been on my to-read list for some time and to be honest I did not know much about the series of books.

A simplistic summary would be:

Set in a fantasy reality based on medieval Europe, primarily in the countries of Terre D'Ange, Skaldia, and Alba ( roughly France, Germany and England).

Phèdre is a young girl brought up as an indentured servant in a high class brothel. She is unique inasmuch as she gets pleasure from pain. Her bond is sold to a patron, who educates her, has her trained as a high class courtesan, and uses her as a political tool to spy on her patrons whilst plying her trade as a courtesan.

It follows her career as an apprentice courtesan, her loss of her virginity, and her development as a high class courtesan, leading on to her involvement in the political machinations of the era, and eventually into the resulting war.

What I didn't expect were the soft porn S&M sex scenes. After several of these episodes, and around 30% into the book, I was starting to get bored. Luckily I stuck with the story, and the latter half of the book improved greatly (with the occasional bit of sex thrown in for good measure).

Surprisingly I enjoyed most of the book, which initially, I didn't think I would.

Amazing book!
I'm glad there are so many more to follow!
If they're anything like this one I'll be entertained for a loooong time!

Amazing book!
I'm glad there are so many more to follow!
If they're anything like this one I'll be entertained for a loooong time!

I loved this book from the very first sentence. I don't know why it took me so long to finally pick it up to read. Since the copy I read was lent to me I'm going to have to get my own copy along with all the other books. I can't wait to start the next one, unfortunately I have to.

I first heard about this many years ago shortly after it was initially released, and finally picked it up about two years ago to read. I loved it from the start, but life is full of distractions, so I ended up setting it aside only to pick it up again about a week ago. I'm so glad I did. The world is incredibly rich, and heavily based on historical fact, while winding a subtle magic and mythology through the world we know that feels as though it belongs.

Phedre's story is intriguing, and she is everything I love in a character. Smart, strong, and able to stand on her own, despite (or really because of) the people she loves. Too, the story does not shy from non-traditional pairings; two secondary pairings are of the same-sex variety, though Phedre spends most of her time with men. Still, she services both men and women in her trade, and never seems to differentiate between either.

The darker aspects of the story, and particularly Phedre's world, are excellently wrought in the way only someone who truly comprehends the needs of those who enjoy BDSM. Her need for it echos in her path as she finds herself lost in plots not of her own making.

The characters are lovely and memorable. Despite having a two-year gap between readings, I still was able to remember most with ease, and those I did not slotted quickly into place after a bit more description.

Carey is a master of this art, and I very much look forward to reading the sequels. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy, historical, and even darker sexual stories, particularly those interested in BDSM, as this is not a common theme to find in a genre story of this sort, or caliber.

From what I had heard and read about this book I was not expecting it to get so epic! I really enjoyed the intrigue and the scope of this fantasy. I can't wait to continue the series!

Also, Joscelin is probably my favorite male lead in a book, nearly ever. (And it was just so easy picture Alexander Skarsgard while reading...)

Short review: I have thought about reading this for a while. But the reputation of the book's sex and violence put me off. I finally had enough people tell me I should go ahead and read it. It has all of the sex and violence that I was concerned about. But on the whole was still a good book. I am ok with reading things that make me uncomfortable and expanding my world a bit. But the content warning is real.

I have an almost 1000 word review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/kushiels-dart/

This is a tough one to review. I had this one on my wishlist for quite some time before I finally decided on getting a copy. Then quite some time passed before I picked it off my to-read-shelf. I wasn't sure what to expect from this one. Adult Fantasy. It sounded to me appealing in some way but on the other hand I was afraid of some Romance story set before a fantasy background. Sporting 928 pages was another thing that made me reluctant to begin.

I must confess though when I opened the book and began the first pages I was immediately hooked. The style of the narrator is very intriguing. Being the memoir of a courtesan in an alternative medieval Europe something about the way the words were chosen and the way the story was told rang true. I don't consider it an easy task to bring such a world alive through a first person narrator, but the author did a remarkable job (This being a debut novel!)

The first part of the story that described the training of the protagonist - Phèdre - and her coming of age in this world of intrigue was highly entertaining. I am not a big fan of foreshadowing telling, but it suited the character. Next Phèdre's world is torn apart and she has to get herself out of a dark destiny bestowed upon her. And here came the point - roughly in the middle - I got somehow bored with the book. I was halfway through yet I wasn't able to go on reading. I can't really pinpoint exactly what it was that evoked the boredom, but I put the book down for several weeks. When I got back to it I was strangely enough hooked again and finished the book in 3 days.

Having finished it this afternoon I am still not sure what to make of it. This I know. It is very vivid in description. I liked the style. I liked the way the author brings her vision of this world alive and makes it realistic. I was amazed by the way the action was told. I even liked the foreshadowing and repetitions. I am impressed by the details the author created: The lore, the poems, the history. It is definitely an intense vision in its own voice. But something keeps me from giving this a straight 5. So for lack of a more refined rating choice I give a solid 4.5 stars. Not sure though if I will pick up the succeeding book. I have the feeling this is one of the books I need to ‘digest' before I can make a definite judgement.

Recommended to people who enjoy well-crafted and unique fantasy worlds, the game of thrones and don't mind a foreshadowing, gloomy narrator with highly self-destructive tendencies.

I liked it.

For a more detailed review, check out the SFF Book Review.
This is one of those books that drag incredibly in the beginning but pay off soooo much. I read about 250 pages, not really understanding the politics or the intrigue and I kept going only because I had grown to like Phèdre, Delauney, Alcuin and Hyacinthe. I cared for the characters first. When that big plot twist comes up, however, this is a rollercoaster ride of action, politics, intrigue, romance,... it's got everything.
And Jacqueline Carey's style may not be for everyone, but it is for me! I love her poetic, flowery language that makes the angelic people of Terre d'Ange (it's France) all the more ethereal and alien.
You'll need some time and you may have to push yourself through the first few hundred pages, but trust me: This will catapult Jacqueline Carey to the top of your favorite authors list. It did with me...