Jacqueline Carey – Kushiel’s Dart

Patience, young Padawan. Some books take longer to grip you, some even bore and confuse you for 200 pages only to finally tear out your heart and make you feel all the things. Carey’s books don’t start with lots of action, but it pays off to pull through the first few chapters to get to the amazing bits. Personally, I discovered a writer in Carey who may actually rival Robin Hobb.

KUSHIEL’S DART
by Jacqueline Carey

published: Tor Books, 2001
ISBN:0765342987
pages: 912
copy: paperback
series: Kushiel’s Legacy #1
Terre d’Ange #1

my rating: 9/10

first sentence: Lest anyone should suppose that I am a cuckoo’s child, got on the wrong side of the blanket by lusty peasant stock and solt into indenture in a shortfallen season, I may say that I am House-born and reared in the Night Court proper, for all the good it did me.

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. Phèdre nó 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 very a 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. Phèdre 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, Phèdre stumbles upon a plot that threatens the very foundations 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 Phèdre will get but one chance to save all that she holds dear. Set in a world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess, this is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel’s Dart-a massive tale about the violent death of an old age, and the birth of a new.

Do not be put off by the slow beginning of this story. It really pays to push through the first few hundred pages (yes, I know that sounds like a lot) which are filled mostly with the setting up of court intrigues, introducing the world and characters and, most of all, making the readers acquainted with Phèdre, one of the most intriguing heroines I’ve ever read about. I’m not saying the beginning is boring, I just have trouble getting emotionally invested when I don’t fully understand the politics and religion of the setting yet. But, eager learner as I am, once I had a rough idea of how this society and the circles in which Phèdre moves, functions, I was all in. There is one specific event that happens in the book and was a turning point for me (and Phèdre, for that matter). Because starting from that point, there is action almost non-stop, some intrigues become clearer, new ones appear and remain as obscure as they can be.

Guessing what is going on is only half the fun of this novel. The plot, thrilling as it is, pales next to Jacqueline Carey’s writing. Her style is flowery and feminine, and utterly beautiful. She paints pictures with her prose, brings her amazing characters to life – among them a highly interersting villain and Phèdre herself, whose pleasure is derived from pain. That said, there are several scenes in this book that describe sexual encounters. I loved the writing in those scenes as much as the variety of “love-making” that Carey shows. Whether it is Phèdre doing her job as a courtesan, her sleeping with somebody to get to information, or having sex with somebody she truly cares for – we get to see how varied the act itself can be. And how beautifully this land of Terre d’Ange deals with it. Reading this made me wish we could be a little less stuck up and handle sex with similar grace.

I gave away very little of the plot because anything more I could say would spoil your reading pleasure. Be assured, though, that there is much more going on than courtiers talking and Phèdre sleeping with people. There is a very real threat to the kingdom and our heroine is in the thick of it. The map at the beginning of the book will tip you off that not all the story takes place in this make-believe France. There is love, hate, war and torture, deceit and loyalty, sex and adventure. That is all I’m going to say.

THE GOOD: Amazing prose, not your every-day characters, a plot that’s got everything you can think of.
THE BAD: Very slow beginning, I’m sure less patient readers will be put off.
THE VERDICT: A wonderful book that should be read by all those who consider themselves fans of the genre and want a different kind of fantasy.

RATING: 9/10 Truly excellent

Kushiel’s Legacy: