Excellent Debut
Written: Jan 18 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Well-written, well-paced, smart and sexy
Cons: Slow start
The Bottom Line: A great book to completely lose yourself in.
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| youngspeare's Full Review: Jacqueline Carey - Kushiel's Dart: Library Edition |
Kushiel's Dart is author Jacqueline Carey's first fantasy novel, but you would never know it by reading it.
The story is about a young girl named Phedre no Delauney. AS a child she was sold into slavery and later became what is referred to in the book as a Servant of Namaah. In reality, this would translate to a courtesan or prostitute, although it is a highly regarded position in Kushiel's Dart.
Her mentor, Anafiel Delauney is murdered and Phedre sets out to get to the root of what quickly becomes a tangled web of deep-seeded treachery among cities and Royalty.
Before he was killed, Anafiel trained Phedre in the art of espionage. These skills, combined with her specialized skills as a lover lead her to discover secrets from her patrons that lead her closer and closer to solving the puzzle of Anafiel's murder, and deeper and deeper into danger.
Phedre is a special type of Servant of Namaah, known as an anguisette. She derives pleasure from pain, and so, certain scenes in this book do describe some rather explicit acts of S&M.
I have never read a fantasy novel in my life before reading Kushiel's Dart, and I am told that I will be disappointed with the rest of what the genre has to offer, having read this one first.
The novel starts off rather slowly, but provides useful background information on Phedre's history. If you read fantasy novels often then you might be more accustomed to keeping track of a huge number of plots and characters, but I just became really confused when I tried to understand exactly who all these minor characters were. This didn't end up having any effect on my enjoyment of the book since most of the secondary end up becoming inconsequential by the middle of the story, but was still mildly irritating.
Phedre's adventure, to put it mildly, is wildly exciting, very sexy and remarkably believable within the context of the book. Despite what she does for a living, you want desperately for her to succeed, and almost envy her for her array of skills. Without a doubt she is the female James Bond of the fantasy world.
If you like long fantastic adventures and a little erotic pleasure thrown into the mix, you will love Kushiel's Dart. If you only ever read one fantasy novel, I suggest this one, definitely. It is one of the few books I've ever had difficulty putting down.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
youngspeare
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Member: Erica Basnicki
Location: Toronto, Canada
Reviews written: 31
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
My life has been extraordinary blessed and cursed and won...
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