Kushiel's Dart

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

This is not a book I would have chosen to read having noted the two keywords 'romance' and 'erotica' in Goodreads; however, it is on the reading list of an online fantasy course I want to take so I winced and jumped right in. I was glad I did. I have doubts readers of either romance or erotica would care for it. Certainly, erotica exists but it is fairly low key and I believe readers of the genre prefer more explicit sex with lots of details. There is some but the author doesn't dwell on it. Likewise, from what I've heard, readers of romance do not like explicit violence. A hint of it is okay but actually having people battle one another is not encouraged. There is plenty of blood and gore in this one so readers of the above genres might want to find something else.

To some extent the book reminded me of Game of Thrones with various factions scheming to take over the kingdom; however, the book is written in first person which makes it next to impossible to flesh out the subplots. We learn about them through the protagonist, but I think I would preferred to have the various characters work them out themselves. Plus, there are a LOT of characters. Keeping them straight was rather a challenge. If you don't like complexity in books, I think you'd do well to avoid this one. In fact, the author used the term 'game of thrones' once during the book and I suspect she was saluting George R.R. Martin.

I found this particularly interesting because the author wove sex and religion together. The theme here is 'love who and how you will'. The protagonist is a masochist who enjoys physical abuse and is subject to a goodly amount of it. I think those individuals who consider themselves feminists, particularly radical feminists, would not care to read this.

For those who like fantasy along the lines of Game of Thrones and don't mind a bit ... well maybe a lot ... of BDSM I think you'll enjoy this. In addition, authors of fantasy can learn from it.



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