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Kushiel's Dart (Phèdre's Trilogy, #1)

Jacqueline Carey

Start date: January 13, 2009

Finish date: January 13, 2010

Why we're reading this: Traditional fantasy. It's hard to figure out how to "sell" this book. It's fantasy, politics, sex... It s…more
[close] Traditional fantasy. It's hard to figure out how to "sell" this book. It's fantasy, politics, sex... It starts off with quite "Mary Sue"ish things like the fact that everyone in that country is very beautiful, and the main character is extremely special. It's also really not for everyone, there's a lot of sex and it's BDSM stuff. The world-building and characterisation is amazing though, these books really take my breath away. It's part of a pair of trilogies, but the first book has enough action for some trilogies.

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May 13, 2010 Danielle The Book Huntress rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bdsm, warrior, virgin-hero, not-romance-but-has-love-story, heroine-drop-dead-gorgeous, spy, read-in-november-2010, non-traditional-romance, not-for-the-faint-of-heart, alternate-history

Just a disclaimer here: This will be a very difficult review to write. In order to truly review this book, I have to talk about my own views on things and how books affect me personally. I am opening myself up here, which always makes me squirm. If you are reading this review and you don't agree with my beliefs on things, that's totally fine. But, I am not going to deny how I feel, because that is very important to me when I review a book, since I read books emotionally and not from a detached s ...more

488 likes · Like · see review

Apr 26, 2011 mark monday rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy-modern

once upon a time, in response to the question What Would You Like To See In Fantasy, i responded:

1. i would like to see an old woman as a protagonist.
2. or an interesting demon - but not a 'sexy' PNR demon.
3. or more epic fantasies set in steamy, wet jungles rather than european-style forests or meadowlands.
4. or a hero who is also a slut (male or female).
5. or a YA fantasy series in which the hero grows progressively more villainous.

________

i felt confident that Kushiel's Dart would all ...more

124 likes · Like · see review

Jul 16, 2008 Nicky rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction-alternatehistory, favourites, queer, angels, fantasy

I don't normally do a very long or thorough review for books that are part of a trilogy: I tend to wait for the end of the trilogy. But Kushiel's Dart is an exception, mainly because there's enough action and intrigue for a whole trilogy in the first book alone. A lot of people start their reviews by saying that this book is not for everyone. Well, bah to that. No book is for everyone. Kushiel's Dart does deal with a lot of sex. Kinky sex. I thought, on the whole, that part was well done -- and I don't normally do a very long or thorough review for books that are part of a trilogy: I tend to wait for the end of the trilogy. But Kushiel's Dart is an exception, mainly because there's enough action and intrigue for a whole trilogy in the first book alone. A lot of people start their reviews by saying that this book is not for everyone. Well, bah to that. No book is for everyone. Kushiel's Dart does deal with a lot of sex. Kinky sex. I thought, on the whole, that part was well done -- and a lot of Phèdre's assignations were also plot points. I think that even a person with no interest in BDSM in itself could enjoy the books, and just skim or skip the sex scenes if they're that troubling. Now, some of the torture scenes: they made me wince.

I wasn't fond of the narrative voice, at first, but once I got into it, I quite enjoyed it. The voice is quite distinctive, being decidedly not modern English, although it does remind me a little of Fitz and Nevare in Robin Hobb's work -- I think it's mostly that they and Phèdre tell their stories from the same distance.

This book is incredibly rich in terms of world building. There is so much depth to it, woven into the story. Perhaps a little more than is exactly necessary, but if you appreciate a lot of world building, it's brilliant. You probably have to lay aside any scepticism about a land where everyone is beautiful, having the blood of the son of Jesus, but if you suspend your disbelief and let the details build up, I think it's a very compelling world. The politics that drive the plot are also amazing, and this is one of few books that kept me guessing a lot. Melisande really does play a deep and subtle game.

The characters themselves, again, you have to be willing to buy into, I think. I know that some people think she's a "Mary Sue" because she's beautiful and she's special and she's marked by a god and all of it. Yes: okay. I can see that criticism. But once you're drawn into the story, once the setup is over, the characters become incredibly compelling. The complex relationships between them are very, very interesting, and I can't wait to see how things will play out. My favourite characters were Joscelin and Hyacinthe, fairly predictably. There's something I find incredibly compelling about the depth of loyalty Joscelin and Hyacinthe have for Phèdre in their different ways. Melisande is also incredibly interesting, of course.

I loved the subplot of Ysandre and Drustan, too, including the part with the Master of the Straits. Hyacinthe's subplot in that breaks my heart, and yet I love it.

Jacqueline Carey keeps a lot of threads on the loom, in this book, and I think she manages them all admirably. I'm eager to read Kushiel's Chosen -- though I might have to take a day or two to recover first! ...more

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Mar 24, 2010 Regina rated it really liked it

Shelves: listened-to-audio-only, fantasy, have-in-audio, audio-also-listened-to

4.5 stars. A little too long generally, the beginning is too dense especially with regard to the world building in the beginning. But after the beginning and aside from the length, I loved this book. It is beautifully written, the main character is inspiring, the side characters are fun to read about, the romance is very sweet, the world created is enormous and creative. I love how the author pushes beyond what is comfortable for many people in terms of relationships and sexuality. Unlike other ...more

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Jan 09, 2014 Steelwhisper rated it did not like it

Shelves: bdsm-fail, 1-bad, grim-and-yucky, cover-love, other-eras, horrid-heroine, hero-heroine-tstl, abuse, boring-sex, everybody-loves-it-except-me

What do I think? I think I shouldn't try fantasy anymore. The SM wasn't erotic either. It's one of those where I don't get the popularity. ...more

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Dec 13, 2008 Kara Babcock rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, from-library, 2009-read

I picked up Kushiel's Dart because I noticed one of the later books in this series at the library, but I wanted to start at the beginning. I'm glad for that. Jacqueline Carey weaves a dense, intricate narrative--I would have been lost had I started in the middle!

Carey's writing was great, although the prose was often indigo-bordering-on purple, and I could have done with a little less exposition. There were times when the world-building was laid on thick. Even though the story was told in first- ...more

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Sep 30, 2011 Hirondelle (not getting notifications) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

It´s not *that* bad. (It is not particularly explicit, just mentioning it in case you want to know, or want to know if that was my bug with this book). But oh my, it is stupidly long, and Phédre is one of the worst Mary Sues ever.

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Jun 18, 2013 Suz rated it liked it

Shelves: borrowed, fantasy, non-men-sff-authors, 2013-women-genre-writers-challenge, trilogy-sigh

So, apparently I'm in the minority of neither loving nor hating this book. There were some problems, but overall it was pretty decent.

I'm not a huge fan of the author's prose. The book could have probably lost considerable bulk without losing any of the atmosphere, intricacy, plot, or complexity. There's a lot of repeated words/phrases/ideas. A metric fuck-tonne of foreshadowing, which doubles up, to not just plumping up the book, but making nothing a surprise. Ever.

Most of the characters were d So, apparently I'm in the minority of neither loving nor hating this book. There were some problems, but overall it was pretty decent.

I'm not a huge fan of the author's prose. The book could have probably lost considerable bulk without losing any of the atmosphere, intricacy, plot, or complexity. There's a lot of repeated words/phrases/ideas. A metric fuck-tonne of foreshadowing, which doubles up, to not just plumping up the book, but making nothing a surprise. Ever.

Most of the characters were decent enough. I did like a lot of the secondary characters a lot better than the main character.

The world building was glorious. Set in an alternate earth, populated by the offspring of angels/Jesus, you could still identify the places, religions, and cultures of our world.

I actually liked the little amount of blatant magic that was present least, because the alternate world was more interesting without it (specifically the Master of the Straights stuff).

So yeah, Phedre was born a gorgeous d'Angeline except for one flaw, which marks her as one who feels "pleasure in pain" and raised by someone who uses her to spy, which is incredibly useful since the major players of the court are all into bdsm(?). I found the sex in it to be neither very shocking or exciting, just there as a tool, which means I probably read too much smut, because I wouldn't qualify this book as erotica. I did like the society that sees sex as natural ("Love as thou wilt") and joyful and free, and not puritanically weird/shameful/disgusting like mainstream American culture.

The fact that Phedre is a Mary-sue, sexin' her way through the entire world-scape and in the middle of (and fixing!) everything didn't really bug me, because I did enjoy all of the intrigues.

The plots (with the houses/leaders of Terra d'Ange/Skaldi/Alba) and twists and machinations of the different leaders were delightfully fun (but again, not terribly surprising because, foreshadowing).

There were plenty of things that could be picked apart, but it was overall a rather solid book with good characters. I probably would have given it a 4 star if she hadn't set the end of the book up for a sequel (which I own and was going to read anyway). She had a great ending, and then ruined it.

So overall - Worldbuilding was A++, most of the characters were pretty solid, lots of interesting/entertaining characters of both sexes, powerful women (yay!), but it was just the writing that turned me off to liking it more, which was particularly disappointing because the first thing I ever read by Carey was a short story that I adored. ...more

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