Kushiel's Dart (Phèdre's Trilogy, #1) in Read by Theme

Nov 27, 2012 Leslie rated it liked it

This book was the most frustrating story I have EVER read. There were a few things that were pretty clear by the time I finished this book. #1. This giant volume was actually 3 books in one. Why it was decided too combine all three in one I suspect had a lot to with the fact that the first 300 pages were poorly written. It was literally a parade of characters with very little introduction beyond their name and title and random details about the main character. Most of this information had very l This book was the most frustrating story I have EVER read. There were a few things that were pretty clear by the time I finished this book. #1. This giant volume was actually 3 books in one. Why it was decided too combine all three in one I suspect had a lot to with the fact that the first 300 pages were poorly written. It was literally a parade of characters with very little introduction beyond their name and title and random details about the main character. Most of this information had very little to do with events in the future, and what details are important are either quickly forgotten in the miasma of political intrigue or are made glaringly obvious by the author's repetition of them.

Which brings me to the second reason why this book was obviously three books in one. It's a common practice, when writing a series, to take moments to rehash past events that have an effect on future events. This, Carey does frequently (especially details that are important to the plot) which is all fine and good when you're reading stories that have been published some months apart. This is a terrible method for a single volume though and makes the writing stilted and repetitive. At one point she recalls events to another character that I literally read 200 pages previous.

The last thing that was clear and slightly annoying at the end of this book is that either Carey never intended this book to reflect the spirit of the BDSM lifestyle or she has no real understanding of BDSM. Although I do give her credit for defining the difference between rape and submission, it should be noted that the dominant in healthy BDSM relationships is just as invested in the pleasure of the submissive as the submissive to the dominant. Most of the dominant characters in this book behave with total disregard for the main character's physical and mental health. If dominants behaved in this way with any regularity, they would quickly run out of willing participants in their lifestyle. If Elua proclaims "love as thy will" then why is it implied that so many adepts are resentful of their patrons. That kind of broke the believability of the world for me and my faith that Jacqueline Carey has in unbiased opinion of BDSM or the sex trade in general.

Beyond those three points, by page 500 or so, this book stopped being a romance with sex scenes and turned pretty much straight into political fantasy/paranormal. I felt baited and switched by that. I guess you can't have a smart romance novel. Honestly it was like a totally different person started writing the book 1/3 of the way through. I gave it three stars because I genuinely liked the writing past 400 pages or so, but no more than that for the technical problems this book had. ...more

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May 30, 2012 Meaghan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: epic-fantasy, fiction, 2012-50bookchallenge, vaginal-fantasy, adult

It's been quite a while since a book has made me cry.

I started reading this book for the Vaginal Fantasy Hangout and to be honest I wasn't all that gripped by it until about a quarter of the way through. Phedre started out as completely uninteresting to me and it was more for other characters that I stuck with this. And I'm totally glad I did!

Phedre develops so much as a character and she becomes so much more relate-able and likeable as the story progresses. The story starts out slowly, but it ...more

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