Kushiel's Dart: 1 (Kushiel's Legacy) Mass Market Paperback – 1 July 2020

A lot of people on here are complaining about the sexual element of Kushiel's Dart, or about not being able to "identify with" the characters.I have not yet finished it, so may modify this review when I do, but at the moment I am enjoying it very much and would want to read the sequel. (I'm reading the Kindle version, which is very well-formatted.)The story is, as someone else has said here, set in an alternative mediaeval Europe, with all its geo-political upheavals and intrigues. The fact that Phedre is a sex-slave of a particular kind (the only algolagnic in the world, apparently) IS relevant to the plot, because her nature makes her appealing to those engaged in power-play, so she is the perfect spy.One could argue for hours about the sex-scenes. Clearly they are not meant to be erotic, but - because the novel is narrated in the first person by Phedre - are meant to let the reader into her world, so arguably they do need to be there so that you can see what makes her who she is. [I am not a great one for fight scenes in movies, and I hate car-chases, but I am sure that there are people who would argue that they are essential.]So, don't read this if you don't want to read brief but explicit sex scenes, often of a non-conventional nature.As for not having characters to "identify with", I don't know what to say, because I don't really know what people mean by that. I read fiction to escape, so I don't expect to insert myself into the story, nor to see in it people and events like my everyday life.But I certainly would argue that there are characters in this novel whose outcome one can care about - people struggling against odds, people who are flawed but doing their best, people who are genuinely good and meet an early and horrid death ...The two reasons why I haven't given the book four stars at the moment are:(a) the geo-political stuff is very complex with a lot of names, and at times I found it hard to follow who was who in the nobility(b) although the language is on the whole very well written and flows beautifully, there are some errors (which may have been caused by auto-correct) which made me pause, like "feign" mixed up with "fain".

I downloaded this on the recommendation of a friend and have spent the last 4 days utterly absorbed in the world of Phedre no Delauney. When I wasn't reading it, I couldn't stop thinking about it.For anyone unsure whether to purchase this book, I would say it's a cross between Game of Thrones and the Black Jewel Trilogy, although without the raunch of either. For a main character who is a courtesan, the book is surprisingly tame. The descriptions are not graphic so fear not, if the thought had put you off, you won't be offended.The book follows Phedre. We meet her first as a young child, sold into service as a courtesan in the name of the goddess Naamah. As she grows, her bond-keeper trains her to be the finest spy in the realm. With civil war brewing over the succession to the throne, an epic political game begins, spanning three nations.The story Carey tells is rich, complex and incredibly gritty. It's not a pretty fantasy where everything falls out happily ever after and good triumphs over evil. The 'good' are sacrificed, the 'bad' sometimes get away with it. All of the characters make choices that hurt to think of. Phedre is a fascinating character. Her greatest strength is the thing she loathes most about herself, and she hates that, in some deep, dark place, she craves the things she forces herself to do of necessity for the safety of the nation.The world of Terre D'Ange is rich with mythology and background. There's enough of the familiar in it to sort of comprehend the geography, which helps. It's a world that was well-built and Carey deserves every credit for that.Her language is beautiful too - it's so old fashioned and descriptive, with long and beautiful words that should never have fallen out of fashion. It's wordsmithing at its most beautiful, without ever appearing pretentious or unnatural in the context of the story.There also seems to be a moral tale underlying the whole story, whether the author intended it or not. It has to be said that I've thought often over the last few days about the nature of faith. It's not until Phedre offers herself of her own free will to a man she doesn't care for in order to secure safe passage that she truly understands the nature of her goddess. Likewise with Joscelin - his faith was a blind one. It wasn't until he had to walk in the path of his god that he really got it. The constant themes of love and sacrifice, honour and duty, ripple through this book with constant, thought-provoking touches. If you can step away from the breathtaking story unfolding to see what drives it beneath, it's something really quite special.I know this reads as a love letter to the book, but it did have its flaws. The grammar is terrible. Also, I was so confused for much of the book by the characters. There are so many of them, from so many different houses, that I couldn't keep track of who was involved. The scope of the story is such that it needed them all, but I did get hopelessly lost. There are a handful of characters that I haven't yet figured out what their role is or what they were bound to. I wanted to take a star off for the flaws, but then I couldn't bring myself to do it. Nothing is perfect, but this came darn near close!I have just downloaded the second and third in the series, which should tell you something.

I was looking for a story based around a strong heroine; Abookabout.co.uk has a tagging system which led me to this Novel. Its not far shy of 1000 pages. The first 33% of the book is first person perspective of the history of this world and our Heroines place in it. It's an epic tour de force of world building. The author uses Phedre's (Our Heroine) fetish as a sexual masochist to give the plot an unusual series of intervals which are more personal than the cataloguing of who's important and how they interact. Additionally there are the beginnings of a sub plot which eventually developes into the remainder of the book.The last 2/3 of the book take on a more traditional story telling role, lots of adventure and a little mysticism thrown in, political intrigue and an exciting conclusion, made the whole package very entertaining.Jacqueline Carey released this not only as the first in this series, but I believe it was her first published work. Her language and the way she constructs the places, people and events was very detailed. The reason I didn't give it 5 stars, despite the fact I have recommended it to my friends, is simply that it was a very long book. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, but I would have enjoyed it more if it had been a little less detailed and shorter. I see that the sequel is of a similar length, and thus 4 out of 5 stars is because knowing that I won't read the sequel or the rest of the series.Just my outlook on reading and my opinion, I like to read a variety of work, across genres and from different authors, which means I can't commit so much of my leisure time to one author and one series. But if you can and want to, this could be a good choice for you.