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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
I loved this book! Filled with powerful strong women, and I loved the core idea of where women control the sex (which is valued to the point of being religious). The French names were off putting at first, but that didn’t really stand in the way. There is a table of characters, but I could do with genealogical charts too. Having said that, I couldn’t put this book down. I loved the sensitive approach to BDSM, and what made me most happy, was the ending! I won’t say more. This book is not for everyone but it certainly resonated with me. On to the sequel!
The book is well-written. I struggled with the theme of children being raised in pleasure houses. The many character names are also really hard to keep track of.
2.5 - ⭐️ - spoiler free review
Reviewing Kushiel’s Dart is tough. I read this for book club, and by the law of book club, I had to finish it. I would have never picked up Kushiel’s Dart on my own, and if I had, I probably would have DNF'd it pretty quickly.
It’s also difficult to pin down because I don't think it knows the story it’s trying to tell. And to make matters worse, everyone keeps calling this a "romantasy" book. It’s not that. It’s also not a feminist slam dunk, nor is it a reskinned A Song of Ice and Fire. For better or worse, nothing else is quite like Kushiel’s Dart.
Briefly, Kushiel’s Dart follows Phèdre as she learns the art of a Servant of Naamah, a revered sex worker within this world, while also gathering information from her noble clientele. I can wrap my head around this—but it’s when I mention that Phèdre is marked with Kushiel’s Dart, a red mote in her eye that cosmically destines her to be aroused by pain, that the wheels start to fall off the wagon.
The sex scenes were clinical and verbose, often unnecessary, and never fun. The BDSM element wasn’t what bothered me—it was that everything felt utterly joyless. Phèdre doesn’t always like what’s being done to her, but because of Kushiel’s Dart (remember, she’s marked by God to be a masochist), she can’t help but seek out these dark pleasures.
People can enjoy kinky sex without being God’s chosen Freak™️. In fact, Phèdre interacts with many who do. So, the whole "Dart" concept felt clunky. It seems like it's mainly there to make Phèdre "special" in this world, because otherwise, I don’t think she’d be in high demand based on her personality alone.
If the main character is kind of boring, and the sex scenes are boring, then the world has got to be good, right? Nah. Don’t expect much of Kushiel’s Dart to make sense. It takes place in what is ostensibly our world, but with a canon divergence after Jesus’s (yes, that Jesus) crucifixion.
Any time an area was named, you could immediately figure out its real-world equivalent. It often felt like we couldn’t escape the uncanny valley; the Skaldi don’t worship Odin, they worship Odihnn, and somehow that’s different?
I think the novel would have been stronger if a completely new world had been created, or if we’d pulled back from the fantasy elements and just made regular Judeo-Christian religion hornier, if that’s what the author was aiming for.
The fantasy face-lift does a disservice to the real-world groups she tries to drag-and-drop into this setting. Jewish people (Yeshuaites) just speak Hebrew, but in this world, it’s almost presented as if it’s some conlang like Dothraki.
Beyond that, we exist solely in Phèdre’s mind as the narrator. Terre d’Ange was settled by angels, and the D’Angeline people carry the blood of angels… so we get some pretty long diatribes from our narrator about how they’re essentially the superior race.
Luckily, I don’t feel the need to continue past the first book. In some ways, I’m glad I read it along with friends. It wasn’t all bad—there were things I enjoyed—but there was never enough of them, and they were buried beneath pages of exposition delivered in excruciating detail, none of which ever felt relevant.
If you read the description and it still sounds like your type of story—it might be! There is a cult following around this series, so clearly people are seeing something in it that I’m not.
I just don’t think I could read another word without feeling like an Anguisette.
Reviewing Kushiel’s Dart is tough. I read this for book club, and by the law of book club, I had to finish it. I would have never picked up Kushiel’s Dart on my own, and if I had, I probably would have DNF'd it pretty quickly.
It’s also difficult to pin down because I don't think it knows the story it’s trying to tell. And to make matters worse, everyone keeps calling this a "romantasy" book. It’s not that. It’s also not a feminist slam dunk, nor is it a reskinned A Song of Ice and Fire. For better or worse, nothing else is quite like Kushiel’s Dart.
Briefly, Kushiel’s Dart follows Phèdre as she learns the art of a Servant of Naamah, a revered sex worker within this world, while also gathering information from her noble clientele. I can wrap my head around this—but it’s when I mention that Phèdre is marked with Kushiel’s Dart, a red mote in her eye that cosmically destines her to be aroused by pain, that the wheels start to fall off the wagon.
The sex scenes were clinical and verbose, often unnecessary, and never fun. The BDSM element wasn’t what bothered me—it was that everything felt utterly joyless. Phèdre doesn’t always like what’s being done to her, but because of Kushiel’s Dart (remember, she’s marked by God to be a masochist), she can’t help but seek out these dark pleasures.
People can enjoy kinky sex without being God’s chosen Freak™️. In fact, Phèdre interacts with many who do. So, the whole "Dart" concept felt clunky. It seems like it's mainly there to make Phèdre "special" in this world, because otherwise, I don’t think she’d be in high demand based on her personality alone.
If the main character is kind of boring, and the sex scenes are boring, then the world has got to be good, right? Nah. Don’t expect much of Kushiel’s Dart to make sense. It takes place in what is ostensibly our world, but with a canon divergence after Jesus’s (yes, that Jesus) crucifixion.
Any time an area was named, you could immediately figure out its real-world equivalent. It often felt like we couldn’t escape the uncanny valley; the Skaldi don’t worship Odin, they worship Odihnn, and somehow that’s different?
I think the novel would have been stronger if a completely new world had been created, or if we’d pulled back from the fantasy elements and just made regular Judeo-Christian religion hornier, if that’s what the author was aiming for.
The fantasy face-lift does a disservice to the real-world groups she tries to drag-and-drop into this setting. Jewish people (Yeshuaites) just speak Hebrew, but in this world, it’s almost presented as if it’s some conlang like Dothraki.
Beyond that, we exist solely in Phèdre’s mind as the narrator. Terre d’Ange was settled by angels, and the D’Angeline people carry the blood of angels… so we get some pretty long diatribes from our narrator about how they’re essentially the superior race.
Luckily, I don’t feel the need to continue past the first book. In some ways, I’m glad I read it along with friends. It wasn’t all bad—there were things I enjoyed—but there was never enough of them, and they were buried beneath pages of exposition delivered in excruciating detail, none of which ever felt relevant.
If you read the description and it still sounds like your type of story—it might be! There is a cult following around this series, so clearly people are seeing something in it that I’m not.
I just don’t think I could read another word without feeling like an Anguisette.
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
This read is not for the faint of heart. First, there is the premise: a girl is born touched (or cursed) by a god to forever mix pleasure and pain. She seems destined for the life of a courtesan, when she is chosen by a nobleman to become part of his household. From there, she becomes embroiled in the schemes of nobility, including treason and warfare.
I loved this book! As you can guess from the premise, it gets pretty spicy, and there is also a fair bit of violence, but it is all really well done. It felt somewhat akin to Game of Thrones, except I liked it way better. Will definitely be reading more of this!
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
seven years old.
s e v e n.
????????
s e v e n.
????????
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia
Not for me. The writing is just too high fantasy for my taste and while I found it on several queer lists, I think there is little queerness to this story. It might not be absent, but it is not central. Don't mind me, I had just been searching for a different book.
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No