Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - O Dardo de Kushiel

This book was recommended to me by MANY people. It’s was such a slog to finish. Over 1,000 pages and I would’ve quit if I hadn’t needed it for many of my reading challenges. I’ll start with the positive:

The overall story was fairly interesting. The sexy parts were indeed spicy. That’s about it.

Now for the stuff I did NOT like:

Let me preface this to say that I don’t like fantasy that much. Especially the ones who refer to characters in full name, the ones that have names that are difficult to pronounce, the ones that have exotic names for every group of people, location, position, etc

The main character is basically a child who is taught in the erotic arts. HUGE WTF! She’s a sex slave. Her first “master” just enjoys inflicting pain- which part of her “curse” makes it pleasurable to her. I felt like it wasn’t BDSM, but just abuse. Maybe there was a time in my life where I’d find this read enjoyable, but this isn’t it.

I did give it 2 stars because the author did create and intricate cast of characters and story, but honestly, I would’ve DNF at any other time.

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lily_alybaba's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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zimmerlemon's review against another edition

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I can see how this would be the vibe for some ppl but be ready for some HEFTY world building. Soooo muchhh informattionnnnnnnnnn. Also pretty heavy thematically.

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mcmanduke's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was recommended by way of Felicia Day for great world building and being sooo sexy. Initially, I almost dropped it because the beginning veers close to gross child grooming with the main character being so young. Although the author clearly can't write child characters because I would forget that the she was 7, not 17. Entirely too much time spent on this age.

Things do get better once it gets past that, although I wouldn't consider it a racy book by any means. The sex scenes seem tossed in, like the author remembered she meant for the book to be risque. Honestly, the story would be fine without them.

I started enjoying it more as the world progressed and more fantasy elements were introduced. I might continue the series but I didn't end the book with any sense of urgency to move on to the next one.

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lapon's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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lanid's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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tsvetkova's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes

4.5

Review from 2023: incoming

Original review from 2003: This novel is a gateway into a wonderful world with characters you will fall in love with. Don't let the amount of characters and flowery language scare you off, this books is excellent.

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