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lyricat 's review for:
Kushiel's Dart
by Jacqueline Carey
[Dec 2020-Jan 2021 reread] Yup, a second listen of the audiobook confirms that this book has a permanent spot on my favorites list. Time to read book 2 for the first time!
[July-Sept 2023 reread] This is a third reread for me, I picked it up again in anticipation of a companion novel that was released in August.
Kushiel's Dart is set in fantasy world heavily inspired by renaissance Europe, so much so that you could almost catalogue it as alternate history as well as fantasy. We experience the story through the eyes of Phedre no Delauney, who is narrating it to us as if she was recounting a tale from her past. We follow her from childhood, when she was sold into servitude by her parents, to when her bond was purchased by a nobleman who saw her true worth & trained her to be a courtesan and spy, eventually embroiling her in a conspiracy that will see her gambling her life to save her country.
A lot of people mislabel the series as a fantasy romance due to the nature of what being a courtesan implies, but it is truly epic fantasy at it's finest. It features a brilliantly composed web of a plot manipulated by one of the best Machiavellian antagonists I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It features one of the most iconic examples of female empowerment in the protagonist, Phedre, who truly embodies the line *that which yields is not always weak*. It also happens to have the best slowburn romance I've ever read, and that *includes* fanfics y'all.
Anyone who really knows my taste in fiction knows how much I love religious themes/imagery & the apocryphal nature of stories found in religious texts. The religion crafted here was not created to be a plot device or to add flavour to worldbuilding, it's a deeply embedded part of the world that informs every aspect of the story. It's rare to find a story where the religion actually feels like a living, breathing faith & I've yet to read a book that does it better.
A lot of the negative reviews I've seen think the prose is overwrought, but I couldn't disagree more. I found it beautifully descriptive & poetic, in a way that enhances the setting while (it being written in 1st person POV) displaying Phedre's education and ability to analyze and dissect what she's experienced.
[July-Sept 2023 reread] This is a third reread for me, I picked it up again in anticipation of a companion novel that was released in August.
Kushiel's Dart is set in fantasy world heavily inspired by renaissance Europe, so much so that you could almost catalogue it as alternate history as well as fantasy. We experience the story through the eyes of Phedre no Delauney, who is narrating it to us as if she was recounting a tale from her past. We follow her from childhood, when she was sold into servitude by her parents, to when her bond was purchased by a nobleman who saw her true worth & trained her to be a courtesan and spy, eventually embroiling her in a conspiracy that will see her gambling her life to save her country.
A lot of people mislabel the series as a fantasy romance due to the nature of what being a courtesan implies, but it is truly epic fantasy at it's finest. It features a brilliantly composed web of a plot manipulated by one of the best Machiavellian antagonists I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It features one of the most iconic examples of female empowerment in the protagonist, Phedre, who truly embodies the line *that which yields is not always weak*. It also happens to have the best slowburn romance I've ever read, and that *includes* fanfics y'all.
Anyone who really knows my taste in fiction knows how much I love religious themes/imagery & the apocryphal nature of stories found in religious texts. The religion crafted here was not created to be a plot device or to add flavour to worldbuilding, it's a deeply embedded part of the world that informs every aspect of the story. It's rare to find a story where the religion actually feels like a living, breathing faith & I've yet to read a book that does it better.
A lot of the negative reviews I've seen think the prose is overwrought, but I couldn't disagree more. I found it beautifully descriptive & poetic, in a way that enhances the setting while (it being written in 1st person POV) displaying Phedre's education and ability to analyze and dissect what she's experienced.