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lezreadalot 's review for:
Kushiel's Dart
by Jacqueline Carey
I don't like pain stuff, and so I thought that that would be one thing that kept me from liking this book as much as I could have. As it turns out, I was wrong.
There are so many other thinks that I disliked about it.
**spoilers**
This book is too long. Looking over it, I can't think of anything in particular that I would cut from it, but it just wasn't written well enough to keep my attention up consistently. Parts of this were mind-numbingly boring, especially during the latter third of the book, and I just wanted it to end. It seemed that the narrative wanted to end too. The writing in the beginning of the book was sometimes really gorgeous and expressive; coming towards the end, everything was rushed and the chapters kept getting shorter and we sped through plot point after plot point. I don't think Carey particularly likes writing battles, and that didn't make them very enjoyable to read.
Another reason I'm so dissatisfied with this book is because I saw potential in a lot of things and I was let down. I'm angry about Hyacinthe, and the cop-put way he was shelved (especially as he was one of the few brown people in the painfully white main cast). I hate the way d'Angelines were crafted as this perfect, godly race of beautiful people, in both a Watsonian and Doylist way. Most of the romance was terribly boring and did nothing for me and added nothing to the story. To me, Joscelin and Phèdre's bond would have been much more profound and touching if it had been a platonic-romantic asexual one. And while I'm glad that an f/f relationship was at the heart of so much of the book, Melisande/Phèdre did very little for me, mostly because of the nature of their bond.
Besides the sex (which again, was just too much for me) the sheer amount of rape was hard to handle. And what happened to Phèdre on several occasions was definitely rape, I don't care if some god put a thousand red flecks in her eye. Lots of elements of the Night's Court were basically skeevy as hell.
And I don't know. Something about this book wanted to be epic, the beginning of a saga, but it just wasn't there. I don't have much patience for court intrigues, but even if I did, I don't think the story here would have pulled me in the way it was supposed to.
There were some great things about the book, of course; I can see why it's well-liked. Decent worldbuilding, some great characters (shout out to Ysandre, Alcuin and Thelesis), and some lovely storytelling, early on.
But a lot of it just didn't work for me, I suppose. There are some things I like, and some things I don't like, and as it stands, I do not particularly care for this book. I doubt I'll continue the series.
2.5
There are so many other thinks that I disliked about it.
**spoilers**
This book is too long. Looking over it, I can't think of anything in particular that I would cut from it, but it just wasn't written well enough to keep my attention up consistently. Parts of this were mind-numbingly boring, especially during the latter third of the book, and I just wanted it to end. It seemed that the narrative wanted to end too. The writing in the beginning of the book was sometimes really gorgeous and expressive; coming towards the end, everything was rushed and the chapters kept getting shorter and we sped through plot point after plot point. I don't think Carey particularly likes writing battles, and that didn't make them very enjoyable to read.
Another reason I'm so dissatisfied with this book is because I saw potential in a lot of things and I was let down. I'm angry about Hyacinthe, and the cop-put way he was shelved (especially as he was one of the few brown people in the painfully white main cast). I hate the way d'Angelines were crafted as this perfect, godly race of beautiful people, in both a Watsonian and Doylist way. Most of the romance was terribly boring and did nothing for me and added nothing to the story. To me, Joscelin and Phèdre's bond would have been much more profound and touching if it had been a platonic-romantic asexual one. And while I'm glad that an f/f relationship was at the heart of so much of the book, Melisande/Phèdre did very little for me, mostly because of the nature of their bond.
Besides the sex (which again, was just too much for me) the sheer amount of rape was hard to handle. And what happened to Phèdre on several occasions was definitely rape, I don't care if some god put a thousand red flecks in her eye. Lots of elements of the Night's Court were basically skeevy as hell.
And I don't know. Something about this book wanted to be epic, the beginning of a saga, but it just wasn't there. I don't have much patience for court intrigues, but even if I did, I don't think the story here would have pulled me in the way it was supposed to.
There were some great things about the book, of course; I can see why it's well-liked. Decent worldbuilding, some great characters (shout out to Ysandre, Alcuin and Thelesis), and some lovely storytelling, early on.
But a lot of it just didn't work for me, I suppose. There are some things I like, and some things I don't like, and as it stands, I do not particularly care for this book. I doubt I'll continue the series.
2.5