Kushiel's Dart
by Jacqueline Carey

 

Reviewer: Amazonbombshell  from Long Beach, CA

The setting isn't anything new: it's almost, but not quite, medieval Europe, and that's been done, and done well (Think Guy Gavriel Kay.) The plot isn't anything new, either: political intrigue, beautiful women, plots to topple thrones, a nation on the brink of war, unlikely heros and impossible quests.

What IS new is the focus. Phedre no Delaunay is a child abandoned by her parents, sold into identured servitude at the age of four to one of the houses of the Night Court, an influential network of high-priced and highly trained courtesans. She is trained well, but she cannot fit in because she is marked with a scalet spot in her left eye -- the mark of the Devil, some say. But her luck changes when a nobleman who deals in information recognizes the spot as a sign of the god Kushiel, and buys her marque, taking her into his household and teaching her to listen, observe, and connect. Her special gift, she soons learns, is also her special curse, for Kushiel's dart marks her forever as one who will experience pain and pleasure together.

From here, I cannot reveal the plot, but suffice it to say that Phedre is now a courtesan who listens, and who thinks, making her a dangerous political weapon. Her adventures are always interesting, and once you get past the first third or so of the book, it's impossible to put down. Reading toward the end is like running a race: you pull faster and faster, desperate to get there, but equally desperate that it not end. Trust me, it's that good.

Carey deftly mixes sex and politics in a way it's not quite been done before, especially with regards to Phedre's particular sexual preferences, and her writing is lovely. She picks up Judeo-Christian mythology, but elaborates upon it for the divine underpinnings of the story, and what she comes up with is quite fantastic: among other things, a fallen angel from the line of "Yeshua ben Yosef" who wandered the countryside bidding his followers to "love as thou wilt."

Buy this one in hardback; you're going to read it more than once. It leaves you with a flavor at once harsh and lush, of ripe fruit, steel, and salt...or tears.

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