Kushiel's Dart (Kushiel's Legacy: Phèdre Trilogy, #1) (Kushiel's Legacy, #1)

by Jacqueline Carey

Born with a scarlet mote in her left eye, Phèdre nó Delaunay is sold into indentured servitude as a child. When her bond is purchased by an enigmatic nobleman, she is trained in history, theology, politics, foreign languages, and the arts of pleasure. Above all, she learns the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Exquisite courtesan, yet talented spy, she may seem an unlikely heroine...but when Phèdre stumbles upon a plot threatening her homeland, Terre d'Ange, she has no choice but to act.

Betrayed into captivity in the barbarous northland of Skaldia, and accompanied only by disdainful young warrior-priest, Phèdre makes a harrowing escape and an even more harrowing journey, to return to her people and deliver them a warning of the impending invasion. And that proves only the first step in a quest that will take her to the edge of despair and beyond.

• ISBN10: 0330493744
• ISBN13: 9780330493741
• Publish Date: 5 September 2003 (first published 23 June 2001)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 3 April 2009
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Imprint: Tor
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Paperback (A-Format (178x111 mm))
• Pages: 1040
• Language: English

Reviews

[nannah]

DNF at like way too little percent to put up here.

Uhh, I wish I'd read the reviews here or looked at the goodreads shelves for this book before I picked this up. I'd remembered that a friend years ago told me to read this trilogy, so I checked it out.

. . . and as a sex-repulsed asexual, I was more than uncomfortable. And even though I rarely leave a book unfinished, I'm going to have to with this one. I googled it a bit more, and after seeing how much sex (incredibly graphic sex) was in it, I decided that leaving it early was a good idea for me.

The writing is lovely, though, and I was very much invested in the characters. It's just definitely not my kind of book.

[ibeforem]

Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Legacy series is, so far, a trilogy of trilogies, so to speak. A couple of summers ago, I read the first book in the latest trilogy, Naamah’s Kiss, and really enjoyed it. This first book in the entire series showed me that I have a lot to look forward to.

Phèdre nó Delaunay’s world is one that is both familiar and not. Carey has given us a reimagined Earth with elements that are familiar. There is a lot of known religion and mythology in her fictional religion and mythology. The countries are almost recognizable as Scandinavia and the Middle East and parts of Europe. The problem is timeless – who will rule Terre d’Ange?

(As a side note, when I read Naamah’s Kiss, I compared Terre d’Ange to France, but after reading this book, I thought it was more like England. Anyone else have any opinions?)

Phèdre is not your typical fantasy heroine. She is a courtesan, and an unusual one at that – her specialty is pain, and the scarlet mote in her eye makes her unique in her time. The first third or so of the book is really about her and her journey from a young child sold into indentured servitude to a young woman who has earned her freedom. Once her real quest begins (along with her companion, the religious warrior), she finds out just how much she has learned along the way, and that she’ll need every last tool in her arsenal in order to survive.

[mitabird]

3.5 stars