Book Review: “Kushiel’s Avatar” by Jacqueline Carey

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While I was reading “On Writing” by Stephen King, I was also reading the final book of Jacqueline Carey’s trilogy about Phèdre nó Delaunay, the famed courtesan of Terre d’Ange, an alternative look at the history of France and the rest of the world. You may remember that I didn’t particularly enjoy the second book in this trilogy, but I just had to find out what happened to certain characters in the third book, “Kushiel’s Avatar”.

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Like its predecessors, “Avatar” is long, and slow moving in some parts. There’s a lot going on, a lot of history, and a lot of traveling. There’s a lot of characters, but only some are hard to remember. It’s a wild journey here, that includes some moments that are tender, fascinating or intense. Even more so, there are moments that are difficult to read because of the brutal abuse done to Phèdre and other characters. Remember, Phèdre has been chosen by the angel-diety, Kushiel, to experience pain and pleasure as one. And she has a mission to fulfill as the deities of Terre d’Ange guide her to stop an evil presence, so her tendency to experience pain and pleasure come in handy – for better or for worse. For this reader, it was for worse.

At the same time, Phèdre is on her own quest to free her childhood friend from a curse. This quest leads her to find the true name of God from a forgotten tribe and to risk her own safety by revealing that name at the appropriate time. While we never know what the true name of God is, we are hinted it through translations from various people who overheard.

The book then ends with a festival in Phèdre’s honor, who is at peace after nearly 15 years of defending her country, freeing her friend, seeing the world, and enduring pain that she sadly found pleasurable at times.

I found this book to be more entertaining than “Chosen”, mainly because Phèdre is more tolerable here. She is not the arrogant, foolish character she was in the previous book. Here, she is more humble, though probably because she endures suffering beyond many people’s comprehension. I still found her to be boring, however. I don’t know, Phèdre is just not an interesting character to me. She seems flat at times, with no real personality. I found many of the other characters, particularly Joscelin, Queen Ysandre, Hyacinthe, Kaneka, and the villianness Melisande Shahrizai, to be more fun to read about. I guess it had something to do with the narrative. Maybe Phèdre just isn’t a good narrator for her story, but she is for others.

The philosophy of this trilogy, love as thou wilt, also doesn’t seem to be fully shaped. Maybe I didn’t get it or something, but I also think because Phèdre is not an interesting character, it is hard to see what love as thou wilt means. I do like how the author, Jacqueline Carey, is trying to create a world where love is the law, and love rules. Or at least I think she is. I don’t know, I just felt confused at times.

What I did love about this book was the numerous countries explored here. Places that are obviously Egypt, Iraq, Ethiopia and the Congo, are lavishly described and one can imagine these places as being very beautiful – or in the place we know as Iraq, very ugly and horrifying.  I found it interesting while reading this book that the place we call Iraq, but known as Darsanga here, has a great evil coming from it that could destroy the world, and yet in our world, ISIS is the great evil hurting the world, and its coming from Iraq. Not that I think Jacqueline Carey foresaw the future, but what irony!

Anyway, the book ends happily and peacefully. The best part of this trilogy, for me at least, were the many countries and cultures explored and reimagined. I also liked Phèdre and Joscelin’s enduring love. In the previous book, those two were strained, and Joscelin did a lot of pouting, it seemed. Here, he is more vibrant and stronger, and you could feel the love between those two from the pages. It’s real, with its ups and downs and trials.

There are more books about Terre d’Ange from Jacqueline Carey, but I am not sure if I would read them. I feel as if I’ve explored the world she created enough, and its time for me to read about other worlds. It’s been a great journey, really, even though I wished Phèdre was better guide. I still recommend this series, though I do warn the reader about its shortcomings. What I believe is as soon as a reader finds what they like about the adventures of Phèdre no Delaunay, they’ll be able to read past what they don’t like about her story. One thing for sure, they’ll be in for a wild ride!

 

 

Book Review: Kushiel’s Chosen by Jacqueline Carey

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I finally finished Kushiel’s Chosen, the second installment of Jacqueline Carey’s series of novels about an alternative look at medieval Europe. I started reading in late September and was finally able to get through its nearly 700 pages. I would’ve been able to have finished this book sooner if there weren’t some problems I had with it, but I’ll get to that later.

For those who do not know, about 10 years ago, Jacqueline Carey released Kushiel’s Dart, which is about a courtesan named Phedrè nó Delaunay who lives in Terre d’Ange, which is actually France if you look at the map the book has at the beginning. Phedrè is an anguisette, someone who experiences pain for pleasure. She has a red mark in her left eye, which indicates Kushiel – a sort of deity in Terre d’Ange – has chosen her to be his instrument.

Anyway, Phedrè has been trained to be a courtesan by her foster father, Anafiel Delaunay. Because Terre d’Ange is a place where anything goes when it comes to love and sex, it is no big deal that she becomes a courtesan and goes around to aristocrats to be their play thing – in the BDSM sense. Kushiel’s Dart has a lot of BDSM scenes, featuring both men and women, but the follow-up doesn’t have as much.

But Phedrè is not only a courtesan – she is a trained spy. She soon uncovers a plot to overthrow the Queen by one of her patrons, the seductive Melisande Shahrizai, whom Phedrè has a love/hate relationship with. But before she could do anything to stop the plot, she is sold into slavery to the tribes of Skaldia – alias Germany – with her bodyguard, Joscelin, who eventually becomes her true love. Thus begins the journey into a totally different Europe with some supernatural moments, swashbuckling fights, the ups and downs of love, and plenty of political intrigue.

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I read Kushiel’s Dart in 2008, and I took my sweet time getting around to its sequel. I enjoy Dart mainly because of the political intrigue and the many different cultures depicted in this world. The sex scenes were OK, but then again BDSM just isn’t my taste – especially since the BDSM here is hardcore. Phedrè gets hung upside down while chained up, cut up by use of a flechette – you know, all the good stuff. Basically, if Phedrè was simply handcuffed and/or spanked, that would’ve been tame compared by what she goes through.

I finally bought Kushiel’s Chosen during Borders’ liquidation sales in 2011, but got around to reading it in late September. Like it’s predecessor, this book was slow to start. It takes about 300 pages before the storyline actually gets anywhere. I was OK with that because there is a lot to digest. This is not a simple story. I like to say Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel books are Game of Thrones meets 50 Shades of Grey (minus the poorly written fan fiction). Heads up: the term “game of thrones” is actually mentioned twice in Chosen! Ha!

By the time Phedrè, Joscelin and her three chevaliers head to La Serenissima – alias Venice – I was starting to get really annoyed. Not with the storyline, not with the writing which is unique, but with Phedrè herself. Maybe I didn’t notice it so much in the first book, but here she has very little likable traits. Altogether, I found Phedrè to be haughty, overconfident in her spying abilities, rude, and selfish. Whenever she came across as remorseful, I didn’t buy it too much. I think this was because she was also flat. I just didn’t feel her remorse or whatever humility she claimed she had. Flat is really the word that comes to mind when I think about Phedrè in this book.

Also flat are a lot of the other characters. Joscelin is just there for most of the book. The three chevaliers don’t seem to have distinct personalities and I couldn’t tell them apart. I would say the pirate Kazan Atrabiades was the most likable because he had a distinct personality, indicated by the way he spoke, which didn’t bother me so much. The villainess Melisande Shahrizai is someone to love to hate, but I also have to give her credit for being so cunning, sneaky and a literal slithering snake. She’s so good at playing the game of thrones (literally!), I found myself thinking, “well played, Melisande. Well played” toward the end. Not that I really wanted to think that, but I had to.

But Phedrè was a disappointment. Because of her, I seriously thought about putting down this book for good, hence why I took so long to finish Kushiel’s Chosen. But because I really wanted to find out where was Melisande, I carried on.

Eventually it was worth it. The story picked up, more cultures were explored and the big battle was exciting. The ending obviously leaves room for the third book, Kushiel’s Avatar, which I also have on my bookshelf. I will get to that later this year.

Overall, I did enjoy this book but the main character was unlikable. From what I heard, author Jacqueline Carey wasn’t given enough time to perfect this follow-up to her praised Kushiel’s Dart, so that might explain the flaws in this book. I hope she was given more time for the third one, or has found a way to work out Phedrè’s poor traits to make an interesting story.

So, I give this book 3/5. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t terrible – it was simply good.

Learn more about Jacqueline Carey at her website.