Rating: 
Summary: "That which yields is not always weak"
Review: Two days ago I walked into my favorite bookstore and was greeted with shouts and a rather heavy book tossed into my hands. The owner told me that this book "had my name written all over it". So I shelled out my money and took it home.Wow! I cannot say that I ever imagined such a book as this existing. With today's society being as obsessed and disgusted with taboos as it is, the fact that a book that combines S/M, fantasy, erotica, slave literature, political intrigue, and incredible battle scenes is out there, it's just too lovely. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has a penchant for the interesting, but not for those who are light of heart. Phedre's scenes with her patrons are often more in depth than the average "spanking scene" that books incorporating S/M contain. Kushiel's Dart also maintains an impressive ability to be pansexual. No matter what sexual orientation or proclivities it's readers have, they will find something to interest them. The best part of this book, as far as I see it, is the fact that the villainess is not 100% loathsome to the protaganist. In fact, it is the love/hate/fear relationship that really sends the plot running. This is a great book, and I'm still trying to figure out how this is a first novel.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book of the Year
Review: This is the best fantasy book I've read in a long time, hands down -- although calling it a fantasy is a bit of a stretch at times. There's very little magic involved and it reads more as an alternate history. So, it kept my attention with a strong narrative and highly interesting characters. The main character, Phedre, who tells the story, is a complex character not always happy (but quite often so) with her lot in life, that of a courtesan who enjoys sex no matter what the circumstances, including extreme pain. Once this "gift" is recognized as a young girl, she's raised to take advantage of it to get information out of high-ranking officials, while enjoying herself in the process. The story winds into many places, eventually taking her all over the known world. But the journey doesn't detract from the story, but rather adds facets to Phedre's personality, also enabling her to make many friends and enemies who enrich the story. I'm sure this story isn't for everyone. The sex is explicit and often violent. While it's more character-driven than plot-driven, there's a definite goal and resolution to the story. I'm very much looking forward to future books from this author and I want to thank her for writing a book I'm not going to have to wait for a year or more for a resolution to.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun book, great heroine
Review: Kushiel's Dart is a fun, different, sensual historical fantasy/romance. I didn't find it really "big", though, not epic or mythic the way George RR Martin's or Frank Herbert's books are. It's really a personal adventure, the story of a woman with extraordinary gifts and problems who manages to find a place in her world and save her country as well as herself along the way. This book reminded me at times of Guy Gavriel Kay's A SONG FOR ARBONNE -- but with a lot more sex and S&M, and with a heroine who is definitely one of a kind. Fantasy/romance readers who don't mind explicit sexuality, say fans of Storm Constantine or Laurell K. Hamilton, should love it. Phedre, our heroine, is born an "unwanted whore's get" in a nation sort of like medieval France, and raised in a society of courtesans. She has the curse (gift?) that she enjoys being made to suffer, and enjoys pain. Naturally, she's trained to serve as a prostitute for men and women with sadistic tastes. But she soon becomes more than that. From prostitute she becomes a court intriguer, from court intriguer she becomes captive and spy in barbarian lands, from captive and spy she becomes a wartime ambassador, and by the end she's become a noblewoman in her own right, come to terms with her taste for suffering, and found True Love. Oh, and she saves the kingdom from treachery and invasion, too. Phedre is what makes the book worthwhile -- watching her grow into herself, celebrating her victories, rooting for her when she's in evil hands (which is often). Phedre is almost never safe, but she's always growing, so to speak, always becoming stronger, and the challenges she faces keep changing. She certainly earns her victories. She's both the most distinctive and the most real fantasy heroine I've read in a long time. Other fantasy heroines are too often generic "compassionate women" or "warrior women" or (still worse) "universally perfect women", but Phedre is both unique and completely believable. The writing in the book is very good. The setting and the other characters are fine, they seem quite real, but the interest of the story is always Phedre. That's my one complaint. Unlike Zelazny's Amber books or Herbert's Dune, I can't say the _world_ of this book fascinated me. I don't find myself yearning to know more about most of the places the author describes. I can't say I cared too much about what happened to the people who weren't in Phedre's personal struggle. For me this book was all about the heroine, and the world and the plot were just stages (if well-written stages) through which she moved. So whether you love or like or hate this book probably depends on what you read fantasy for: the world and the story, or the hero(ine) who leads you through it? I fell in between on this one. If you're a "world" person or a "plot" person, you might be happier elsewhere. But if you read for the sake of a main character you hope to fall in love with and suffer and triumph with, and if you don't mind a book with a lot of sexual content, Kushiel's Dart should delight you.
Rating:
Summary: a fantastic fantasy
Review: In Terre d'Ange, physical perfection means freedom and anything less denotes some form of bondage. Phedre no Delaunay is born with a red speck on her left eye, which means a life of slavery. Because of he "scarlet letter" on her eye, as a child, she is sold to eventually work as a servant of Naamah, providing pleasures to the free people of Terre d'Ange. However, unlike the rest of the free masses, noble freethinker Anafiel Delaunay, upon seeing the red spot, feels Phedre's mar is not a flaw. He believes it represents a greater perfection. He buys Phedre's marque and begins to educate her for more than the art of pleasure. She begins to spy for him, but soon becomes embroiled in a dastardly plot to dethrone the King, in which she struggles to warn His Highness before doomsday arrives. KUSHIEL'S DART is a powerful, extraordinary exotic political fantasy that never slows down yet fully develops the key cast and the culture. The epic fantasy story line is loaded with action that flows due to the characters seeming genuine while providing a deep look into a different culture and way of life. No one will believe that this is Jacqueline Carey's debut because her first published novel has to have come from someone with at least a five-book resume. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: A Fantasy Debut Worth the Read!
Review: The novel starts with the basic background of the protaganist, but Carey has used a twist and it will certainly suprise the reader. The novel is on the dark side with a strong erotic undertone. The novel is extremely well written, which focus on the pyschological aspects of the characters she has created. You actual get inside the characters heads and understand what,why,and who they are. This book may shock some, but I found it refreashing. I hope she continues to write in this style.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, dark, sexy fantasy
Review: I enjoy Storm Constantine, so when I heard her quote on this, I picked it up. I hate typical fantasy - magick, witches,elves, etc. Especially women's fantasy - usually too romance oriented. However, I fell in love with this book from Chapter 1. Watching the heroine grow up in this strange religion of holy (prostitutes), courtiers, and royalty. It mixes "Dangerous Liasions" with "Braveheart" The battle sequences are action-packed, the sex scenes tinged with S/M. It was just really original, fun, and emotional. I even got tears in my eyes in parts. Some people might find it too dark and too weird, but if you're looking for something completely new - try this. And the ending is such a cliff-hanger you'll scream in frustration, and probably keel over of impatience waiting for the second! Read this NOW!
Rating:
Summary: My new favorite book!
Review: KUSHIEL'S DART is an extraordinary epic set in a re-imagined medieval Europe. This is one of those rare books that combines an intricate plot with extremely well developed characters. The story is told through the voice of young Phédre nó Delaunay, a courtesan and spy in the country of Terre d'Ange but the supporting "cast" is given full attention as well-without bogging down in minutia. Throughout the sweeping epic, Jacqueline Carey never loses sight of the arch of the story so be forewarned: everything she writes is significant. At the end, you will see how she's tied all the pieces together into a tightly woven whole. Oh, but there is a window left open for a sequel. Whether you read this book because the characters are fascinating, the story fun and nerve-wracking, the writing exceptional, or the sense of place and religion so believable, I know you'll be satisfied. This is my new favorite book!
Rating:
Summary: Awsome book, just slightly flawed.
Review: This was truly a great book. However, I have specific reasons for giving it four stars instead of five. The bad: The complicated names, combined with the deeply woven political plot is a really bad combination. The plot would not have been so hard to decipher if the names were not so complex. Besides for complex names, each person has about three different names they are referred too. This causes a gigantic stumbling block that trips you over as you try to sail smoothly through the story. Constantly, I had to go back and look at the name chart at the beginning of the book to understand what was going on, and even that took awhile. 2 - There were segments of boredom, the first 250 pages is a real drag, I had to push myself through these pages in hopes the book would get better, fortunately it did. 3 - The last three hundred pages could have been told within the span of 100-150 really. Pages 600-900 was a forced read. The Good: Besides all that I have stated above, Jacqueline Carey's prose is beautiful, and underneath the beautiful prose lies an AWSOME storyline, and an AWSOME protagonist. Also, the setting is so perfectly clear, the images are vivid and dance in your head. Thus, you have a solid storyline and great prose, I do not regret buying this book at all, and I will read it again someday.
Rating:
Summary: Response to P. Robinson "Relic113"
Review: In response to P. Robinson's ("Relic113") review: first of all, etiology refers to the origins of diseases. The word you want is etymology, and I challenge you to list one word Carey uses in Kushiel's Dart that is not based on an actual word from a living or dead language. Yes, the character's name is Phedre no Delaunay - Phedre of the House of Delaunay. Not a big mystery there. Also, none of the sex scenes in the book are anywhere near eight pages long - most of them are a page or two at the most.
Perhaps we didn't read the same book. Or maybe, if polysyllabic words like "anguisette" and "languisement" are confusing to you, I can recommend an excellent book that one of your peers introduced me to - "My Pet Goat."
;-)
Rating:
Summary: Wow...
Review: There's not much more to say, that the other over 200 reviews have not already said, but I just wanted to add my 5 stars, because this is a great, great, great book. If you love historical, romantic or dark fantasy you'll love this book, it also has lots of intrigue, drama and war. Its an epic book of an epic series that I think is great for women. Finally a well written book for us, that doesn't get boring after the first chapter, with this book you cant put it down, you even dream about it. I could go on for ever, but I said there wasn't much more to add, hehe. Pick it up, you wont be sorry.
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