Kushiel's Chosen
I wasn't quite as enamored of Kushiel's Chosen as I was of Kushiel's Dart. And I'm not entirely sure why that is. By all rights, I should have enjoyed this book just as much as the first one. It has all the fancy dresses, political intrigue, dastardly plots, and exquisite world-building of the first one.
Unfortunately it's also missing some things. Hyacinthe isn't in it at all and Joscelin is missing for half the book as well. There isn't nearly as much sex, especially in the back half of the book. Phedre is much more isolated in this book than she was in the first one.
There's an intriguing mystery here. Mellisande escaped at the end of the first book, and Phedre is determined to find her and bring her to justice. The question is where is she and what is she planning? It was great fun, running through possibilities and watching everything come together.
But then the mystery is solved before the halfway point and Phedre is captured. She spends the rest of the book trying to get home before Mellisande springs her trap, all the while traveling farther and farther away. But I knew she'd succeed, so I never felt any sense of urgency. More often than not I was annoyed by Phedre's impatience.
The first book wasn't well-paced by any means. It started off incredibly slow, filling in more background than I could keep track of before finally kicking off the plot. But it worked for me. I liked seeing Phedre's education and day-to-day life, and the various relationships were fleshed out well before they got ripped away. It created a real sense of loss. The attempts to duplicate that in this book fell a bit flat, and Phedre spent too much time separated from everything.
It could also be that I my reading off this book got disturbed a few times. I read right up to her capture before spending a weekend with friends in Vermont, and when I came back to the book there wasn't a lot of intrigue or sex left. It made for a reasonable stopping point, but the second part just didn't live up to the first part.
That said, hints were dropped about future series that have me interested. The protagonist of the second trilogy was (briefly) introduced here, and I'm excited to read about his life. I'm also looking forward to Phedre's inevitable rescue of and reunion with Hyacinthe. Surely that will comprise the bulk of her final book.
Unfortunately it's also missing some things. Hyacinthe isn't in it at all and Joscelin is missing for half the book as well. There isn't nearly as much sex, especially in the back half of the book. Phedre is much more isolated in this book than she was in the first one.
There's an intriguing mystery here. Mellisande escaped at the end of the first book, and Phedre is determined to find her and bring her to justice. The question is where is she and what is she planning? It was great fun, running through possibilities and watching everything come together.
But then the mystery is solved before the halfway point and Phedre is captured. She spends the rest of the book trying to get home before Mellisande springs her trap, all the while traveling farther and farther away. But I knew she'd succeed, so I never felt any sense of urgency. More often than not I was annoyed by Phedre's impatience.
The first book wasn't well-paced by any means. It started off incredibly slow, filling in more background than I could keep track of before finally kicking off the plot. But it worked for me. I liked seeing Phedre's education and day-to-day life, and the various relationships were fleshed out well before they got ripped away. It created a real sense of loss. The attempts to duplicate that in this book fell a bit flat, and Phedre spent too much time separated from everything.
It could also be that I my reading off this book got disturbed a few times. I read right up to her capture before spending a weekend with friends in Vermont, and when I came back to the book there wasn't a lot of intrigue or sex left. It made for a reasonable stopping point, but the second part just didn't live up to the first part.
That said, hints were dropped about future series that have me interested. The protagonist of the second trilogy was (briefly) introduced here, and I'm excited to read about his life. I'm also looking forward to Phedre's inevitable rescue of and reunion with Hyacinthe. Surely that will comprise the bulk of her final book.
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