Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Kushiel's Avatar

My favorite of the original trilogy and I loved it still. Dark and intense, melding history with the fantastic, Carey's prose will always be among my favorite. As a medieval scholar in my own right now I got so much more out of it, and the discomfort I had with many aspects of early 2000s writing was addressed and rectified in this book (the guild for Namaah's servants setting age requirements etcs) though the ethnocentrism was intense this time around as part of the plot and that I didn't care for. Still, it made my heart ache and I will always love it.

7/19/23 update: I just finished reading the trilogy again, for perhaps the tenth time over the years, in preparation for both Cassiel's Servant in August as well as my intended use of this series as an aspect of my PhD dissertation. It's been a handful of years since my last review, when I had just begun my medieval literature schooling. Once again, I appreciated a new depth to the alternate history created by Carey in this world, but this time, I read the series as though they were a medieval romance, like Le Morte d'Arthur by Malory, and my appreciation of the text increased so much. While I wouldn't necessarily say this book remains my hands down favorite, it has so many elements which I love as both a reader and an academic. I think Phédre remains one of my favorite literary heroines; for all that she is exquisitely female and feminine in a way that is often presented as the antithesis of what it is to be "heroic," Phédre nevertheless is brave, intelligent, determined, and she never backs down. That which yields is not always weak, indeed.

Love as thou wilt.

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ahue92's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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accidentalspaceexplorer's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was very compelling and I read it straight through, all in one go. This one, more so than the other two, is extremely extremely dark in the middle. So many content warnings!!! But I still enjoyed Phedre's narration and the politics of the world, and especially the traveling portions on either side of the extremely dark bit. I am looking forward to the next trilogy though, in the hopes that it will be less filled with torture.

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meganphilippa's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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parthenogenetics's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

if you got this far you're going to like this one. in the middle it seems like there are going to be two disparate halves... there are, but Carey makes it work

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ynbushehri's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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