Reviews

Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey

chirson's review against another edition

3.0

The second novel in Imriel's cycle is not really worse than the first one, but I did feel cheated reading it. The plot is relatively straightforward:

Spoiler

Imriel decides his and Sidonie's love cannot be, so he decides to go through with the political marriage to Sidonie's cousin from Alba. They marry, magic and problems follow, the wife gets pregnant, Imriel loves her but not as much as his True Love Sidonie, the wife gets killed before giving birth to the heir, Imriel decides that he should go back to his TL Sidonie, but before they can live HEA he has to avenge his wife. Cue lots and lots of snow.

In order to make this rather straightforward story last the hundreds and hundreds of pages, we get even more filler than usual (arguably, the whole novel constitutes a large filler-y obstacle between books 1 and 3, because by the end of this book the changes to status quo of book 1 are relatively small). Unfortunately, instead of sexy filler like in Phedre's novels, this time the filler is mostly Imriel being detained in various places. It's quite interesting on an intellectual level - very mythologically-inspired, structurally - but it doesn't quite make for great pacing.

Spoiler

I mean, first he is shipwrecked on an island and then he is stuck in jail? No.

So this was the first reason I felt cheated. The other was that the novel promises a lot of sex and kink (I mean, it's Kushiel...) but doesn't deliver.

Spoiler

(Imriel decides to visit all the Houses of Night! And... he manages to visit two!) instead all we get is pretty much Imriel/Sidonie, and they don't even do BDSM, just kind of sudden anal, once. Somewhere Melisande and Phedre are really surprised and blame Joscelin's influence. And I keep waiting for that gay sex kind of promised in book one, and if ALL we'll ever get is that blow job, I won't appreciate it.

That said, the novel delivers on all other accounts. It's got adventure, emotions and as usual, the unflinchingly positive and respectful portrayal of sexuality. Supporting cast is likable, the story (while not as plotty and complex as Phedre's were) is decently paced and I'm looking forward to the third installment.

hollowbound's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

The prose was beautiful, as usual. But, I wasn't super fond of the storyline in this one. I hated the way

Spoiler

Dorelei's death

was used to both punish Imriel and further his own character development. As many of the characters pointed out, I think

Spoiler

she

deserved way better. That being said, Imriel's personal journey was powerful and a great read. 

As a last aside, I'm not sure if it was just the edition I had, but this one had a significant amount of copy-editing errors (misspellings, repeated or incorrect word usages, etc.). It didn't detract that much, but it was definitely jarring when I spotted them.

taraminter's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

hoosgracie's review against another edition

5.0

Excellent. Took me a little while to get into (I put it down for a year, actually), but once I got into it, the story grabbed my attention. Carey does a great job of making the characters come to life. This particular story has both love and terrible loss. I can't wait to read the next one.

knatreads501's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

paigegrey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

leslielikesthings's review against another edition

3.0

Not the best book of the Kushiel series. It definitely felt like a middle part of a trilogy - moving the plot along to where it needs to be for the finale, but a lot of it felt like filler. I guess a lot of it was necessary for Imriel's character development, but still probably a couple hundred pages longer than it needed to be. However, that's pretty typical for epic fantasy, and I can't say that I was ever actually bored, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

syllareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

joshgoldberg's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

jj7twin's review against another edition

5.0

So much happened in this book, I honestly thought I had started the third book already. A secret affair, a political marriage, prophecies, and a continent wide manhunt is a big story to tell.