A review by mebius
Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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
4.0
It still has superb prose, worldbuilding keeps expanding, and various interesting characters. But the story is not as good as the first one, or better to say, the story is basically the same as the first one. With the same villainess but in different locations. And that's the main problem, because of that, it's too predictable.
And what made matters even worse.
Palpatine Melisande Returned escaped... again.
I hope in the next book we will see something new, and not the same pattern. And Phèdre at last will grow a spine and stop getting knees turned to water every time she sees Melisande. I'm not asking that she kill herself, but at least won't prevent Joscelin from doing that.
Spoiler
Melisande identity and location were obvious from the first mention of Benedicte's new bride/wife.And what made matters even worse.
Spoiler
SomehowI hope in the next book we will see something new, and not the same pattern. And Phèdre at last will grow a spine and stop getting knees turned to water every time she sees Melisande. I'm not asking that she kill herself, but at least won't prevent Joscelin from doing that.
Did not help that in the first half of the book we are often and lengthy reminded of events of the first book. I hope someday authors instead of doing this, just include a short summary of previous books with relevant facts.