Product Description

Born with a scarlet mote in her left eye, Phèdre nó Delaunay is sold into indentured servitude as a child. When her bond is purchased by an enigmatic nobleman, she is trained in history, theology, politics, foreign languages, and the arts of pleasure. Above all, she learns the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Exquisite courtesan, yet talented spy, she may seem an unlikely heroine...but when Phèdre stumbles upon a plot threatening her homeland, Terre d'Ange, she has no choice but to act.

Betrayed into captivity in the barbarous northland of Skaldia, and accompanied only by disdainful young warrior-priest, Phèdre makes a harrowing escape and an even more harrowing journey, to return to her people and deliver them a warning of the impending invasion. And that proves only the first step in a quest that will take her to the edge of despair and beyond.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #319930 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-05
• Format: Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 1040 pages

About the Author

Jacqueline Carey was born in 1964. After receiving BA degrees in Psychology and English Literature from Lake Forest College, she embarked on a writing career. Her previous publications include various short stories and a non-fiction book. Kushiel's Dart is her first novel, and she currently resides in west Michigan.

Customer Reviews

Kushiel's Dart
This is the story of Phedre No'Delauney, and starts when she is a very small child and her story as an anguisette, chosen to experience pain and pleasure as one.

This book can be quite erotic at times, but this book should not be dismissed as erotic fiction it is much more than that, an extremely well told book based in the middle ages in Europe, the use of the old country names such as Alba emphasises this.

Phedre bears the mark of Kushiel's Dart, a scarlet mote in her eye. The main part of this story revolves a\round Terre D'Ange (Land of Angels), the inhabitants of Terre D'Ange are descended from divine beings.

The story is based on politics, love & betrayal, aside from Phedre the cast of characters is impressive with extremely well-developed characters, and JC has detailed these very well within the story. The beginning of the story can get quite cumbersome and this is quite a long book but, it is well worth sticking to it after the first 150 pages or so the plot gets much more interesting. I did get the feeling that Phedre was narrating from sometime long ago in the past and seems as though she was looking back and re-living her experiences.

This is a fantastic novel, it has been criticised but, I personally feel this is a brilliant book and remains one of my all-time favourites, it is a very long book as indeed are the others in this trilogy, though this one is the longest but, it is never drawn out and is simply a stunning book to read.

love as thou wilt
A beautifully crafted piece of writing, containing some very clever ideas. The story is set in an alternate middle ages with a completely new religious mythology. Although it's tempting to gloss over the religion at first, (especially if you're a speed reader as I am)do try not to, as the religion is the basis of the story, the belief system motivating both main characters. This is a tale of treachery, love and betrayal, but most particularly love in all it's forms. There's the love for one's friends and fellow man, love for one's country, love for one's Gods (even when they drive you hard)and erotic love. There is a lovely erotic undercurrent throughout the book as our heroine comes to terms with the fact that she feels pain as pleasure and what this means for her when she is enslaved.
There's plenty of political shenanigans, spying and battles. I couldn't resist looking at the maps every now and again and trying to work out where the characters were in modern terms.

And how many of us could resist the Cassiline? What a knight in shining armour! I love the way he starts out a pompous idiot and his character develops through adversity. The Perfect Companion indeed.

Not so much magical as mystical, I highly recommend Kushiel's Dart and the following two novels in the trilogy.

A captivating and lush novel
I was attracted to this novel by the heroine Phedre's physical marker - which I share and which sets her apart and determines the path of her life from infancy - a scarlet mote in her left eye.

The book may be daunting in size but it has an ambitious range and the author writes superbly and sensually. Here is finally a book which deals on a cerebral and physical level dealing often with the extremes of intimate relations (especially due to Phedre's unusual propensities as an anguissette derived from the spot in her eye, Kushiel's dart).

Without elaborating too much, the setting of Phedre's world appears to be a Europe after the Crucifixion which did not occur exactly as it does in the bible. Instead a new deity was born from the blood of Christ and the tears of Mary Magdalene leading to a number of other events which are detailed in the book. The upshot is that Phedre is born into a pleasure house (of which there are many) where everyone is extremely good-looking (a premise explained quite convincingly) consecrated to the worship of Naamah.

The most difficult part of the book is the political intrigues involving a cast of hundreds people which is not always easy to follow. However this aspect of the novel is balanced by the development of Phedre's character with very likeable central characters and a good pace. Buy this one and you won't be disappointed.