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  Naamah's Kiss by Jacqueline Carey 656pp (Hardcover) My Rating: 8/10 Amazon Rating: 3.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 4.1/5 Goodreads Rating: 4.12/5 |  | |
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Moirin, the great-granddaughter of Alais de la Courcel, is of the Maghuin Dhonn, a people in Alba who follow the Brown Bear goddess. At one time, the Maghuin Dhonn were powerful magicians, but they have only had smaller magics after making a great mistake. Although they are still feared and viewed with suspicion, they cannot predict the future or shapeshift but mostly have smaller tricks such as concealment and an awareness of animals.
When Moirin is very young she has visions of a man with a seedling and a beautiful bright lady. Later Moirin learns her father was a d'Angeline priest, and the man and woman she saw are a god and goddess from her other heritage. Because of this lineage she has some additional gifts, such as the ability to sense the feelings of plants and manipulate their growth. Once Moirin becomes old enough to undergo a rite of passage in which she will find out if she has been accepted by the bear goddess, she learns from Her that she has a destiny outside of Alba. All she knows is that she must cross the sea, so she goes to Elua to look for her father and embarks on a journey that brings her to the even more distant land of Ch'in.
Naamah's Kiss is a fairly long book; the hardcover version is 656 pages. However, it goes by quickly for its length since it is very readable from the start and has lots of small paragraphs and relatively short chapters. After reading Kushiel's Dart, the expectation was lots of dense prose but the style in Naamah's Kiss is very different - still elegant, but much more concise, which fits the narrator better. The complexity of Phedre's voice in Kushiel's Dart went with her more complex role as a well-educated, trained spy with an awareness of political machinations. While she is certainly intelligent, Moirin grew up in the woods in near isolation and goes out into the world without a lot of knowledge about how it works. As a result she is naive at times, plus with her gifts that keep her close to nature, she seems much more earthy. Her more straightforward, uncomplicated tone reflects her character well, and she is a completely different person than Phedre.
While Phedre was more interesting to read about, Moirin was easier to relate to, partially due to having an upbringing in which she wasn't prepared for a life but was allowed to be a child. Although she was influential in events due to her magic, Moirin also served as a pillar of strength and support for some with important duties and helped guide them in their decisions. She was kind-hearted and open-minded but still special given her abilities and the fact that she had a destiny. This role also made her very sympathetic since she had to go wherever fate lead her - and often her idea of what she would like to do and what she was supposed to do did not match, making for many heartbreaking goodbyes.
Terre d'Ange is an alternate earth and it is a fascinating place to visit. It was enjoyable to get to see so many places in this novel since it started in Britain, then went to France and eventually ended up in China. At first, I was sad to leave the European area, but I really liked Moirin's adventures in China and the incorporation of more Eastern culture and myths, particularly the dragon. Yet there was no boring travelogue even with so many long trips; the actual time spent traveling was kept to minimum and the relatively few pages that were dedicated to the trip were never boring.
As those familiar with the other books set in this world could probably guess, the goddess Naamah plays a role in Moirin's life so there is quite a bit of sex in this book. Unlike the Kushiel books, there is not BDSM but Moirin does have sexual relationships with several people of both genders (the d'Angelines are pretty open about sex as they follow the philosophy "love as thou wilt" and have a priesthood dedicated to Naamah). I felt it was tasteful and not too cheesy - it wasn't terribly overwritten or described in such a way that made it sound as though the people involved had a serious medical condition.
Although it was not quite as excellent as the more complex, political Kushiel's Dart, Naamah's Kiss was a very absorbing story with another great heroine. I'm looking forward to seeing where Moirin's destiny leads her in Naamah's Curse.
My Rating: 8/10
Where I got my reading copy: I won it in a giveaway.
Read Chapter One
Other Reviews:
- The Book Smugglers (Ana's Review)
- The Book Smugglers (Thea's Review)
- The Discriminating Fangirl
- Fantasy Book Critic
- Janicu's Book Blog
- SciFiGuy
5 comments:
I'm quite eager to read this, but I'm trying to wait until the whole trilogy is out. I find that I rarely want to pause for breathe, once I've begun one of Carey's series. Still, I'm awfully tempted.
Lovely review Kristen. I do want to read this book, but I have Kushiel's Dart to...um..tackle first :)
Memory - Good luck with the wait! Hopefully it won't be too long - the first two books only came out about a year apart. It is very good - I'm planning to start on Naamah's Curse as soon as I finish Lord of the White Hell.
Orannia - Thank you! Kushiel's Dart is lovely. I still need to pick up Kushiel's Chosen as well since I still haven't finished the first trilogy.
I must be an odd one out because I found this book almost boring. It wasn't as engaging as Kusiel's Dart (in my opinion) and it took about half the book until I actually started to care about Moirin at all. That being said, I thought her perspective on things was refreshing and unique, as she was from Alba and not as knowledgable about the culture as Carey's previous characters. I enjoyed the diverse perspective Moirin presented to Carey's world. I think another series based on characters who had been born and raised in Terre d'Ange may have been a little overbaring. Carey did a great job at presenting a new voice and diverse cultural view to life. (I apologize if what I just said makes absolutely no sense)
I also think this is a book I need to give another shot at. When I read it last I was in the middle of finals, moving, getting situated at my internship and preparing for a surgery. Not exactly the best frame of mind to objectively read (and absorb) a book.
Sarah - If you look at some of the reviews on Amazon, you're definitely not alone. Plenty of people found this one far inferior to Kushiel's Dart. Personally I found this one absorbing much faster but not quite as good overall.
You made sense - Moirin did have a much different perspective since she was from Alba. It was interesting to see just what she thought of the d'Angelines and their culture. I also liked that Moirin did seem so very different than Phedre - it didn't feel like she was writing the same character again. Moirin and Phedre both had unique voices that fit well with their individual characters.
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