Showing posts with label Jacqueline Carey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jacqueline Carey. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Review of Naamah's Curse

Naamah's Curse is the second book in Jacqueline Carey's latest trilogy following Naamah's Kiss. Although this new series is set in the same world as the earlier Kushiel's Legacy books, it takes place a few generations after the end of the second trilogy. The final book, Naamah's Blessing, does not yet have a publication date, but Jacqueline Carey did mention in her August update on the home page of her website that she has turned in the manuscript.

Note: As this is the second book in a series, there will be spoilers for the first book, Naamah's Kiss, contained in the plot description. Skip the plot description and read the part below the horizontal line if you do not want to have parts of the first book spoiled but want to read the review.

Moirin has left the emperor's daughter and the comfort of the palace at Ch'in to follow Bao, who died and was resurrected by transferring half of Moirin's diadh-anam to him. Once Bao discovered his new close connection to Moirin, he decided to leave to sort through his thoughts about it. He was not sure how to feel about sharing this bond with Moirin without her choosing it, even though she made it clear she wished for him to stay with her. Princess Snow Tiger reminded Moirin that she had the choice not to wait around for him to come back, so Moirin departed alone to try to catch up with him before winter.

Moirin spends some time traveling in Bao's footsteps, although she does end up having to wait through the winter before seeing him again. However, once Moirin finds Bao in Tatar, their joyous reunion does not last. Although Bao is happy to see her, he cannot leave without angering the Great Khan. The two devise a plan that would allow Bao to act freely, but they are betrayed and separated when Moirin is imprisoned by religious zealots eager to convert her to Yeshuite ways - and Moirin has completely lost track of Bao this time.


Naamah's Curse is a difficult book to review because it definitely had its flaws, but at the same time, I really enjoyed it and want to read the next book. (I also want to go back and read the five books in the original two trilogies I have yet to read, particularly since I thought Kushiel's Dart was a stronger novel than either book in this new trilogy.) Considering the length of Naamah's Curse, not a whole lot happened. It seems to be a case of middle book syndrome since it wandered off for a while and then eventually came back to setting up the final book toward the end. Also, so much of the first book was explained in detail that I kept feeling like I was reading the equivalent of a clip show a couple of times. Not only was a lot of it expounded on early in the book, but even more from the first book was described toward the middle when Moirin was thoroughly questioned about her past. Looking back on it with these issues, I can't help but feel that I shouldn't have found it nearly as compelling as I did. Yet I'd be lying through my teeth (er, keyboard?) if I said I didn't find it extremely readable in spite of these weaknesses - just like the first book, I found it went by much faster than I would have expected for such a long novel. It wasn't a book where I kept counting the number of pages left and wondering when it would end, but instead I devoured it since I could hardly put it down.

In some ways, Moirin does not seem particularly complex as a character. She's very kind to everyone and it seems as though the only people she encounters who do not love her are villains. Admittedly, with this great compassion, it makes perfect sense that she would be so well-loved, but at times it does seem a little overdone that just about anyone she encounters will go out of their way for her when they barely even know her. Every major action is dictated by Moirin's destiny as it is revealed to her through her diadh-anam, and the use of her fate to drive the plot does make some occurrences seem all too convenient. Yet in spite of feeling this way, I liked Moirin and her concise yet elegant narrative voice. The sadness resulting from her great destiny makes her easier to empathize with. For even though Moirin has been gifted with such a great capacity for love and compassion, she is constantly having her heart broken over and over again due to her role as a tool of the goddesses. She gets so attached to the people in her life, and then the will of the goddess keeps forcing her to leave them all behind.

In this novel, we get to see a lot of Asia with particular emphasis on Mongolian, Russian and Indian cultures with some Indian mythology integrated into the story. One of my favorite aspects of Naamah's Curse was visiting all the different places with Moirin and the way Carey handled all these diverse heritages. In the first book, Tatar (Mongolia) sounded like a fearsome country since Moirin spent some time in Ch'in, whose inhabitants did not get along very well with the neighboring nation. Once Moirin went to Tatar, though, she found the people to be like anyone else and Tatar was depicted as no worse than the previously visited Ch'in.

While weaker than the preceding volume in the series, Naamah's Curse was still very entertaining. It was too long, particularly since it recapped a lot of what already happened in the first book, and it did seem to meander away from the main plot at times. In spite of that, the blending of different cultures and mythologies, the writing, and the examination of the double-edged nature of Moirin's gift made it well worth reading.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Where I got my reading copy: It was a review copy sent by the publisher.

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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Review of Naamah's Kiss

Naamah's Kiss is the first book in Jacqueline Carey's latest trilogy set in the world of Terre d'Ange, although it takes place a few generations after the first two trilogies in Kushiel's Legacy. The second book, Naamah's Curse, was just released last month, and the author is still working on Naamah's Blessing which does not yet have a release date according to the June update on her website.

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

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Monday, May 25, 2009

Review of Santa Olivia

Santa Olivia is one of two new books being released by Jacqueline Carey, author of the well-known Kushiel's Legacy series, this year. Its official publication date is May 29. All of Carey's other books are epic fantasy, and this urban fantasy is very different from her previous work. As far as I know, this novel is a stand alone, but there is plenty of room for a sequel even though it has a satisfying ending.

The people feel as though they have been abandoned by God in Santa Olivia, which lies between the United States and Mexico. First, a deadly illness swept through it. Second, rumors abound about the threat of the Mexican general El Segundo. Soon after that, Santa Olivia was occupied by the army, walled off from the rest of the world, and declared Outpost No. 12, no longer a part of the United States of America. The only way out of Outpost No. 12 is to defeat the General Argyle's champion at boxing. The general is obsessed with the sport and has promised that anyone who wins the match can leave and choose one person to take with them.

Carmen Garron, a woman with a young son by a deceased soldier, met Martin, a mysterious man she believed to be a deserter. In spite of this, she finds herself strangely drawn to him and invites him to say with herself and her child Tommy. Eventually, Carmen discovers Martin is actually one of The Lost Boys, children who were experimented upon since they were about 8 years old and made into wolf/human hybrids. Not only is Martin stronger and faster than humans, but he also does not to feel fear of any sort. He and Carmen fall in love, but sadly, Martin is forced to flee soon after Carmen finds out she is pregnant.

Carmen has a baby girl and names her Loup, the name Martin picked out for the child. Like her father, Loup is faster and stronger than normal and she has to be taught to think carefully before she acts since she does not have the natural instinct of fear. When Loup is ten years old, Carmen dies and she and Tommy are sent to separate places - Loup moves in with the other orphans at the community church and Tommy lives at the gym where he continues to train as a boxer, more determined than ever to get himself and Loup out of Outpost No. 12. Meanwhile, Loup and her fellow orphans become angered by the acts of some of the soldiers and decide to use Loup's special abilities to provide some vigilante justice, all under the guise of the child saint Santa Olivia.


The only other novel by Jacqueline Carey I have read is Kushiel's Dart, a dense dark fantasy book with a very intriguing alternate Europe. Santa Olivia is very different from this novel, and I am impressed by Carey's diversity. This urban fantasy is much shorter and more concisely written - while Kushiel's Dart took me 2 weeks to get through, Santa Olivia took me only 2 days to read in its entirety. The new novel is set in modern times and is confined to one basic area instead of the sprawling world in Kushiel's Dart. Language used in dialogue is much more modern with quite a bit of profanity.

While the writing style and world are very different, there are some basic similarities between Kushiel's Dart and Santa Olivia. Both main characters are different from everyone else and each struggles with these differences, particularly when it comes to love. Carey is not easy on the main protagonist in either story, although Santa Olivia is overall less dark than Kushiel's Dart. There is some focus on religion, although the town of Santa Olivia has Catholicism as opposed to the religion based on 'love as thou wilt' in the Kushiel's Legacy series.

Santa Olivia was one of those books I could hardly put down because I just had to read the next chapter... and then the next... and then the next one. The beginning about Carmen was interesting and well-written, but I felt that the novel did not really start hooking me until Loup became the main character. Looking back at the earlier chapters, most of the background on the town and its transformation to Outpost No. 12 and Carmen's life before Loup added a lot to the story and set the tone of the desperate lives of the citizens. (The first chapter about the change from Santa Olivia to Outpost No. 12 had me riveted but I started feeling like Carmen's history was dragging after that unless it involved Martin.) So I think I was just being impatient about getting to the meat of the story, but reading about Loup was still the best part. Even the parts about boxing kept me glued to the book, and I've always thought a sport that consisted of two people beating each other up is pretty stupid. [Ed: as opposed to reading about duels, massive battles, and schemes to kill? Gotcha.]

My favorite parts were definitely anything where Loup and her friends sent a message from Santa Olivia. I loved seeing what they came up with and the reaction to the visitations. The orphans would carefully plan, scout locations, and use everyone's skills, not just Loup's strength and speed. The smarter children would write the messages from Santa Olivia and do their best to make sure everything worked without a hitch. It was still always risky, but it always seemed at least somewhat believable that they managed to pull it off and even more so that the people would want to believe in the saint's intervention. In a town that felt abandoned by God, it gave so much hope to think that Santa Olivia had not forgotten them and was looking out for her people.

The dialogue is very well-written - sometimes humorous, sometimes touching, and it says a lot about the characters in a book that never really gets very deeply into anyone's head. Loup tends to be calm and controlled, Jane is always snarky, Pilar is sweet and flirty, and Sister Martha and Father Ramon cracked me up with lines such as:
It seems Santa Olivia and her basket of plenitude has turned into an ass-kicking masked avenger. (Father Ramon, p. 114)

Let the rigid stick of self-righteousness be dislodged from her very uptight ass. (Sister Martha, p. 127)
This was a book I read more for the plot than the characters, but I did love Loup, her brother Tommy, and Miguel. Of course, Loup is the star - so sympathetic since she was so different from the other teenagers she grew up with and knew so little about her genetics. She had to be careful not to reveal she had some abilities other humans did not and this was something she had to learn without fearing anything. They sometimes viewed her as a freak anyway, but she also found that anyone who paired up with her found kissing her felt very weird.

Santa Olivia is a well-written novel, at times touching and at other times tragic, about hope, love, growing up and being different. While it didn't resonate with me personally as much as the gorgeous world of Kushiel's Dart, it was still very enjoyable. Highly recommended.

8/10

Read Chapter One
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Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Read the First Chapter of Naamah's Kiss and Santa Olivia


This year, Jacqueline Carey has two new novels coming out and the first chapter of each is on her website. Santa Olivia, a novel about superheroes and the werewolf myth, will be available on May 29. Naamah's Kiss, the first book in a new trilogy set in the same world as Kushiel's Legacy, will be released on June 24.


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Friday, February 6, 2009

Review of Kushiel's Dart

Kushiel's Dart is the first book in the Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey. The series contains two related trilogies, each about different main characters with Naamah's Kiss, the first book in a third trilogy coming out in June 2009. Kushiel's Dart is followed by Kushiel's Chosen and Kushiel's Avatar, and the second trilogy consists of Kushiel's Scion, Kushiel's Justice, and Kushiel's Mercy respectively.

This is one that has sat on my shelf for a while even though I've heard a lot about how good it is from many different people. Since I'm not the world's fastest reader, I found the length of 901 pages a bit daunting and thought I'd have nothing to review for a month if I read a book that long. So I kept putting it off, which is unfortunate because I loved the alternate European setting, the characters, and the world mythology and religion Carey developed in this dark fantasy novel.

Kushiel's Dart takes place in Terre d'Ange, the equivalent of France in an imaginary medieval Europe. The country was settled by angels who chose to follow Elua, the son of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, instead of the One God. This god of Terre d'Ange was created when Mary's tears fell on Christ's blood after he was pierced and was rejected by the One God. Elua wandered the land with the angels (known as the Companions of Elua) and gave only one commandment: Love as thou wilt. The result is a society populated by the descendants of the companions that considers sex in all forms a holy calling in the service of the angel Naamah. There are thirteen houses of the Night Court whose inhabitants are dedicated as courtesans and work to fill their marque, represented by a tattoo extending from the tailbone to the base of the neck. As they earn money, the ink is gradually drawn in until the entire area is covered and the courtesan is officially free.

As a young child, Phedre is sold to a house of the Night Court by her parents, who are struggling financially and have another child on the way. Because of the flaw of a scarlet mote in her eye, Phedre will never be a courtesan herself - until it is discovered that her defect is actually the mark of Kushiel's Dart. Kushiel, a companion of Elua, was an angel of punishment and the red fleck in Phedre's eye symbolizes her ability to experience pain as pleasure. Phedre is then bought by Anafiel Delaunay, who trains her not only as a courtesan but also as an observer and spy. As Phedre becomes further in demand by the nobility of Terre d'Ange, she learns many secrets that will aid her master and eventually leads to her knowledge of a conspiracy against the king.


Kushiel's Dart intrigued me from the beginning, especially the mythology behind the world and Elua's teachings. It did take me a while to read the first 125 pages because it often referred to some characters who had not really been present and I found it hard to keep track of who was who. Fortunately, there is a handy glossary in the front that I referenced often and once the book got going, I found I did not need it nearly as much.

Since Phedre is a courtesan and the society has no qualms about sexuality, there is a lot of sex in this book, including BDSM since that is the main character's special skill. Although it is described in detail, it never seemed cheesy or overdone. Carey does not shy away from specifics but she also writes it in such a straightforward manner that it seems very natural. It did not feel like the sexual encounters were added for shock value since they were very relevant to both the plot and character. Phedre's clientele are her main way of gathering political information that is useful to Delaunay, and being one touched by Kushiel influences Phedre's actions and is a strong part of her identity.

The prose is flowery and a bit convoluted. The entire story is told in first person from Phedre's point of view. At times it is somewhat dramatic, such as at the end of the first chapter when Phedre states: "When Love cast me out, it was Cruelty who took pity upon me." Personally, it didn't bother me and is exactly the type of writing I enjoy, but I can see how others may find it distracting, especially earlier in the novel.

There is a wide cast of characters and they are well developed. In the beginning, Phedre is a child and the story gradually progresses through the years until she is a young woman. At times, Phedre seems a bit perfect since she does play a big role in important events and is very good at putting the pieces of the puzzle together to reach the correct conclusion. Yet sometimes she does not realize what is happening in time, and she still has insecurities about her gift of Kushiel's Dart, her intelligence when compared to Delaunay's other apprentice Alcuin, and Alcuin's relationship with Delaunay. The minor characters were likable, too, and my favorite was the warrior-monk Joscelin who guarded Phedre. I found his attempt to balance the rules of his order with what is necessary to protect his charge interesting reading and his character underwent many changes throughout the story.

Kushiel's Dart is a fantasy book that has mythological elements such as some prophecy and legends of gods, and actual magic is a rarity. It is not one of those books with mages throwing fireballs or people with special abilities. However, there is a great balance between a great plot and a character-driven story, lots of political intrigue, adventure, and a love story.

Other than some difficulty with keeping track of various characters and their role in the world in the beginning, the only real problem I had with this novel was that the time spent with the Skaldi was a bit slow and the culture (peopled by stereotypical Nordic barbarians) was not as unique as the land of Terre d'Ange.

Overall, I loved Kushiel's Dart and the characters, world, and story Carey told. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series.

8.5/10

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