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WoGF Review: Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Ten years ago Maylin Tan (dihenydd) left the rat race of teaching maths (to naughty boys in the UK) to live in a yurt in rural France. No longer ruled by the alarm clock she can stay in bed and read all day if she wants. Within genre fiction her tastes are eclectic – ranging from YA to erotica. She is a keen knitter and two years ago formed Tri’Coterie with the byline Colouring your Fantasies, dyeing yarns for discerning knitters inspired by genre themes. This has proved so popular it is hard to keep up with demand.
Some of the best world building I have come across lately.
Ms. Carey seems to have gone through world history cherry-picking for interesting cultures, irrespective of contemporaneity, added her own mythology and a full cast of well developed characters. The result is a brilliant melange.
I’ve seen it noted that the language is overly flowery. I listened to the audio book and once I got used to the cadence of the reader the language seemed well suited to the story giving it the atmosphere of Memoirs of a Geisha set in an 11th century Aquitaine Court.
Much has been said about the sexual content of the book, particularly the ‘hardcore BDSM’ content. I found the description laughable. Phedre is, I would hazard a guess, a sexual masochist. This gives her some notoriety and standing in a society whose main precept is ‘Love as thou wilt’ However I think it is more of device to explain her unusual standing than a titillating adjunct. There is no erotic content, the sexual descriptions are relatively clinical rather than arousing. As for ‘hardcore BDSM’ whoever thinks that has obviously never read any of that genre, let alone anything hardcore.
