I originally picked up this series because there was a line on the front cover of Book 1 Kushiel’s Dart from Robert Jordan essentially complimenting the intricacies of the series. I mean, hey, if Jordan liked it, it MUST be good. He didn’t fail me either. Set in a world pretty darn close to our own, well, our own in the 1600’s maybe, this intricate fantasy piles on intrigue, politics, espionage, theology, and an extremely healthy dose of masochism. You weren’t expecting that last bit, were you?
While love (in ALL its forms) is a prominent theme in this series, it is not brimming with those flowery (and horrible) phrases that induce vomiting. i.e. throbbing, heaving, bosom… that’s about all I know. You get the picture. When sex is mentioned, its very much the whips and chains version…somehow this is done in a way that is neither offensive, too much, or even a highlight of the book. The main character just happened to be a masochist, that’s all, hell, she’s a gods chosen masochist. Nope, not something I’m in to, you don’t need to be either, that’s just a fair warning for all of you. While the main character may be a bit… different, she is also one of the best and most interesting spies I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading about.
The characters in these books are intricate, involved, and extremely real. The conflicts are both involved and involving, and more then once I had no idea where it all was going to end up.The parallels to our world are fantastic, especially involving religion. Everything is so familiar, yet so blatantly different that it seems all the more real. This has become a near and dear series to me. I’ve only read through book 3, so far, and haven’t lost interest yet.
