Reflections on Phedre

It's taken me weeks to finish Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey, and I'm not sorry to have taken my time with it. Like the first two books in the trilogy it's so vast and detailed that a quick read wouldn't allow me to take in everything. As it is I find it difficult to articulate what exactly appeals to me about these books.

First of all, if you haven't read the first two books in this series I strongly suggest giving them a shot. Myself, I mainly read romance and urban fantasy and almost never touch traditional fantasy. Phedre is a courtesan (and also a spy) who specializes in being submissive. She uses this role to move through wars and politics and all manner of intrigue. As a romance reader I am always innately cautious about approaching a book with this type of heroine and plot because I don't care for page after page of mindless pornographic sex without genuine emotion. And I sincerely doubted that a courtesan could find true abiding love with one person while still practicing her craft. But in fact, Carey has a talent for keeping everything tasteful without making it bland. And sexual intrigues aside, Phedre is a strong likeable character who develops and evolves into what I now consider one of my all time favorite heroines.

Furthermore, the world building in these books is completely unique compared to anything I've read before. It's set in a kind of alternate historical Europe. Any magic or fantasy elements employed are based on mythology including (but not limited to) Christianity, Greek, Eqyptian, Norse, and Celtic. These elements are never used too outrageously, but instead come up only when they fit the story.

In this particular book she has two major goals--to find and free Imriel de la Courcel after he has been kidnapped, and to free Hyacinth from his role as Master of the Straights. The key to this, incidentally, is to find and speak the name of God. These goals gave the plot a nice solid structure, so that this book seemed to have more order to it than the other two. The plot goes to some dark and strange places. There are many adventure elements and a lot more use of the mythology and religion that was touched on in previous books. In the midst of all of this there are some unexpected touches of horror, which as a fan of such things I enjoyed.

Phedre has done a great deal of maturing leading up to this book, and it's apparent in the narrative. She shows less willful recklessness and self focus, and more thoughtful planning. Furthermore, the focus is much less on her skills as a courtesan and more on her ability to endure hardships of all kinds. I was happy to see that, because while I enjoyed her role in the earlier books it was easy to see that this book was setting her up as a mentor figure. In other words, it was necessary to transform her into a character that could be viewed as a respectable teacher.

Joscelin's entire character arc for the trilogy has been learning to cope with loving Phedre, despite their opposing personalities and the nature of her work. Most of this was dealt with in the second book. In this one, he proves his level of devotion yet again. It's wonderfully romantic, of course, but doesn't leave much for me to say in terms of character development that I haven't already said. He has matured, displays less of a temper, and is obviously being molded into a father figure.

Now, for the secondary characters (there are too many to really mention them all) I felt fairly satisfied. Everyone had a role to play and appeared when it was time for them to play it. Hyacinth was one of my favorite characters from the first book, and I wish this one had more of him. But when he does appear, he's fascinating. As for Imriel, I found him to be a sympathetic character, but a little underdeveloped. Carey gives him a few character traits to make him memorable, but for the most part he exists to drive the plot forward. I can't complain to much about this, since I know he has his own trilogy. And Melisande, that villainous character I loved to hate, is in this book a lot less and is somewhat less villain-like. There are one or two villainous characters, but the plot is much more driven by quest based conflict than political intrigue.

I feel fairly confident in saying that this was my favorite book in the Phedre trilogy. I enjoyed having a more mature heroine. I liked most of the plot elements, especially the darker ones. The plot felt well paced. Most importantly, it drew Phedre's story to a conclusion that I found satisfying. It isn't precisely a happily ever after, but she does find peace and happiness. I really appreciate Carey's  intricate writing style and all the detail that goes into these books. Again, I highly recommend trying they. I don't have any complaints worth mentioning for this one. 5 stars.

Adventure, True Love, and Treacle Tart

Recently I've been reading Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate) with much enjoyment. I'm only a bit over halfway done, so I won't share my detailed thoughts on it just yet, but it has served to inspire me to attempt the baking of my very first treacle tart. After seeing it mentioned in countless historical novels (and in Harry Potter if I recall correctly) it has long been stuck in my head as a thing to try, and I've finally done it!

It was quite an endeavor. I first obtained a simple looking recipe and set about gathering ingredients. The most challenging among theses was the golden syrup, which is surprisingly difficult to come by in the United States. Once my syrup had arrived and everything else was in place it was easy enough to make, though I confess I cheated and used store bought pie crust. I'm happy to report that it was a rich and tasty little pie with a strong take of ginger and lemon. It was especially enjoyable over tea.

In other reading news I have (at last) completed Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey, the second in her epic historical fantasy series. So on with my review!
It's been over a year since I finished Kushiel's Dart, toward which my feelings were generally positive. I have
 a friend who loves these books very deeply, has read them many times and is able to recall the most minute trivia from them on command. Sadly I'm not nearly such an expert. But I can say that, so far, I've been impressed by the scale of the story, it's intricate detail, three dimensional characters, and overall satisfying delivery.

I did not find Kushiel's Chosen to be quite as complex or epically enormous as Kushiel's Dart, and I feel that this is a positive fact for the most part. The story follows Phedre in her quest to discover where the traitor Melisande has fled to. If you've read the first book you are aware of Phedre's conflicting feelings toward Melisande, as well as how potentially dangerous the woman is. Phedre is accompanied in her journey by several loyal companions, most notably Joscelin. With their relationship in turmoil and Joscelin following his own private missions, much is uncertain. I am simplifying for the sake of brevity, because of course there is much more to the story than can reasonably be summed up.

The good parts? As said, the scale is just a bit smaller and therefore easier to follow. I was already someone familiar with most of the relevant characters, and thankfully their are few to be concerned with. The characters that are mentioned are, for the most part, more distinct and three dimensional. Phedre goes through quite a bit and changes just a little as a result. There are a lot of adventure elements that I enjoyed--pirates, deadly spirits, gods, and magic.

Negatives? Now, I'm aware that this is not a romance series. However, one of the things that I loved about Kushiel's Dart was the development of the romance between Phedre and Joscelin. Joscelin is not in this book as much as I would have liked. Most of the time, their relationship is on the rocks. I won't give away the manner in which this is resolved, but I will say that I thought it was a bit hasty and unsatisfying. Also, at times Phedre frustrated me with some of her choices. She's a very intelligent and skilled character, but all to often her successes are dependent of luck or the ingenuity of others. That detracts from her likeability a bit.

These are the sort of books you read on cross country road trips or during extended layovers, because they are guaranteed to keep you occupied for a good long time. They are full of political intrigue, magic, and sex. I would recommend this book to fantasy fans. 4 stars.