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Kushiel's Dart  By  cover art

Kushiel's Dart

By: Jacqueline Carey
Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
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Publisher's summary

The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good...and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.

Phèdre nó Delaunay is a young woman who was born with a scarlet mote in her left eye. Sold into indentured servitude as a child, her bond is purchased by Anafiel Delaunay, a nobleman with very a special mission...and the first one to recognize who and what she is: one pricked by Kushiel's Dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one. Phèdre is trained equally in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber but, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Almost as talented a spy as she is courtesan, Phèdre stumbles upon a plot that threatens the very foundations of her homeland. Treachery sets her on her path; love and honor goad her further. And in the doing, it will take her to the edge of despair...and beyond.

Hateful friend, loving enemy, beloved assassin; they can all wear the same glittering mask in this world, and Phèdre will get but one chance to save all that she holds dear.Set in a world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess, this is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel's Dart - a massive tale about the violent death of an old age and the birth of a new.

©2008 Jacqueline Carey (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This brilliant and daring debut catapults Carey immediately into the top rank of fantasy novelists." ( Publishers Weekly)
"A very sophisticated fantasy, intricately plotted and a fascinating audiobook." (Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series)

What listeners say about Kushiel's Dart

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

I almost gave up...

The first 4 hours is primarily focused on masochistic sex.. so much so that I almost gave up.. but hung in there because I was slowly becoming attached to the main character.. My other pet peeve was the unmanageable number of complicated character names to keep track of... other than that the story was very engaging and after the initial 4 hours I was HOOKED. I'm very glad I hung in there because the story was super.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

this narrator nearly destroyed this story.

Mispronunciation, poor vernacular, bad use of sentance6 structure. A French accent would have been more fitting. This narrator was a proficiant narrator but an exceedingly poor voice Actor. So much that the voice acting nearly destroyed the story for me.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I don't know if I can finish this

After listening for 11 hours, I've had to switch to something else more fast paced. This book is so ploddingly slow, I just can't endure it right now. It's putting me to sleep at work while I listen to it. Who knows if I'll ever come back to finish it. In my experience, if the first several hours have put you to sleep - it generally doesn't get much better.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

About What Happened, I Will Not Speak...

What disappointed you about Kushiel's Dart?

That phrase I've cited in my headline shows up entirely too much in such a long book. It seems everything that is interesting, Phedra (the protagonist and narrator) doesn't care to elaborate on. Oh she will drone on and on about the beauty of her people or the mythology of their creation, but get to something with some pathos and it's fade to black. The book already limits the readers vision by giving us everything from its protagonist's point of view exclusively. To have her censor for us as well leaves us feeling second step removed from the entire tale. Hint, if something is not important enough to be spoken of in your account or if its too delicate a matter to confide to your reader, DON'T MENTION IT.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

By the ending, my give a damn was just about busted. Every time the author would pull me in, get me caring about something or someone, she'd shuffle the moment off screen. There was one liaison between Phedra and Hyacinth, two of the main characters, that had been building the entire book. When she finally got there though, it was two sentences and fade to black. The author wasted hilarious amounts of time on banal details of setting, but come a moment of true feeling (or even just carnality) and she'd shy away.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator was fine. She had a good voice, acted well, carried multiple roles. Nothing wrong with that at all.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I'm am giving Kushiel's Dart a hard time. The book had an elaborate detailed and intricate plot. It's what kept me going through all the frustrations with the method and style of its telling. I wanted to know what happened. That's why story wise I rated it higher than the overall rating. She developed a rich world. It was a terrible pity that she decided only to let us peek through a knothole to have a look at it.

Any additional comments?

This has the feel of an older style of writing. It is very classy and demure. For a barbarian like me, it was a bit too cultured maybe. If you like material like the Bronte's, I think you would enjoy this text. Don't come looking to be shocked though, because Ms. Carey won't let you see anything too terribly shocking. Her protagonist is too much of a lady to talk about such things.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing when I read it years ago . . .

Even better as an audio book! I have always promised myself to go back and read this series again, but I've never found the time. BUT! As an audio book, the Kushiel series is AWESOME! I highly recommend it for adult readers who like their fantasy on the spicy side. (I also LOVE the narrator!) Be smart -- buy this one, and prepare to be amazed!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Extremely prosaic, boring, and a waste of a credit

I was disappointed with this book. I wasted my credit. I love sci-fi and fantasy. I was expecting that but I got a lot of sex,and an uninteresting story. It may get interesting later, but the first part was so boring I couldn't bear to get through it. If you are looking for something new to read, try the Lost-fleet series by Jack Campbell, Codex Alera by Jim Butcher, the Final Empire saga by Brandon Sanderson (or just his stand alone Elantris book - excellent book), that is, assuming you have already listened to the Wheel Of time series by Robert Jordan. If you haven't, then read that first.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I couldn't enjoy it.

I was hoping to find a book to get lost in on my commute to and from work. I couldn't take it anymore I can enjoy it. It's not to my taste I found the narrator and story difficult to understand.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Dull and predictive

The story was dull and predictive. Narration is unengaging. This book is probably the exception to the saying that "sex sells".

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not to my reading taste

Would you try another book from Jacqueline Carey and/or Anne Flosnik?

Maybe

What could Jacqueline Carey have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

This would have been a challenging book to read with the character and place names. I found it impossible to follow the character and place names in the audio format.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Anne Flosnik?

Maybe

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I do not know; I cannot say...

If only I had known that this author was incapable of escaping the first person, past tense narrative; or that she possibly misplaced her thesaurus that day, would I have still read this novel? I do not know; I cannot say.

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3 people found this helpful