Nocturnal Book Reviews

I adore Jacqueline Carey's writing. I personally think she is more suited for me than George R. Martin. She is definitely more personal while her world-building is still just as vast as Martin's.

Kushiel's Avatar starts 10 years after the end of Kushiel's Chosen. Melisande Shahrizai is vanquished and hiding away at Asherat's sanctuary while Phedre and Joscelin enjoy their quiet living in their country estate. But all good things come to an end when they receive a letter from Melisande asking for their help in finding her missing son in exchange for information Phedre has been desperately seeking all this time.

Phedre is obsessed with releasing Hyacinthe from his servitude to an ancient fallen angel as Master of Straits. In book #1 Hyacinthe took her place and sacrificed himself so Phedre would save Terre D'Ange, and since then she hasn't stopped looking in the ancient texts for a solution to breaking the curse.

Now, when Melisande dangles a carrot like this in front of her, Phedre will have to do everything in her power to find missing Imriel. She goes searching for him, and her journey takes her to forgotten dark places. Through her hardships Phedre comes to realise that she is led by higher forces not only to find Imriel but to vanquish dark forces rising in the East from the ruins of an ancient civilisation.

The part when Phedre is immersing herself and Joscelin, poor Joscelin, in that dark kingdom is truly horrifying. It's literally a kingdom of death, rot and decay, it's ruler is a mad evil sadist, there is so much desperation, depression and pain it's emotionally hard to read. You feel hot and cold, your stomach is in knots.... In comparison, Phedre's further quest for The Name of God feels almost anticlimactic.

However, this doesn't take anything away from the EPIC awesomeness of this series. Phedre's journey has been amazing, and I can't wait to start the next trilogy which is about Imriel. Jacqueline Carey provided unique outlook on BDSM, making Phedre an ultimate submissive before such topic even became widely spread and popular, but most of all there is an incredible amount of love and wisdom here even if the journey itself is not for the fainthearted.