Kushiel's Dart

Kushiel's Dart was a bit of a surprise - I went into it expecting some light Fantasy with a bit of a different take on things, but got much much more. This novel was a big pile of hot sex and sadomasochism, with quite excellent in-world justification for what is going on. The world of Kushiel's Dart is a medieval/renaissance era fantasy based on our own world, but with the point of divergence being when Jesus is crucified, a drop of his blood falls to the earth and creates Elua, a semi-divine, angelic being who recruits a group of similarly angelic followers, wanders across to France, and creates a kingdom called Terre D'Ange. These angelic beings then have children, and history progresses. The novel is set an unspecified period of time later, but basically in the medieval era. The protagonist, Phèdre, is indentured by her mother, a courtesan, into one of the 13 courtesan houses of the City of Elua. Thus begins her training as a courtesan. She is then purchased by Anafiel Delaunay, to be trained as a spy. Things get complicated from there, but Phèdre has an important role to play in the succession for the d'Angeline throne.

A really interesting aspect of the book is its take on sexuality. With the current debates around gender and sexuality in Fantasy literature, the Kushiel's Legacy series is a good response to the justifications of regressive gender politics. In this world, Elua, who is effectively their chief god, has declared "Love as thou wilt" to be a primary commandment. This means that for d'Angelines, there is no taboo against sex, homosexuality, S&M, or anything of that nature, as long as consent is freely given. And rape is blasphemous. It's a good illustration of how when you're building your fantasy world, it's pretty easy to get sexuality right, and not just fall back on "well, that's how it was in medieval times, can't change it".

I think some readers might find it a bit heavy going - it's written in the first person, from Phèdre's viewpoint, and she is a rather flowery writer. And she is kind of Kushiel's chosen one, so it can in places read like teenage fan fiction, but once you get past that, it's a rollicking adventure in a world that is interestingly different to any other fantasy that I've read. There's another 8 of them (there are three trilogies), so I'll have a pile of reading to get through, but I'll certainly be reading more of Jacqueline Carey's series.