ISBN: 0-765-34298-7 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com
Excellent large-scale fantasy, seamlessly combining conventional elements, remarkably polished world-building, unusual heroine and romance.
Reviewed by David on February 01, 2004
Genre: Fantasy (War, Mild BDSM, Slavery)
Synopsis: In a world much like Renaissance Europe, centrally located Terre D'Ange claims to have been founded by the Angels—and worship all shapes of love and beauty. Among various interpretations of that love is the physical, and a special mention is given to anguisettes, the semi-legendary chosen of Angel Kushiel, marked at birth and blessed—or cursed—to find pleasure in pain.
Phèdre is one of these rare children. An indentured servant, she ends up serving a master who plays the dangerous games of politics and intrigue. In a land where sex is an art form, will Phèdre's beauty and strange talent be a toy or a weapon?
Full Review: The author takes a conventional Europe, skews it slightly, integrates a cosmology, and throws in what appears as deviant sexuality into the mix. Amazingly, this strange combination works very well. The author's system of divinity is well crafted, and has enough parallels to our own to both invoke strong reactions and to diminish the need for expositionary lumps.
Thus with the world in general. The countries are recognizable, with familiar yet exotic names: Terre D'Ange as France, worshipping beauty and spawning intrigue; Aragonia as Spain; La Serenissima as Venice, etc. And yet the changes all make sense with the altered—yet familiar—gods.
The most exotic element is the sex—raised to a religious observance, at least in some sects, used as recreation, worship, and weapon. And yet instead of prurience the attitudes are so matter of fact that the reader soon fogets the titillation and concentrates on interaction. There is even a sect that cling to celibacy—and one of their number becomes a close and highly conflicted member of the cast.
While the world-building is superb, the characters give it life. Phèdre herself, the first-person narrator, is wonderfully rich, with her insecurities, guilty and glorious passion, curiousity, and, at the end, driving honor. Her observations create the other characters, and as Phèdre matures, so does her insight. Above all, Phèdre dispenses love and compassion, even as she fights—and sometimes kills her enemies.
The rich, well-integrated world and the exotic nature of its heroine that becomes as familiar as a good friend by the end of this book, make this fantasy stand out. Despite its length—over 900 pages—the reader wants more when the book is done.
Overall: 7.5; Plot: 6; Characters: 7.5; Style: 7; World-building: 7.5; Originality: 9;
Copyright date 2001, Tom Doherty Associates (Tor), March 2002, Mass market paperback, 901 pages
ISBN: 0-765-34298-7 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com