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Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey check out website: www.tor.com
It is again as beautifully written as the first two novels in the trilogy (‘Kushiel's Dart’ and ‘Kushiel's Chosen’) and again follows the story of the beautiful Phèdre nó Delaunay - courtesan and spy in the city of Elua in Terre D'Ange. In undertaking this quest, Phèdre stretches her relationship with her ex-Cassiline consort Joscelin to breaking point. The book is, as Jacqueline Carey said in a recent interview, the darkest of the three. I would, however, assert that the darkness literalised and broodingly quickened in Drujan and the worship of Death in Daršanga is well balanced by the overabundance of light and heat in the arid desert of Jebe-Barkal. Phèdre's quest consists of two parts. One is to discover and attempt to retrieve Melisande's son, Imriel, who is kidnapped at the beginning of the novel. The second part is to learn the name of God (no half measures) so she can free her closest and oldest friend, Hyacinthe, from the geist that holds him bound as the Master of the Straits. Doomed to live forever but to age as normal. For this sacrifice Hyacinthe made for the sake of Terre D'Ange, Phèdre goes to the ends of the earth and faces any number of dangers. There is an added element of pathos, however, in the love she shares with Hyacinthe. This love does not appear to preclude or undermine her love for Joscelin. The close of the novel- although ending with a celebration- is awash with pain because the situation demands a parting and not even Phèdre's anguissette ability to transmute pain into pleasure can fully assuage the sting of separation. ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’ is an accurate summation of the situation. The book I believe must be read. The words that spring to mind when I think of this trilogy are words that conjure up images of intoxicating sensuality, sumptuous living, an appreciation of aesthetic beauty and captures the intricately detailed and rich tapestry of life. It is a fantastic story and well told. I cannot seem to convey the essence of the novel in this short review and truth be told I do not want to. Carey tells it infinitely better. Sana Master
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OTHER REVIEWS - August 2003
Books Cities edited by Peter Crowther Language In Thought And Action by SI Hayakawa The Space Merchants by Frederick Pohl The Longest Way Home by Robert Silverberg The Light Ages by Ian R. Macleod Latro In The Mist by Gene Wolfe Righteous Blood by Cliff Burns The Other Side Of The Sky by Arthur C Clarke Looking For Mr Nobody by Sue Rann The Wood Wife by Terri Windling Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey Hidden Empire by Kevin J Anderson Infinity Plus Two edited by Keith Brooke and Keith Gevers T2 Book 3: The Future War by SM Stirling Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar And Grille by Steven Brust Videos and DVDs Crime Traveller Volume 1 and 2
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The
review for this book, ‘Kushiel's Avatar’, for some reason took me
a long time to write. I know what I think of the book. A great many
things. Probably, in fact, too many. 
In
this concluding part, Phèdre goes on a quest on behalf of
Melisande Shahrizai- the villainess whose royal aspirations were
thwarted by Phèdre in the preceding part.
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