Mari Ness - Kushiel's Justice

Just finished reading Kushiel's Justice.

The Kushiel series is growing on me, I admit. I never liked Kushiel's Dart much, partly because that type of sex is really not my thing, and mostly because I was irked by the praise saying, "Yay! A book that finally gets masochism! Submissiveness! It's SO FEMINIST! Finally, something that celebrates the fact that some women love to be submissive! Ooooh!" Er. This sort of praise, I thought, missed the point of the character – she didn't choose submission/masochism, or do it for fun, or because it was her sexual orientation, but because she was cursed, to the point where, as the character herself notes ruefully, it was damnably inconvenient. I might have taken this praise differently had Phedre, the main character, instead said, "Oooooh, really enjoy this whipping thing," instead of constantly reminding us over and over that she'd been pricked by Kushiel's Dart and therefore had no choice in this kinda thing. But anyway.

Other than that, I thought Jacqueline Carey had a good feel for court intrigue, and although I didn't enjoy the first book, or the second, somehow, I kept reading. I liked the third book, Kushiel's Avatar, much more.

Kushiel's Scion and Kushiel's Justice are sequels to that first series, and are more of a coming of age story set amongst court politics than a pure "how many ways can we beat this chick up," saga, although Carey still likes to see just how much she can torture and emotionally devastate her characters as they run round and round popping in and out of bed. These two books, however, feel more self assured, and it's become much easier to tell the various minor characters apart – although that may be from my growing familiarity with them, as well.

And now, off to the chaos that shall be Iron Man!