Kushiel's Dart

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
"When Love cast me out, it was Cruelty who took pity on me." Ph￯﾿ﾽdre was the product of an ill-advised union. The daughter of a merchant prince's son and an adept of the Night Court, she was born into a society of courtesans who followed in the service of their angels. She was a flawed child with the mark of the devil.

Sold into indentured servitude by indifferent parents, she had little reason for hope. But hope would come in the form of a banned poet named Anafiel Delaunay, who would become her mentor. He wanted her for her mark; he knew what it meant and how he could use it. He taught Ph￯﾿ﾽdre to move within the royal halls virtually unseen -- to look, listen, and think. She learned to spy in places of power, and her greatest danger would be that eventually she would know too much.

Kushiel's Dart is an exotic, edgy, and sensual novel about politics, intrigue, betrayal, conspiracies, and desire. But a Harlequin romance this isn't, trust me. This is a well-written story that simply amazed me. (Jim Killen)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A nation born of angels; vast, intricate, and surrounded by danger...
A woman born to servitude, unknowingly given access to the secrets of the realm...
A plot borne of evil, too cunning to be fathomed, too deadly to be known...

Sold into indentured servitude in the sumptuous and exotic Night Court as a child, Phèdre nó Delaunay is a woman who struggles for honor and duty, whose loyalty to the land she loves will take her to the edge of despair—and then beyond.

Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel's Dart—a tale about the violent death of an old age and the birth of a new. It is a novel of grandeur, luxury, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. A world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, deposed rulers, and a besieged Queen, a warrior-priest, the Prince of Travellers, barbarian warlords, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess...all seen through the unflinching eyes of an unforgettable heroine.

FROM THE CRITICS

Robert Jordan

A very sophisticated fantasy, intricately plotted and a fascinating read.

Storm Constantine

Kushiel's Dart takes fantasy into shadowy, exotic corners it rarely dares to tread. The standard of the writing is so high, it's hard to believe this is a first novel. Jacqueline Carey is a writer to watch, as the cliché goes, but more important a writer to read.

Eric Van Lustbader

Perhaps once in a decade, if you are fortunate, you discover a debut novel as intoxicating as Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart. Part reimagined history, this sumptuous, spellbinding fantasy is kaleidoscopic in breadth, intimate in detail. It is sure to be read and talked about for years to come.

Library Journal

Trained from childhood to a life of servitude and espionage, Ph dre n Delaunay serves her master, Anafiel, as a courtesan and spy, ferreting out the dangerous secrets of the noble houses of Terre d'Ange. When she uncovers a treasonous conspiracy, however, her life takes on a new and deadly purpose. Set in a world reminiscent of late medieval and early Renaissance Europe, Carey's first novel portrays a society based upon political and sexual intrigue. The author's sensual prose, suitable for adult readers, should appeal to fans of Tanith Lee, Storm Constantine, and Terry Goodkind. Recommended for adult fantasy collections. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The physically exquisite inhabitants of Terre d'Ange reckon themselves descended from an angel, Blessed Elua. Among them, the arts of sexual expression are highly developed, with the various Houses of the Night Court catering for all needs. Young Phedre is unremarkably lovely-except that one eye is marked with a pinprick of red: Kushiel's Dart distinguishes her as a rare "anguissette" whose gift is to enjoy any form of sexual stimulation, including pain. Sold by her parents, she becomes the indentured servant of the noble Anafiel Delauney, who arranges for her an orthodox education-languages, politics, history, philosophy-as well as training in sexual skills. He also helps her sharpen her observational and critical faculties-she'll be not merely an exotic sexual toy, but a capable and unobtrusive spy. Phedre accepts only those clients she chooses, and receives no payment, though the satisfied ones give rich gifts. The information astute Phedre gathers for Delauney feeds some mysterious purpose he refuses to reveal-but his intrigues involve the Royal Family and the succession to the throne, as well as revenge. Delauney's former partner, now rival, the cold, calculating, and utterly ruthless Melisande Shahrizai nestles at the center of a series of truly Byzantine plots, intrigues, and treacheries; she aims not only to destroy Delauney but to rule Terre d'Ange. Phedre cannot resist Melisande or prevent Delauney's downfall, and is sold into slavery among the barbarian Skaldi. And Phedre's adventures, like Melisande's intrigues, have only just begun. Superbly detailed, fascinatingly textured, and sometimes unbearably intense: a resonant, deeply satisfying, and altogether remarkabledebut-but, emphatically, not for squeamish or judgmental readers.

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