Kushiel’s Dart, by Jacqueline Carey

Here’s another example of a book I wouldn’t have picked up on my own. Thank goodness for friends’ recommendations!

In this case, it’s not that the cover is particularly terrible - I’ve seen much uglier, more awkward, ‘what were they thinking’ kind of covers floating around the library. What really gets me about this one is how misleading it is. Like I said, I wouldn’t have picked it up on my own, despite what I should have learned by now about not judging books by their covers. The cover of this book makes it look, how can I put this… rather introspective. Gentle and dreamy. Even the title kind of suggests something kind of soft - Kushiel’s Dart… Kushiel… Cushy.

This book is anything but that. If anything some parts of this book were almost too harsh to read. Harsh and intense. Once the story really got started I couldn’t put it down, and I’m working my way through the rest of the series as we speak.

The story starts with a girl being sold to a brothel at the age of four. Trying not to spoil anything, I’ll just say that no, it’s not as gut-wrenching as it sounds… the book takes awhile to build to that. Following the girl through her childhood and into her early adult years, the story sees her entering into the household of a minor lord, who arranges for her to be trained as both a courtesan and a spy. Here the story’s stage opens up; a renaissance-era world mirroring our own, full of intrigue, danger, cruelty and love. A gripping tale unfolds as the girl uncovers a plot to take over her country’s throne. Betrayed and kidnapped, she is again sold into slavery and taken to a harsh distant land, where she must find a way to endure, escape, and return home to reveal the conspiracy before her entire country is invaded and ravaged.

It’s not a light read by any stretch, and I have to say I found it absolutely riveting.