Jacqueline Carey's "Kushiel's Legacy" trilogyFollow

Has anyone else read these?

I bought them on a whim about a year and a half ago, not really knowing what to expect. I wasn't sure if they would be fantasy or romance or what...ends up, the were much, much more than I could ever have hoped for.

The characterization is superb, each character very vividly drawn and none without the flaws that make them seem real.

The plotting is tight, very few incidences stand on their own without somehow working their way into the overall pattern of events. We see hints of things to come very early in the story and events develop layer by layer until the entire picture becomes clear.

The language is EXQUISITE. The prose reads more like poetry, a gift that few popular authors possess these days, and reminds you just how elegant and expressive the English language can be when used properly. Makes many other popular authors look like plodding amateurs in comparison.

The first book is certainly the best, the second the weakest of the three, and the third really quite good. All three are still very much worthwhile.

The concept of a divinely-touched ********* and courtesan as a protagonist is unique and innovative, and though the story often hinges upon events relating to the protagonist's sex life, never does that sex life overtake the actual story. The twist to Judeo-Christian mythology is very intriguing, and spotting the parallels between early European history and the version of Europe portrayed in the story is very entertaining.

I was excited to visit the author's website and see that a new trilogy in this world is in the works, with the first installment due next summer, tentatively titled Kushiel's Scion.

I encourage anyone who is interested in an interesting mix of fantasy/romance/erotica/intrique to check out this trilogy.

Have you read Carey's "The Sundering" duology yet? Godslayer just came out in hardcover, and I believe Banewreaker came out in paperback around the same time. I bought the first one (Banewreaker) when it came out in hardcover, but when I realized it was going to be a year for the second half of the story, I decided to wait, so I'm only just now getting around to reading it.

I'm finding it very interesting and quite different from the "Kushiel's Legacy" trilogy. The prose is still quite elegant and poetic, but the world it's set in is derived much more from Tolkien than western European history. It's more pure fantasy than erotica. I recently described it to my husband this way: "Imagine The Lord of the Rings if Sauron wasn't actually so much evil as he was just a guy who got a raw deal, and the protagonist of the story was the Witch King of Angmar." Thus far, I've seen no reason to revise that description.