Kushiel's Dart

Written and published a decade before 50 Shades of Grey, one can’t say Kushiel’s Dart was influenced by it unless one believes in time travel. The reason I recommend Kushiel’s Dart is that it’s a fast moving first person narrative set in a world both known and unknown to us. It’s palpable. We’re shown it, not told about it. The commonplace, such as sex, is common, and the shocking – violence – is delivered when it should shock. The only potential shocking bit to the sex is that the protagonist is not just a courtesan, but a rare courtesan who experiences pain and pleasure similarly. But the writer is so skilled at rooting the reader into her viewpoint it makes sense broadly. Her profession and proclivities also make her the ideal viewpoint character for the story. Think 16th Century Europe with a Rome that never fell quite so completely, Christianity with a twist (someone very different from Paul spreading the word), with some beliefs in earlier deities hanging on. And no magic, no elves, no dwarves, no supernatural nonsense. Just as magic makes game balance neigh on impossible, every magic system in the genre fantasy I’ve read recently reduces plot to rare drops and killer builds. And it’s well plotted, employing literary devices more sophisticated than genre high fantasy. Carey was more influenced by Jane Austen than J.R.R. Tolkien. But it also demands the attention of the reader. You’ll get lost in a hurry if you attempt to multitask while listening to the audiobook version

This book is basically a fantasy pg13 version of fifty shades of grey mixed with some shotty story telling. Dont get me wrong the book does have a decent plot but for the most part the first 6 hours in are kind of hard to fallow. Not to mention a very confusing time line story telling. Its written as if everything has already happened and you're being told about past events. Then it is as if it's all happening in the present. All in all unless you're willing to hold out for 6 hours...

I hate that this has a low review. I am in the middle of listening to this. But I read these a few yeara back and fell in love with them. Yes, they are a bit 50 shades of grayish in a way. But it's also more than that. The series has a whole new world complete with it's own politics and religion. It has meaningful relationships and shows the worst and best in people. I basically got to watch Phedre grow up and raise a child all her own. I felt immensely attached to her and then to her son later.