Kushiel's Dart (Phèdre's Trilogy, #1)

My feelings were mixed on this one. At times I really enjoyed it, and at other times, well, not so much.

Many people make a big deal about Phèdre's youth and how's she's used at the beginning. And those things did not make me comfortable, but I didn't think they were presented in such a way as to be exploitative. In the context of her world, they made a lot of sense. And throughout, the sex scenes were short and easily skippable if anyone was so inclined.

Whatever discomfort I experienced at the beginning was tempered by the interesting things going on. I liked the story of Elua—it was a cool twist on the usual Christian mythos. Hyacinthe was cool. Delauney was mysterious. It looked like Phèdre was being given opportunities to grow that she might not otherwise had. So I was dragged along, curious to see what happened next. And I became invested in a number of the characters.

As the book progressed, I found it started to drag a little, especially once our heroes were returning from Alba, and I was getting a little tired of every obstacle being solved via Phèdre "special talents". The last 100 pages or so were the worst, I thought, much longer than they should've been, winding things up, and I found myself skimming just a little bit.

So. Entertaining. Some cool ideas. Pacing issues toward the end.