Kogiopsis’s Reviews > Kushiel's Dart > Status Update

Phedre is a woman with a hammer to whom everything looks like a nail - the number of relationships she has that aren't sexual, or problems she solves through things other than sex, can be tallied on one hand.

Literally no one in this book is allowed to be pretty unless they're D'Angeline. I get that it's supposed to be a 'they're all descended from angels' thing but it kinda sounds like a racist thing. "She was pretty, for a Cruithine - not as good as a D'Angeline though" is the sort of thing that keeps coming up.

Carey keeps talking about how Phedre not giving her safeword takes strength. THAT'S NOT WHAT A SAFEWORD IS FOR AND I WOULD LIKE YOU TO STOP NOW.

oh fuck she just offered an in-world justification for French antiziganism. I am so uncomfortable with this book.

Joscelin is, to judge by his behavior and ability to think beyond his nose, pretty much a child. And kind of a petty brat of one, too.

There's a great deal of hypocrisy here: Phedre will criticize the Skaldi for not thinking about the cost to others, but really, how much better are the D'Angelines at that? The treatment of the Skaldi as dangerous barbarians would be a lot more believable if we hadn't already seen that Terre D'Ange is rotten to the core.

For a book which often presents sexuality as fluid, this falls back really fast on heteronormative stereotypes. Feels like a major worldbuilding hole to me - sexuality is what the plot/atmosphere needs, not actually a trait of individuals.

I recommend listening to an upbeat EDM club mix while reading this book - it makes for good contrast to the pretentious writing style.

Well, she's used the safeword... because a patron told her to. CAREY. STOP THIS.

Seriously, how are they preventing pregnancy? Why hasn't this been addressed?