Book Description
Bestselling and illustrator Kris Waldherr's calendar features famous loves and their stories, including Dante and Beatrice, Tristan and Isolde, and Cupid and Psyche. This 16-month calendar includes 12 romantic postcards.
Customer Reviews:
A book fit for kings and queens.......2007-02-19
You may have seen images from The Lover's Path, and read descriptions of it, but that won't prepare you for the impact of holding and opening this astonishing object for the first time. I've never seen anything like this book before. It's so much more than the sum of its parts - and heaven knows, the parts are absorbing enough in themselves. Far more than an illustrated book, it offers its reader an experience that's not just literary, not just visual, but tactile as well. Reading the book involves not only attending to the words and images on the page, but physically unfolding a letter inserted among the pages, or removing Tarot cards from an envelope. And these things feel so right in their context. As I read, I'm conscious of the feel of the pages and the curiously solid, comforting weight of the book, in a way that isn't distracting but seems an integral part of the process - an imaginative extension of the reading experience. It's intensely personal. I know that this is a commercially produced book; but it feels like a hand-crafted private press book feels. It sings quietly in the hands.
I found the book invited me to linger over the illustrations and the beautifully designed pages, rather than rush through the story. I read it slowly, only a chapter at each sitting, immersing myself not only in the world of 16th century Venice, but in the luxurious physical presence of the book and its contents. To own this book is the kind of privilege that once only kings and queens could have known. Here, today, it can be had by anyone for a few dollars.
To truly love another ..........2006-11-19
Artist/author Kris Waldherr has gifted her readers with a world of mythic proportions in this work. You will feel that you are in sixteenth century Venice, walking along side the famous courtesan Tullia Ziani, and her talented younger sister Filomena - the Nightengale.
Woven into this feminist tale are the romantic myths of Beatrice and Dante, Danae and Zeus, Tristan and Isolde, the swan maiden, Psyche and Cupid, Orpheus and Eurydice, and Isis and Osiris.
Through well written words, stunning graphics, maps and letters - we enter another world, one of beauty and grace, but one that is also inhabited by sorrow and tragedy. As for those letters - in a very unique device, Waldherr presents us with several envelopes containing the letters referred to in her story, as part of the book. The reader is also gifted with the cards drawn for Filomena in a Tarot reading.
From the superb quality of the illustrations, to the gilt edged pages, the wonder maps, and the depth of thought presented here - this is a "must have" book for all who would follow the Lover's Path!
Beautiful in more ways than one.......2006-09-28
This is one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen, one of the most romantic, and at the same time contains strong female characters and historical accuracy. As a visual artist myself I know what went into this--years of meticulous research, endless revisions, and a huge wallop of talent. The reproduction is exquisite, leather-bound, gold stamping, and amazing extras like envelopes that open with separate letters that come out. In addition to the gorgeous artwork the story itself is compelling, both sad and hopeful, a moment of respite in our jaded world. Illustrated novels of this quality are hard to find. Take my advice and buy this book; you'll enjoy it and it makes a great present.
A Beautiful Book.......2006-03-30
This is one of the most beautiful, clever, and unique books it's ever been my privilege to own. It will transport you into a different world and a different way of viewing the universe.
Nice combination of a pretty story and beautiful art.......2006-01-15
I like this book. No, it's not the deepest thing you'll ever read, nor is it what I would call great literature, but it is a fun and engaging story. It is a historical romance set in sixteenth-century Venice with the kinds of exotic elements I love, like beautiful palazzos, walled gardens, and forbidden love. But what makes the book particularly enjoyable and worthwhile is its premise. There is a prologue supposedly written by the curator of a museum housed in the heroine's former palazzo. The museum is dedicated to the life of this woman and the story is put forth as a reissue of a book that was written by the protagonist in her lifetime. Now, for the fun part - the book is full of things like little letters that you can open and read, some tucked inside pretty little envelopes that are glued into the book. There are maps and supposed portraits of the book's main characters, all of which are supposed to be facsimiles of items in the museum's collection. Besides all of this, the book itself is beautiful, full of the author's illustrations. The pages have gilded edges and marbled borders. It is truly a work of art, which gives the book far more value than does the story alone. The book is a light, quick read, but it is these unique features and the lovely art that will make me treasure it.
Book Description
The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good....and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt. Phegrave;dre noacute; Delaunay is a young woman who was born with a scarlet mote in her left eye. Sold into indentured servitude as a child, her bond is purchased by Anafiel Delaunay, a nobleman with very a special mission....and the first one to recognize who and what she is: one pricked by Kushiel's Dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one.Phegrave;dre is trained equally in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber, but, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Almost as talented a spy as she is courtesan, Phegrave;dre stumbles upon a plot that threatens the very foundations of her homeland. Treachery sets her on her path; love and honor goad her further. And in the doing, it will take her to the edge of despair....and beyond. Hateful friend, loving enemy, beloved assassin; they can all wear the same glittering mask in this world, and Phegrave;dre will get but one chance to save all that she holds dear. Set in a world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess, this is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel's Darta massive tale about the violent death of an old age, and the birth of a new.
Customer Reviews:
Should you buy? -- Pros and Cons.......2007-10-10
There are enough reviews on this product that I would rather push a prospective buyer who is on the fence.
The protagonist of Kushiel's Dart is a Mary Sue risen from a sort of poverty (bondage, as it were). She is so beautiful that mortals look upon her countenance with envy, so sexually desirable that every King, Queen, and noble would step over Helen of Troy for a chance with her, so scholarly that she knows more languages and poetry than the actual scholars of the realm, so clever that she never reads another person incorrectly, so physically fit that she can scale buildings and cross countries on foot, so stealthy that she is never noticed when she doesn't want to be, and so hardcore that she need never use her safe word.
It is a recommended buy if:
- You are looking for a feel good read with BDSM overtones. It might be a nice gift for the sub who has been having a bad week.
- You are interested in roleplaying (online or *cough* not) from the thirteen special pleasure houses introduced in this book.
- You enjoy the flowery beauty of "le France".
I don't recommend this book if:
- You want at least one of over 900 mass market pages to be thought provoking.
- Verbose, flowery language with inconsistent narrative tone makes you queasy. (Present, past, and future do not mean much in this narration, and the snarky asides do not help in this matter.)
Difficult beginning but stick with it..........2007-10-07
Phedre no Delaunay is sold into indentured servitude as a child, her bond purchased by Anafiel Delauney (aka The Whoremaster of Spies), who recognises that the spot of blood in her eye marks her as one who is pricked by Kushiel's Dart (she experiences pain and pleasure as one - a masochist). She's trained as a courtesan, but is also taught how to observe and analyse what she sees - the tools of a spy. As Phedre's homeland of Terre d'Ange is drawn ever closer to conflict through treachery and betrayal, it will be up to Phedre to use all of the talents at her disposal to save what she holds dear.
For me this book has one of the worst beginnings I have ever read. The first time I read it I think it took me over thirty starts before I managed to get past the first page. If you can bear with it this is a story that is well worth reading. I have pin-pointed the spot where I was drawn into the story - page 11 where Phedre finally stops talking about herself. And by page 343 I am totally absorbed in the cruelty and beauty of Terre d'Ange, just in time for Jacqueline Carey to rip my heart out via my throat - metaphorically speaking.
I guess my main problem with the book is that I don't particularly like Phedre as a character. She has a severe case of Buffyitis only instead of 'I'm the slayer', it's 'I'm the anguisette'. Get over yourself already!
If you haven't read the book you may want to know that most of the love scenes are of a sado-masochistic nature, so if that's not your sort of thing perhaps you should give this one a miss. Though in my opinion these scenes are beautifully written and necessary to the plot.
This book has taught me that you don't need to love the protagonist in order to fall in love with the world she inhabits and the story she tells. Jacqueline Carey's worldbuilding is immaculate. Not only does she bring the myths, culture and beauty of Terre d'Ange to life. She takes us to the wild northern lands of Skaldia with a struggle for survival, and over the sea to the barbarian land of Alba and the battle for a stolen throne. This is an epic tale.
More than anything it is the characters surrounding Phedre who fascinate me - Alcuin, Delaunay, Joscelin, Melisande and Hyacinthe - and the history of the land that she is witness to and part of. Jacqueline Carey draws us into this world and makes it real, her storytelling has a depth and lushness that pulls you in (if you can just get past those first few pages).
Also available Kushiel's Chosen (book 2) and Kushiel's Avatar (book 3)
Better than I expected.......2007-09-25
A fictional romantic book with elements of western history mashed together but having all names changed. I didn't know you could make the story of a prostitute into an epic, but this book pulls it off while keeping you intrigued. I loved it and blew through it 2 nights. If you start this book you won't be able to put it down. The only one aspect I thought a little cliche was saving the character Melisande so that Carey could use her again in future books. Although I certainly didn't mind it, because she's one of the most dynamic villains I've seen grow in a book. Also you can also actually grow to love and symapathize with Melisande at the same. at the same time, the heroin, being a protitute that saves her nation through prostitution is rather overt; but I think Carey might be suggesting something of Women's actions in the past (but then again I may be reading too much into it). If you dont know what I'm talking about, read the book, it's more than just a "dime novel" romance.
Boring.......2007-09-19
I love a good epic story but Kushiel's Dart is not one of them. I had to force myself to get though the first 300 pages and then I gave up.
There was no excitment and I had no interest in the main character who to me comes off as shallow and emotionless. None of the characters were interesting enough to keep me involved, a page turner it's not.
I had high hopes for the book but it wasn't exciting, erotic or an adventure, everyone just seems bored and jaded. Yet I suppose if your entire life worth is based on your skills as a high priced courtesan then you're going to be jaded, but it still doesn't make you interesting.
A fascinating beginning........2007-09-17
Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Dart (Tor, 2001)
After my first day on Kushiel's Dart, I tallied up the pages I'd read, extrapolated, and budgeted a month for finishing this nine-hundred-page doorstop. It's now five days later, and I finished it last night. There's a lesson to be learned from this: sometimes the pace of the opening pages of a novel do not prepare the reader for what is to come. (Not that I advocate dropping the fifty-page rule, by any means, but just something to note.) I really should know better; Martin's now-iconic A Song of Ice and Fire has one of the slowest first hundred pages I've come across in a modern fantasy series.
Kushiel's Dart is the story (or the first bit of it, anyway) of Phedre no Delaunay, who lives in an alternate-world France during what would seem to be (and my apologies if I'm showing my ignorance of European history here) an era roughly akin to the reign of Louis XIII. This land of Carey's, though, is about as different from Earth as could be. Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a son named Elua, and it is he and his disciples who form the basis of civilized religion in this world. France (Terre d'Ange) and England (Alba) are not trade partners, nor are they enemies; the English Channel is uncrossable, thanks to a figure named the Master of the Straits, capable of whipping up storms to sink any boat that tries to make contact with the other civilization. Italy (Caerdicci) is a land filled with plotting slithery-type folks (okay, so that doesn't really differ from Alighieri's description of Italy a few centuries before all that much). Everything from Germany eastward, as far as we know, is ruled by the Skaldi, northern barbarians. Terre d'Ange is not, to put it mildly, in a terribly strategic position. As if the threats from the outside weren't enough, politics is waged like war within the kingdom. Phedre's patron, Anafiel Delaunay, is one of the combat's most adept players, and he brings Phedre-- born into a house of courtesans-- up to be not only the courtesan she was born to be, but a spy as well. And while the first half of the book seems nothing more than Phedre's memoirs, eventually the plot is revealed in all its glory. And then the real adventures begin.
That the second half of the book is good is, to be fair, not much of an accomplishment. Once you start packing in the action, it's pretty easy to make just about anything readable. What truly impresses me about Kushiel's Dart is that, even with the slight pacing problems of the first fifty or so pages, the first part of the book is just as good. I should mention at this juncture that I don't really do memoirs. Why bother, especially in an age where one can become a star by writing a memoir (rather than writing a memoir because one is a star)? Writing of the "and so it went" variety just doesn't normally work for me. Unless you've got a really good, solid writer on your hands. And the first half of this book is constant, unrelenting "and so it went," to the point of the phrase "and thus it was..." being used multiple times. And I still lapped it up. Why? Because, unlike most of these wannabe memoirists writing actual memoirs these days, Phedre no Delaunay is actually an interesting character. Which, I guess, is easier to do if you're fictional, but Phedre's voice reads real. She's naïve in all the places you'd expect, with a gradually increasing sense of wisdom (and somewhat unavoidable cynicism, given her various plights). These characters interact with one another well, and they're very well-drawn. They could just move around and talk, and it would be interesting. (Oh, wait, that's the first half of the novel.)
There are a few weak points in the novel, most of which are first-novel-blues kinds of things. Chief among them is repetition; the repeated piece that stood out most to me was everyone's wryness. And I mean everyone. They all had wry grins, or spoke wryly, or what have you. I don't think I've seen the word "wry" that much since my last kosher meats convention. (I hasten to add that bad puns are entirely the fault of the review author, and the book is not cursed with them.) That said, such things are certainly not going to keep me from reading what promises to be the rest of an absorbing, fascinating series. ****
Product Description
This is a two-in-one volume with both of Jacqueline Carey's top sellers Banewreaker and Godslayer. (Inside jacket: with her successful Kushiel series, Jacqueline Carey proved herself a force to be reckoned with in the fantasy field. Now she returns with another extraordinary epic, a shattering tale of gods at ware and the mortals they use in their deadly game.) Once the Seven Shapers dwelled in accord. First-born among them was Haomane, Lord-of-Thought, and with his six sibling gods, they Shaped the world and its children to their will. But Haomane was displeased with Satoris' Shaping, for he thought his younger brother too generous in his gifts to Men, who made war upon Hoamane's Children, the Ellylon. Though the First-Born asked his brother to withdraw his Gift, Satoris refused. So began the Shapers' War, which sundered the world and cast Satoris and his kindred to opposite ends of a vast ocean.
Customer Reviews:
An extraordinarily complex, moving achievement.......2007-07-13
Yes, I have read and loved all the Kushiel series; they are astonishing, wonderful books. Yet those who pick up the two volumes of the Sundering because they loved Phedre, and come away disappointed and complain the books fail to measure up, are missing the point entirely. These books are a different genre, and a different kind of accomplishment; they are a fantasy epic which is also a philosophical and ethical critique of the epic genre.
Of course, the similarily in narrative structure to the Tolkien epics is conscious and purposeful. Almost every character from the Lord of the Rings is found here: Gandalf-Malthus, Frodo-Dani, Aragorn-Aracus. Previous reviewers may have missed that the arguable "heroes" of this story, Tanaros Cavaros and the "Misbegotten" Ushahin Dreamspinner, are analogous to the leader of the Ringwraiths and Gollum. And Satoris Banewreaker, of course, is the Sauron who the Elves/Ellylon so lyrically claim to be bent on the destruction of all that is good and beautiful, working tirelessly "to cover all the world in a SECOND darkness!!!"
I wonder, how many of us who read and loved the Lord of the Rings ever wondered why Sauron would wish such a thing? Did the explanations of his motivations ever seem thin? Sauron was supposed to have created the Orcs "in savage mockery" of the Elves; a force of pure evil, needing no purpose other than destruction, with no desires, even in creation, except to mock and ruin. What Carey's epic is meant to show, and it succeeds beautifully, is that there are no such villains. There can be no races, such as the Orcs in Tolkien, without redeeming characteristics. To exist at all, especially to exist as a living community of any kind, living creatures must manifest certain virtues. The "Orcs" on the Sundering epic are ugly, certainly, and the "Elves" fear and despise them; yet Carey shows the Ellylon hatred and fear of the trollish Fjel as a product of their own limited aesthetics and the enmity between their races. The Fjel lack the beauties and brains of Elves and Men, yet they are real creatures, and therefore, in order for them to continue as a race at all, they must reproduce and rear their children, they must have some forms of love and loyalty. As this epic unfolds, the awareness grows in the reader that the "orcs" of Tolkien could never have been anything but a savagely distorted picture, a lie wrought by those who hated them from a distance. The power of the Ellylon to tell their stories with beauty, and thus inscribe their point of view as history, is explicitly thematized by Carey's hero Tanaros, who reminds the lovely Ellyl lady that every story has two sides, and that no Elf or Man has ever listened to the stories of the Fjel.
Tanaros himself stands as one of only two counter-examples; he himself is a Man, one who once served the ruling house of the oldest of Men's kingdoms. Once a hero in the best epic style, a loyal general who loved his king and his wife, now he is the most famous villain of his own race of origin. Long ago, he discovered his wife's new child to be, not his own son, but the son of his own best friend and beloved liege. The power of his loves fueled the violent madness of his hatred when those loves were betrayed, and he killed both his wife and her lover. Only in the service of Satoris can he re-discover loyalty and purpose, as only Satoris was willing to allow him the "dignity of his hatred" and allow him the chance to make a new life. The kingdoms of Men call Tanaros "Wifeslayer" the worst of comicbook villains, and see his service to Satoris as simply confirming how evil he is; a man who killed both wife and king could only flee to bad black Satoris in his evil dark fortress. Yet Carey shows us Darkhaven through the eyes of Tanaros as a haven, a place of beauty and dignity, and Satoris as the being who has given Tanaros sanctuary-- as well as a love that has never failed nor been untrue.
The Darkhaven of this epic, this Mordor, was built by Satoris after his first war with his older brother, who, wrathful at his younger brother's refusal to obey, burned the world with the fires of the sun and left Satoris wounded and scorched. Darkhaven is dark not to symbolize evil, but because light hurts as well as illuminates, and because fire is the weapon of the elder Shaper who believes, on thin grounds, that his own will is the entirety of truth and goodness, and that Satoris' refusal to obey him is the essence of wrong and evil. Darkhaven is guarded by Fjeltroll and staffed by madlings, and here is the poignant heart of Carey's vision. For Tanaros is only one of the ambiguous and complex heroes of this story. The other is his counterpart Ushahin, like Tanaros a byword for evil among the Elves and Men of this world, and like him a product of the very world and races who fear and hate him.
Ushahin Dreamspinner, unique in this fantasyworld, is half Ellyl and half mortal Man. The Ellyl, children of Haomane FirstBorn, are a race gifted with mind and heart, rationality and love, but immortal, and without the gift Satoris was asked to give to every other race: Desire. It was Haomane's command that Satoris withdraw Desire from Men which Satoris refused, the refusal for which he is called the Sunderer. Desire is an ambiguous gift, and one both Men and Elves find easy to blame for the crime one Man committed upon a daughter of the Ellylon; the crime of rape. Ushahin Dreamspinner was conceived in that rape, abandoned by the kindred of both parents, and almost killed in childhood by a crowd of other children with rocks. His appearance is all the more monstrous for the remains of remarkable beauty ruined, elegant bones shattered and ill set, wide-set eyes permanently dilated and crazed; he embodies all the horror of human cruelty and callousness, and walks in their dreams to show them the image of a child's fist with a rock breaking another child's face to bits. Called "The Misbegotten" by both the races from which he sprang, Ushahin serves Lord Satoris for the sanctuary Satoris gives to all the mad and broken of the world, those Ushahin calls to Darkhaven where they are safe and loved.
It is Satoris' relationship with Ushahin and his madlings that thematizes the true heart of this amazing critique of epic storytelling, this reply to Tolkien's brutal aesthetic of bright beautiful Elves versus nasty ugly orcs. When the lovely Ellylon lady arrives in Darkhaven and learns that it is a sanctuary for madlings, for all those beings broken and maimed by the cruelty of the world, she is of course appalled. The lovely, the perfect lady, of course she cannot fail to feel pity and mourn for the victims of cruelty and neglect who find safety and love in Darkhaven. Yet she protests they could be fixed, that Satoris ought to heal them and make them pretty again, a response that Tanaros shows in its selfishness with his reply: "To my lord Satoris, she is already beautiful." He loves them as they are, and finds the beauty they have in themselves, not needing to transform them into pretty elf maidens to find them lovely. Similarly, the Ellylon cannot realize the limitations of their own attitudes towards the half-elven Ushahin; they blame Satoris for not "fixing" him, never imagining that it is tghe Dreamspinner himself who refuses to be "healed" to erase the signs of what has made him what he is.
The Elves can only imagine beauty as being like themselves: perfect, tall, glowing with light, and above all, lucky. The scars of the unlucky, of all those who have been hurt, the stories of all those whose lives have been shaped by pain-- they can only see those things as flaws to be erased. What the limited aesthetic of the Ellylon cannot understand as valuable is the same thing that disappears in the caricatures of "orcs"-- the values and features of *life*. Life that struggles through pain and trauma, life that nurtures young, life that makes the best of ambiguity, life that goes on imperfectly.
It is finally an aesthetic of life with which Carey counters the simplistic aesthetic of epic in the Tolkien vein. In place of a god whose mysterious will must be obeyed as the definition of Goodness, we have a god who wishes only to live as he sees best, and survive the despite of his older brother's wrath. Haomane First-Born believes his own vision to be the definition of truth and reality, and his own will as the determiner of goodness. In such a belief-system there can only be one kind of choice: obedience is good, and defiance, evil. Counterpoised to that simplistic lie, Carey gives us a meditation on the nature of choice as life-determining, or choice and responsibility, of truth itself as ambiguity and complexity.
Good first half of a story. What next?.......2007-04-15
I love Jacqueline Carey's series about Phedre, beginning with Kushiel's Dart. It is one of my favorite stories. I also enjoyed The Sundering, though not as much.
The Sundering is a takeoff on Lord of the Rings, upside down. Sauron is the good guy here, and Gandalf is the bad guy. Frodo is a bit of a dupe, sent to destroy Sauron's power, even though Sauron was much kinder to him than the good guys ever were.
In this story, Gandalf's name is Malthus. "Mal" means something bad, as in malady. Frodo's name is Dani. He is accompanied by his uncle Bilbo, whose name here is Fat Uncle Thulu.
The dwarves are intact, but the elves are here called Ellylon, and are not as short as the elves of LOTR. Instead, they are the size of the elves in the LOTR movie, man-size.
Aragorn is in this story as well. His name is Aracus Altorus rather than Aragorn son of Arathorn. Same guy. Leader of the Borderguard, and the hereditary king. And as in LOTR he is scheduled to marry an elf, the Ellylon beauty Cerelinde.
Sauron, here called Satoris, isn't half bad. He inspires love and loyalty. It is his big brother Haomane who is the real pain in the butt. All of Satoris's brothers and sisters have ditched our world, gone across the sea, I suppose across the Atlantic Ocean to settle in America while the action of the story is in Europe, more or less, though Haomane's home is described as an island, not a continent.
Haomane wages unjust war against Satoris. On Satoris's side are Jackie's version of orcs or trolls, which she calls fjeltrol. They are big and strong and ugly. They are bigger than humans. But they have hearts of gold and are the good guys. The beautiful Ellylon are a bit of a load, conceited as all hell. So while Tolkein made it obvious who to root for because his good guys were cute and his bad guys were ugly, Carey turns that upside down for us. Ugly good guys, cute bad guys.
I was confused with some of her terminology. Souma. Soumanie. Marasoumie. Rhios. Half the time I barely knew what she was talking about when she mentioned these things. Apparently there is a lot of magic in her world, and the souma is a great source of magic.
Her characters are so interesting that I always wish the books were illustrated.
The main additions she has to LOTR are some new characters. Satoris (Sauron) has his three main helpers. I suppose they could be compared to the ring wraiths, and once in a while one of them is a Black Rider, but these three really aren't ring wraiths, and have interesting characters of their own. One of them, Tanaros, is the star of the book.
I enjoyed this book but it cries out for a sequel. Everything about the ending screams out SEQUEL.
A tragedy.......2006-05-27
This is an interesting book. The world is believable. the different races recognizable. It is told from the perspective of Satoris, the third born shaper of the world. He is supposed to be the bad guy that caused the world to be sundered.
And war is coming. It is led by the children of the first born shaper, Satoris' brother Haomane. They are allegedly the good guys. So now we have a classic battle between good and evil, only good isn't that good, and evil might actually be innocent of the charges against him.
I found myself cheering for Satoris as everything about him fell apart. I really didn't like Haomane at all. There are magical weapons, prophecies, but no one becomes all powerful that none can stand before him.
This is a story filled with rich characters, and they experience the spectrum of love, betrayal, honor and pride. This is good story and fine fantasy.
Recommended.
Product Description
Hardcover editions
Average customer rating:
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Kushiel's Dart
Jacqueline Carey
Manufacturer: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000O5Z4DE |
Book Description
A nation born of angels, vast and intricate and surrounded by danger... a woman born to servitude, unknowingly given access to the secrets of the realm...
Born with a scarlet mote in her left eye, Phédre nó Delaunay is sold into indentured servitude as a child. When her bond is purchased by an enigmatic nobleman, she is trained in history, theology, politics, foreign languages, the arts of pleasure. And above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Exquisite courtesan, talented spy... and unlikely heroine. But when Phédre stumbles upon a plot that threatens her homeland, Terre d'Ange, she has no choice.
Betrayed into captivity in the barbarous northland of Skaldia and accompanied only by a disdainful young warrior-priest, Phédre makes a harrowing escape and an even more harrowing journey to return to her people and deliver a warning of the impending invasion. And that proves only the first step in a quest that will take her to the edge of despair and beyond.
Phédre nó Delaunay is the woman who holds the keys to her realm's deadly secrets, and whose courage will decide the very future of her world.
Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel's Dart-a massive tale about the violent death of an old age and the birth of a new. It is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. A world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, deposed rulers and a besieged Queen, a warrior-priest, the Prince of Travelers, barbarian warlords, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess... all seen through the unflinching eyes of an unforgettable heroine.
Product Description
The first 4 books in the Kushiel's Legacy series, which is set in the country of Terre d'Ange (resembling medieval France). D'Angelines, as the citizens are called, believe they are descended from Blessed Elua and his band of fallen angels. Elua was born when the blood of the crucified Yeshua ben Yosef, the son of the One God, mixed with the tears of the Magdalene and then was quickened by Mother Earth. Scorned by his grandfather, the One God, Elua wandered the Earth with eight companion angels, who had rejected God to follow him. The eight were Naamah, Anael, Azza, Shemhazai, Camael, Cassiel, Eisheth, and Kushiel. The companions finally settled in the land that would be become Terre D'Ange. Elua espoused the precept Love as thou wilt and he and his companions inter-bred with the native populace, creating the D'Angeline people.
Customer Reviews:
Fabulous art, dumb story........2007-07-12
There's really not much more to say. Jim Lee should only be allowed to draw comics, never write. Lots of really terrific artists tire of being told by someone else what to draw and they try to write their own stories. Some of them turn out to be good or even great writers and some don't. Jim lee is one who didn't.
Book Description
A blend of case history, anecdote, history, and spiritual quest, this intimate and fascinating look at the world's oldest and most reclusive monastic order provides a rare understanding of day-to-day Trappist existence.
Customer Reviews:
An View of Trappist Life.......2005-07-02
VOICES OF SILENCE: THE LIVES OF TRAPPISTS TODAY could best be described as three stories melding into one. It tells the story of Trappist monks and gives a brief history of the order. It deals specifically with the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky and the people who inhabit this fascinating place. The third strain of the story is that of the author Frank Bianco, a journalist struggling with faith after a major tragedy in his life and how his personal contact with the Trappists in general and the monks of Gethsemani in particular helped him begin to cope with the enormity of loss in his life and the importance of faith.
Bianco does give us a history per se, but intersperses his observations of the monks as well as his personal feelings throughout the book. It's an easy read with short penetrating chapters. At some points it reads like a novel, particularly when he writes about the monks who had the greatest impact on his life: Brother Gabriel, the young monk who is in the process of discerning, Dom Timothy MacDonald, or Mac as he is called in the book, the lovable Brother Saul, and perhaps the monk who challenged and inspired him most, the irascible Fr. Bede.
The book is both unapologetic and reverential. We see the monks as people striving to grow closer to God who are also people with flaws and idiosyncrasies. We do not meet "cute" monks who are a caricature of religious life. Rather we meet people who live a vastly different life than most people in our modern world, yet have the ability to speak to the core of our humanity.
Perhaps the reason this book was enjoyable to me was due to the fact I recently returned from a visit to Gethsemani Abbey where many of the monks in this book live (or at least once lived). I saw the monks "up close and personal" so to speak, and had the opportunity to observe the monks in action. In many ways this book confirmed what I saw upon visiting and serves as a reminder of the powerful spiritual witness of Trappist monks in our world today.
Real View of Trappist Life ?.......2003-10-21
If one wants a balanced and realistic view of monastic life and history, three recent books are highly recommended- "Cloister Walk" by Kathleen Norris, "Grace is Everywhere" by James Behrens, and, "Trappist: Living in the Land of Desire" - the companion book to the PBS documentary "Trappist" (WVTI Charlotte Public Television, 1997.
I've been regularly going on retreats to a Trappist monastery since 1988, - I purchased Mr. Bianco's book when it first came out, ( at the Abbey gift shop as a matter of fact ), and was rather surprised and perplexed by his tone and view throughout.
If you want the straight story with no spin, look at the above selections.
Very Fine Book.......2003-08-06
This was a very fine book, very moving. It was sad, actually, to have finished reading the book as I thought I was putting away a good friend. The book was informative enough in teaching readers about the Trappist way of life---yet revealed the Trappists to be very real individuals. For those looking for scandal, they are in for disappointment. The humanity of these fine men is amazing. And, do not forget to read Mr. Bianco's introduction as it reveals the heart and soul of the man and what he learns about God and himself in his time with the Trappists.
One of the better studies of contemporary monasticism.......2001-02-09
The author, a semi-practicing Catholic dealing with the death of his youngest son, entered into the life of the Trappist monks in several monasteries. From that experience, he gives us a mixture of monastic history, of lives of selected (composite) monks discerning their calling and growth, and a picture of the issues confronting the religious community as they grapple with the issues raised by Vatican II.
The resulting book stresses several points:
Monk are human with the same foibles as the non-vowed Catholic population.
That a major component of what sets monks apart is the stability of their lives and the community in which those lives are lived; this results in an environment where confronting oneself and one's masks is inevitable.
That balance of work, play and prayer is essential to fostering wholeness.
That the monk's life is nearly a universal human activity and that much of what formerly distinguished the professed religious life is now adopted/adapted by dedicated laity.
That God truly works in mysterious ways - exemplified by the author's changed understanding of God as he finally confronts his son's death.
The genius of the book is that it achieves the list given above primarily through the narrative of human experience within the monastic community. Where more abstract theology/history is provided, it is generally within the context of conversation with individual monks presenting their individual experience and belief.
With the narrative, there are individuals that the reader comes to care about - the crusty, rigid Br. Bede, the Texas ranch boy Mac, the novice Gabriel ... Through these and many others, the reader catches glimpses of themselves and their own needs. In this sense, the lives of the monks as presented, serve as a mirror nudging the reader to examine themselves as the monks are examining themselves.
Food for the Journey.......2001-01-03
I recommend this book to those who find themselves on a spiritual journey. Having glanced at other reviews of the text, I agree that it is less a general introduction to the Trappist way of life and more of a documentary of the author's personal exploration of their spirituality. This exploration is in the context of the loss of his son; the tragedy is actually the impetus for his spiritual quest. In that sense, I believe readers that are similarly engaged will find the book much, much more meaningful and accessable than those who may be reading out of detached academic interest.
More than anything, I think the book provides a great insight into the charism of the Trappists Mr. Bianco lived with, and for anyone considering spending some time "off grid", it sheds a lot of light on the potential experience. If you are on the journey, or perhaps more accurately, engaged in the battle, I think this book will help.
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