Uncreated Conscience

NAAMAH'S CURSE by Jacqueline Carey

I make it no secret how much I adore Jacqueline Carey and her Kushiel books. I have read every novel set in that universe. There have been 7 books to date.

Carey writes with lush, descriptive (but not overwrought) prose, develops a killer fantasy world that is both heartbreakingly realistic and a place to which I want to escape, portrays wonderfully nuanced and sexy relationships between all her characters, and has created my favourite feminist heroine of all time: Phèdre nò Delaunay, a kinky, bisexual, sexually masochistic courtesan-cum-spy.

Yep.

NAAMAH’S CURSE is her latest book (available for pre-order), the second in Moirin’s trilogy, the first being NAAMAH’S KISS. And right on the heels of my race-in-fiction week: LOOK AT THE COVER.

I might love her even more now.

So, I read a lot when I am given the time, and I definitely had a lot of that when I was home. Reading and eating. I think I’ve gained about 15lbs since coming back to LA. Oh dear. Anyway! Books! Books I have read and will now review for you! KUSHIEL’S MERCY by Jacqueline Carey and FLORA SEGUNDA by Ysabeau Wilce.

Review of Kushiel’s Mercy by Jacqueline Carey

Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey

I had hoped to buy this in mass market paperback because all of my other Kushiel books are in paperback, but I got impatient. And now I’m annoyed because I’m obsessive-compulsive about my books. REGARDLESS, I picked this up on Boxing Day and finished this behemoth very nearly in one go (interrupted only by my junior high reunion).

In my review of Kushiel’s Justice, I gave a brief summation of the events prior so I won’t bother here. To offer some brief background information, Imriel de la Courcel nó Montrève and his royal cousin the Dauphine Sidonie had embarked on an tumultuous, politically rife affair before Imriel left Terre d’Ange to pursue a marriage of state to Dorelai mab Bredaia of Alba. Unfortunately, this was in defiance of their god Blessed Elua’s precept of Love as thou wilt for while Imriel came to love and admire his wife, he was in love with Sidonie. The ensuing heresy (however well-intentioned) has horrific consequences, resulting in a chase across Vralia in search of vengeance and the “coming out” (so to speak) of Imriel and Sidonie as lovers.

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I must have the memory of a goldfish when it comes to the effects of alcohol on my body. Two drinks on an empty stomach is not a good idea, especially when you have no tolerance to begin with. I stumbled home around 10:00pm last night after having met with my darling Sofa and then spent the next four hours wanting to die. I shall ignore the nagging, paranoid sensation that my face is melting off. It’s a curious feature of JJ’s inebriation (aside from the inability to enunciate the word “vegetable”): sometimes I am absolutely convinced my features have become like putty and will at any moment drip into a puddle of goo onto my desk. Gross? Yes.

Dangerous Beauty

I shall also ignore the persistent desire to write an escapist courtesan fantasy set in a retro-futuristic (er…steampunk, I suppose but my steampunk is not Victoriana-inspired) world. I like courtesans, but I can’t possibly articulate why, although I shall make an attempt of it here. My reasons for wanting to be an adventuring half-feral princess are quite easily explained; it calls to my ur-feminist, the side of me that liked boy things like shooting and playing war but who wanted to wear pretty, pretty dresses at the same time. It’s as Eddie Izzard said in Dressed to Kill: “Running, jumping, climbing trees, putting on make-up while you’re up there.”

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I really ought to follow the WordPress development blog/changelog more often so that when I do update to the next version I’m not completely and utterly shocked by the new interface. But I extend wholehearted kudos; it’s much more intuitive and faster-loading than the previous versions. In another life I was a computer programmer of some sort; if I had any skill with mathematics I might have found happiness spending my extra time coding. Ah well, as my mother says, “It’s not too late.” If I weren’t chronically lazy, of course.

Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey.

I’ve been on a Dark Ages kick lately for completely unfathomable reasons. I left my penchant for the sword-and-sorcery genre with my single-digits, although recently the thought of flowing princess dresses and swashbuckling sounds appealing to me. Recently I’ve been up late watching the extra documentaries on my Lord of the Rings DVDs and rereading Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain in addition to the Kushiel’s Legacy books by Jacqueline Carey. The Lord of the Rings I understand; the movies were released around December and it is a bit of the So Cal Jones Family tradition to watch all 12 hours around Christmas every year. (I’m saving the movie experience for my family but am satiating my desire for medievals by watching the behind-the-scenes stuff instead.)

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I am well on my way to being obsessed with Beyoncé’s “If I Were A Boy.” What can I say? I am a sucker for power ballads about broken hearts (see also: my previous obsessions with Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and Leona Lewis’s “Bleeding Love”). I spend most of my days now singing along with La Beyoncé, mugging at the mirror with a pained expression on my face, and prancing about in undershorts. Winter comes along and I bust out my Playlist of Songs About Broken Hearts or Lost Relationships or Maximum Woe or Just Plain Angst. I don’t know what exactly compels me to select these songs as my relationship is quite happy and loving, nor have I exactly experienced heartbreak but I suppose there’s something about my seasonal affective disorder and sad songs that go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Chester once told me that I would never have truly lived until I had my heart completely, utterly, and irrevocably broken. That may be so, but if that is the case, I have no interest in his brand of living. (This is the man that also told me that I would be a “serial monogamist” like himself and while I have a good 7 years left of his projected decade of faithfulness to Bear, I sincerely doubt I will live up to his expectations.) Yet there must be something universal in the sentiments expressed in breakup songs to make me listen to them over and over again.

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