Cassiel's Servant
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4.8 • 6 Ratings
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A USA Today bestseller!
The lush epic fantasy that inspired a generation with a single precept: “Love As Thou Wilt."
Returning to the realm of Terre d’Ange which captured an entire generation of fantasy readers, New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline Carey brings us a hero’s journey for a new era.
In Kushiel’s Dart, a daring young courtesan uncovered a plot to destroy her beloved homeland. But hers is only half the tale. Now see the other half of the heart that lived it.
Cassiel’s Servant is a retelling of cult favorite Kushiel’s Dart from the point of view of Joscelin, Cassiline warrior-priest and protector of Phèdre nó Delaunay. He’s sworn to celibacy and the blade as surely as she’s pledged to pleasure, but the gods they serve have bound them together. When both are betrayed, they must rely on each other to survive.
From his earliest training to captivity amongst their enemies, his journey with Phèdre to avert the conquest of Terre D’Ange shatters body and mind… and brings him an impossible love that he will do anything to keep.
Even if it means breaking all vows and losing his soul.
“Decadent and dark, Cassiel’s Servant reveals the secrets of the mysterious Cassiline brotherhood. In this gorgeously realized novel, Carey returns to the world of Terre d’Ange and offers us a new and dazzling perspective on a character we thought we knew.”—Nghi Vo, author of The Chosen and the Beautiful and Siren Queen
Kushiel's Legacy
#1 Kushiel's Dart
#2 Kushiel's Chosen
#3 Kushiel's Avatar
Standalones
Miranda and Caliban
Starless
The Sundering
#1 Banewreaker
#2 Godslayer
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With this lyrical, BDSM-infused romantasy, Carey circles back to her Locus Award–winning debut fantasy, Kushiel's Dart, 21 years after its first publication—but the epic love between courtesan Phédre, who was sold into sexual slavery as a child, and celibate warrior Joscelin, here retold from Joscelin's point of view, sits differently in 2023's sexual and political landscape. Fortunately, in this revamped version, Carey does her best to minimize the sexualization of children and racialization of beauty that were prevalent in the original.With the edges filed down a bit and all of the larger plot points known (the book ends with the wedding of Queen Ysandre), the original political themes fade, and a narrative that often verges on cozy emerges, lingering over Joscelin's youthful training days in the Cassiline Prefectory before shifting to his rube-in-the-city culture shock as he takes his first assignment, which brings him disapprovingly into Phédre's decadent world. It's the stuff of fan fiction, with Carey lovingly applying a full painter's palette to what had previously been only sketched. Carey proves she has lost none of her inimitable style nor her ability to fully realize characters; devoted fans will revel in getting Joscelin's backstory.
