It’s so unironically refreshing when authors look back on their work and its cultural context and the changing passage of time thoughtfully and kindly. Thank you for this, Ms Carey.
Put off reading Kushiel's Legacy thinking it would be vaguely racist harem-fantasy BDSM smut in high fantasy dressing. Instead I got feminist George R. R. Martin if he was less racist and skeezy.
You need to take notes to follow all the names and I can barely keep up with who's doing what and the author has never heard of cutting to the goddamn chase, but good God you get so invested in the characters within a hundred pages that it sends you reeling when they die. I'm only at 200 out of 500 pages but I'm so fucking gutted that I stopped reading to skim the rest of all three books to see whether any of my other favourites were going to die and who I should be braced for dying because good fucking god. I'm even heartbroken about characters that died before the book!
It really sneaks up on you because this book is so dense and crammed with so much detail that you don't realize you've begun to really love the characters. The fuckton of foreshadowing probably didn't register because they're front and center like main characters would be, so you're not prepared for them to die in the middle. And Phedre lives such a happy, sheltered life that it's a genuine shock when it all gets blown up.
I want them back. I like Joscelin, but he isn't them. Jacqueline Carey how could you. 😭😭😭😭😭
Oh btw, this series is also gay as shit. Heterosexuality doesn't seem to exist and it's so unremarkable it didn't even occur to me that this is a full-on LGBT series. It's not like in fanfic, when even in stories where queerness is universal and unremarked in-universe there might as well be a giant fuck you rainbow flag over it all. In Kushiel's Universe it's just so matter-of-fact that you realize this could actually have been what society was like in the past when the Church wasn't all up in everybody's business. Sure, in this universe there's a hippie Jesus that followed regular Jesus who was all flower power and free love and founded alternate universe France, so that nobody has any sexual hang ups, homo or otherwise (much like regular medieval France Ig), but even if there were, everybody's either too rich to give a shit or too poor to care (also like regular medieval France). It feels historically accurate somehow. Idk. But this book came out in 2001. Eat that, GRRM, with your two male gays and off-screen lesbians.
Edit: Just checked the AO3 tag and. Sigh. You know a book isn't trashy when it only has 350 works on AO3. Fanfic runs on trash and guilty pleasure, not sensitive and quality story-telling.
"According to Brother Louvel, Naamah was filled with a mystic purity of spirit when she went to the King of Persis, and when she lay down with strangers in the market. But that is what they say at Gentian House, and not at Alyssum, where they say she trembled to lay aside her modesty, nor at Balm, where they say she came in compassion. I know, for I listened to the adepts talk. At Bryony, they say she made a good bargain of it, and at Camellia, that her perfection unveiled left him blind for a fortnight, which led him to betray her out of uncomprehending fear. Dahlia claims she bestowed herself like a queen, while Heliotrope says she basked in love as in the sun, which shines on middens and kings' chambers alike. Jasmine House, to which I would have been heir, holds that she did it for pleasure, and Orchis, for a lark. Eglantine maintains she charmed with the sweetness of her song. What Valerian claims I know not, for of the two Houses that cater to tastes with a sharper edge, we heard less; but I heard once that Mandrake holds Naamah chose her patrons like victims and whipped them to violent pleasures, leaving them sated and half-dead."
Features stories by Neil Gaiman, Jim Butcher, Jacqueline Carey, Diana Gabaldon, Majorie M. Liu, Carrie Vaughn, and many more.
My first process video - PART 1
Here is PART 2 on Instagram
Here is PART 2 on tumblr
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This is my most ambitious rebind so far. I’ve printed on bookcloth before, but this time it was particularly challenging. I printed a much larger pattern for the covers and spine than I’d ever previously attempted. I ran into some issues with printer jamming for the first time since I started the regular practice of printing directly onto bookcloth. It was immensely stressful, because any damage to the printer as a result would have voided the warranty, since book cloth is not one of the accepted printing mediums for the machine.
But with some patience and realignment, I managed and the cloth printed successfully. But the next problem I ran into was smearing. I’d never had this problem before either. I had changed up my settings out of caution for the machine’s acceptance of the cloth, but the result was probably a heavier and denser layering of ink than usual. This is becuase the machine believed it was printing onto matte brochure paper, not regular paper.
So as I was making the case, the design was smearing heavily on my fingers. I had to be extremely careful where I touched the book to make sure I wasn’t destroying the design as I wrapped the cover boards and spine, but it was still an absolute mess.
In the end though, I got through it. I’m pretty pleased with the overall design. I’ve been told by some that the pattern reminds them of azulejo ceramic tiles, or delftware porcelain. Hopefully my gift recipient likes it as well.
I'm very happy that I was able to read (and finish) quite a few books this month! My reading selection was also perhaps a bit more varied, with a non-fiction book thrown in. I began reading the Tea Princess Chronicles by Casey Blair (very good, so lovely), continued with the next volume of Spy x Family, and read books newly published as well as older.
- The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older (very good, loved the worldbuilding, interesting plot)
- Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (really enjoyed it, definitely cried a bit toward the end, a lot of interesting tropes and themes, good worldbuilding, liked how many of the themes were handled)
- Batman: Wayne Family Adventures Volume One by Payne and Starbite (lovely, so happy I get to have a physical copy, can't wait for volume two)
- A Dance with the Fae Prince by Elise Kova (liked it a lot, loved the themes and the romance, good character growth)
- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (re-read, well-written, interesting and illuminating, difficult subject matter, felt the narration treated the subject material well for the most part, interested in seeing the movie adaptation)
- A Coup of Tea by Casey Blair (amazing, lovely, binged it in almost one sitting, loved the themes and characters and how it was all put together, as well as the focus on tea, diverse in a good and welcoming way)
- The Physicians of Vilnoc by Lois McMaster Bujold (loved it, tough subject matter however, Penric and Desdemona as lovely as always, enjoyed the philosophical themes and questions)
- Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (great, loved it, missed Seivarden a bit though, great themes and characters, made me want to re-read the first book)
- Spy x Family Volume 6 by Tatsuya Endo (Cute, funny, engrossing, more of a tight one-arc story which I liked, has the famous lullaby Yor and Loid scene, Nightfall was hilarious, a key moment finally occurred!)
- Tea Set and Match by Casey Blair (loved it, a lot of communication, loved the themes and how it was handled, cathartic, interesting understanding of the MC's privilege (and how she can use it)
- The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (re-read, interesting, the narration was amazing and really sold the story, liked the back half of the book more, some very dry and funny and witty parts, wanted more things to be fixed/dealt with, Maia's internalized racism is never really questioned by him)
- Outlaw Mage by KS Villoso (had backed the Kickstarter, very good, read it in a few sittings, enjoyed the characters and themes, tried to figure out how the book connected to the other series in that world, enjoyable and thought-provoking, not too subtle, want to know what happens next)