I’m linking to this post over on Tor.com, because Jacqueline Carey’s first fantasy series (from 15 years ago, now!) still stands as one of the most breathtaking and interesting fantasy arcs I’ve read. Some very literate and lucid writers are doing a critical re-read, and it’s worth following along. Especially for erotic romance writers who have never read deeply into the fantasy and science fiction genres.
The series beginning with Kushiel’s Dart serves up political intrigue more efficiently than George R. R. Martin’s wallowing ‘Game of Thrones’ series. For people who yawned at ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ and its utterly irresponsible relationships, Carey introduces not only BDSM but some of the deeper thought processes behind that kink and others, through the narration of her clever, honorable courtesan-spy protagonist Phèdre nó Delaunay.
See, Phèdre has this thing for pain, a holy calling for it. Literally. And unlike some hapless maidens of popular erotic romance fiction, she embraces her gift, and the wonderful and terrible places it leads her.
The Kushiel series is erotic romance published as mainstream fantasy, with just enough graphic sex to make a romance reader happy. It’s got decent worldbuilding (even if Carey tends to veer into travelogue territory in later series.) It has joy and angst aplenty (Alcuin, dammit, noooooo!) It has philosophy, skullduggery, piracy, madness, some sneaky humanism thrown in, and some of the most luscious descriptions of clothes and costumes I’ve seen in recent fantasy. (And they’re all important to the plot, so ignore them at your peril, lazy reader!)
If you’ve ever looked at these gigantic books and thought, ‘cute girl on the cover, but damn those are big books, maybe I’ll wait’ – the Tor re-read is a good field guide.
Fair warning: some in the book trade have touted this as a ‘sex-positive’ fantasy. It’s not, nor is it any more a manual for BDSM than ‘Fifty Shades’ was.