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Kushiel's Dart
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 31 hrs and 5 mins
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Naamah's Kiss
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- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 26 hrs and 52 mins
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Once there were great magicians born to the Maghuin Dhonn, the folk of the Brown Bear, the oldest tribe in Alba. But generations ago, the greatest of them all broke a sacred oath sworn in the name of all his people. Now, only small gifts remain to them. Through her lineage, Moirin possesses such gifts---the ability to summon the twilight and conceal herself, and the skill to coax plants to grow.
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Delightful and new, yet familiar.
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Nice Dragons Finish Last
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Audie Award, Fantasy, 2016. As the smallest dragon in the Heartstriker clan, Julius survives by a simple code: keep quiet, don't cause trouble, and stay out of the way of bigger dragons. But this meek behavior doesn't fly in a family of ambitious magical predators, and his mother, Bethesda the Heartstriker, has finally reached the end of her patience.
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Mediocre
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Starless
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Destined from birth to serve as protector of the princess Zariya, Khai is trained in the arts of killing and stealth by a warrior sect in the deep desert; yet there is one profound truth that has been withheld from him. In the court of the Sun-Blessed, Khai must learn to navigate deadly intrigue and his own conflicted identity…but in the far reaches of the western seas, the dark god Miasmus is rising, intent on nothing less than wholesale destruction.
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Great book
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Love this series
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Addictive
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Naamah's Kiss
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Once there were great magicians born to the Maghuin Dhonn, the folk of the Brown Bear, the oldest tribe in Alba. But generations ago, the greatest of them all broke a sacred oath sworn in the name of all his people. Now, only small gifts remain to them. Through her lineage, Moirin possesses such gifts---the ability to summon the twilight and conceal herself, and the skill to coax plants to grow.
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Audie Award, Fantasy, 2016. As the smallest dragon in the Heartstriker clan, Julius survives by a simple code: keep quiet, don't cause trouble, and stay out of the way of bigger dragons. But this meek behavior doesn't fly in a family of ambitious magical predators, and his mother, Bethesda the Heartstriker, has finally reached the end of her patience.
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Mediocre
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Destined from birth to serve as protector of the princess Zariya, Khai is trained in the arts of killing and stealth by a warrior sect in the deep desert; yet there is one profound truth that has been withheld from him. In the court of the Sun-Blessed, Khai must learn to navigate deadly intrigue and his own conflicted identity…but in the far reaches of the western seas, the dark god Miasmus is rising, intent on nothing less than wholesale destruction.
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Great book
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Love this series
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Finally, a Great Narrator!!!
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Publisher's Summary
Phèdre nó 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. Phèdre 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, Phèdre 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 Phèdre 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 Dart - a massive tale about the violent death of an old age and the birth of a new.
What the critics say
"A very sophisticated fantasy, intricately plotted and a fascinating audiobook." (Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series)
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What listeners say about Kushiel's Dart
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Miss Lisa
- 2017-12-26
Highly recommend
Cannot tell you how many times I have reread this series in the past 15 years. Easily on par with the Name of the Wind for writing skill, makes Game of Thrones look like a simple stroll when it comes to court intrigue and 50 shades as vanilla as virginity. Phedre is everything you could want in a female protagonist with complicated relationships with every antagonist simply by nature if her curse/gift of suffering. She is a woman's strength of intellect, patience, resilience and just plain pain tolerance. She uses that underestimation due her desire to please as a strength no one expects. #bdsmromance #complicated #consent #godblessed #godcursed
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4 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 2020-05-08
My favorite story
This is one of my all time favorite novels, so it was hard to get past the narrator's choice of voices and the pronunciation of certain names and places being so different than what I hear in my head, but it's still a fantastic story.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 2017-11-27
Complex and vibrant
A deeply planned story with intrigue and action. A strong female protagonist and a brilliant cast of supporring characters. The narrator provides the poise and grace I associate with the protagonist
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1 person found this helpful
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- S. Heron
- 2023-10-18
Seriously decent story, with some depth
This novel appears to have started with the idea to create a culture where a BDSM submissive is a rare and valued thing. The main character is a person for whom pain elicits sexual pleasure. It is said many times in the text how this is a supremely rare gift, and how valued it is among the jaded members of the D'Angeline court. I had trouble swallowing this, and her ability to use this skill to manipulate world politics is another stumbling point for me. That aside, the story is compelling, I don't recognize the principal culture described by the author, but she draws in some pretty recognizable ones from European history.
The protagonist starts her adult life as an elite bed slave, and then, through politics, ends up travelling the known world and interacting with many cultures, making a huge impact on the political landscape of several nations. The narrator has a calm and elegant voice, doing a great job of conveying a serenity that isn't perfect for every situation the protagonist finds herself in, but overall is lovely to listen to, and elevates the protagonist in my mind.
Overall, its a great tale, and was engaging, if you buy into the premises I stumbled over - that sexual submission is a quality unique to only one person in three generations, and that her ability to have sex with the elite of several nations could save her nation, and change her world for the better. The sex part is done with a light touch, however, and this makes the story better, IMO. Additionally, there are more tenuous protagonists in many a tale, though, and it is worth the listen.
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- Andrew
- 2023-04-26
A Masterpiece
Jacqueline Carey walks the delicate line between world building and storytelling. The story is set in a world that is just familiar enough to make the strange stand out.
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- Christa White
- 2021-06-02
French sex worker saves Europe
A very good story. Some sex. Some swords fights. Fashion. Political intrigue. Spoiler: the French are saved from the Germans by the English.
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- Anonymous User
- 2021-02-07
Fantastic!!
This is one of my all time favorite books! As well as my first audio book listen! I wasn't sure if audio books would be for me so i chose a book i had already read and loved. I loved the audio book!! Im already addicted!
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- diana
- 2020-11-18
feast for the ears and the soul and the heart.
Jacqueline Carey is an exceptional writer. you feel like you are there, the emotions, the scenes, the betrayals. sex, spies, battles, love and so much more. come for the story, stay for the sex, never leave for the love story will break you. the narrator does a fabulous job bringing it all to life. I hear her pronunciation of places and names in my head now and they sound even more beautiful that they were in print.
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- Wind Rider
- 2019-07-24
0 stars. Horrible story.
Every time I see this book in my library I am reminded of why it’s important to return books/stories that don’t keep your attention. Wish I could wipe it out so I never see this title again.
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- Kayden
- 2018-07-18
Great narrator, good book.
I enjoyed this audiobook. The narrator is fantastic. The story does run-on a bit at times but generally does a good job at covering a large enough scope to support it as a series....which I'll be continuing to listen to!
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Overall

- Glen Gaines
- 2009-10-27
The Kushiel series in order
I have read all the books in this series...and I love all of them. Jacqueline Carey is an excellent author. Unfortunately, Audio books did not number her books, so it is hard to figure out what book to read first, or what order they are in. I have solved that oversight.
Kushiel's Legacy series in order: Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, Kushiel's Avatar, Kushiel's Scion, Kushiel's Justice, Kushiel's Mercy and the last book in this wonderful series, Naamah's Kiss
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315 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Dae
- 2010-03-01
Worth every minute and penny
Before purchasing this novel, I read the reviews. So many mixed reviews...I decided to give it a try anyway.
This novel is not for you if you like a 5 hour novel. Jacqueline Carey creates a world, solid characters, and a different way of life in this novel which does take time.
I almost want to say don't listen if you're too religious but that is not it. This novel is very religious...in its own way.
But, you do have to have an open mind and accept that things are different and so is Phedre.
As another reviewer wrote, the masochistic sex piece is there only as an explanation and not as a part of the plot. And, not so much of it either.
The narrator was difficult to understand in the first 30 minutes or so but now I absolutely love her. Anne Flosnik is my 2nd favorite after Davina Porter.
I thought after Outlander I wouldn't like a series but I was wrong.
Another reviewer was also correct about the names and locations. Since they are new and heavily in the French language, it does become somewhat difficult to follow who's who and where in their world they are from. I just decided to go with it and at the end grasped most characters with minimal difficulty.
Phedre has the courage of a lion but doesn't seem to know it. She does what she does for the good of her country and people. (I am not talking about the sex!)
But one must admit...a bit of sex never reduces the intrigue of a novel either. :)
I am now so in to this novel that I am purchasing the second one rather than waiting for my credit.
I have decided lengthy novels are better than the short ones which has no time to develop characters or plot lines.
Great read! Give it a try!
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71 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Helen
- 2009-05-06
Bittersweet!
This is a book of love and hate and the fine line between the two...as a story and for the listener. This may be one of those books better read than listened to, unless you already read the book. Reason being, the first 7 hours are a first person narrative of lands, people, clans, cultures, houses, roles, gods, relations, duties and more...you need a map and outline which the book provides (after I googled in frustration with my utter confusion). During the first part, the first person narrator reminded me of a foreign correspondent report for CNN...I was just waiting for the "this is Christine Amanpor reporting from the Middle East". Because the ratings were so high I figured the book had to get better and less confusing...and it does. The second have of the book continues Phedre narration but with more character dialogue and less summary. What follows is a unique take, a rollicking medieval tale of love, war, friendship, oaths, sword fights, honor and duty, and bettrayal...and the narration becomes more interesting and at times riveting. Yes there is "deviant" sex (in our 21st century standards)on the part of Phedra,the narrator, who must experience pain with pleasure but you understand her plight more as the story evolves and are taken with her courageous spirit and appreciate her forgiving nature. By the end of the book you truly admire the message provided in the story. This is a first book for Jacqueline Carey, and for such an intricate sage it is very impressive. Two books follow this one. If you google Kushiels Chosen at books.google.com you can see a map and list of families/lands which will help in understanding the plots and dimensions of the book. There are three other books developed with different characters.
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53 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Karin W.
- 2010-02-06
One of my favorite fantasy novels
This richly-textured fantasy novel is set in an alternate-history pagan Europe where the Picts still rule Alba (Britain), the Celts rule France (called Terre D'Ange in this book), and Christianity is but a minor offshoot of Judaism. Kushiel's Dart is the story of the coming-of-age of the courtesan Phedre no Delauny, who bears the mark of the fallen angel Kushiel, he who rules over the darker arts of love--submission, dominance, and the infliction of pain as an erotic pastime.
Indentured to the enigmatic nobleman Anafiel no Delauny and trained in the arts of both love and espionage, Phedre is at first merely a pawn in his intrigues among the nobility. But she is highly intelligent and strong-willed, and soon comes to realize that Delauny's aims are worthy. Then disaster strikes.
Captured and sold into slavery by one of Delauny's enemies, Phedre and her sworn bodyguard Joscelin uncover a traitorous plot to betray Terre D'Ange to barbarous Skaldic invaders who are being unified by the charismatic warleader Waldemar Selig. Now, Phedre and Joscelin must find a way to escape their captivity and warn the newly-crowned Queen of Terre D'Ange of the coming invasion.
The narrator has a very pleasant, English-accented voice, and manages to give each character an individual voice. I enjoyed her reading of this very long book, and am looking forward to listening to the other two volumes in this trilogy.
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- Jefferson
- 2012-11-26
To Love as Thou Wilt While Craving the Whip
The world of Jacqueline Carey's historical fantasy novel Kushiel's Dart (2001), the first in her Kushiel's Legacy series, is composed of cultures with equivalents from our medieval world: Terre d'Ange (France), Aragon (Spain), Tiberium (Rome), Alba (England), Skaldi (Scandinavia), Akkad (Arabia), Tsingazi (Romany), and Yeshuite (Jew-Christian). Her original contribution to the genre is the religion she imagines based on the birth of Blessed Elua from the blood of the crucified Messiah mixed with the tears of the Magdelene in the soil of the grieving Earth, and on the divine companions like Kushiel who, attracted by Elua's beauty and "Love as thou wilt" ethos, followed him to settle in the rich and beautiful land of Terre d'Ange, where they mated with the indigenous humans (which is why the current d'Angelines are so graceful, beautiful, sophisticatedly sexual, and quick healing).
The first person narrator of Kushiel's Dart, Phedre no Delaunay, like many heroines of young adult fiction, is essentially orphaned and extraordinarily special. After being sold as a small child by her parents, Phedre is adopted by a charismatic, mysterious, and wealthy man, receives an extensive education (history, literature, languages, acrobatics, spying, and sex), grows into great beauty, intelligence, and empathy, and suffers adversity as she builds her identity and finds her place in her world while playing a key role in its momentous events.
What separates Phedre from YA heroines is the nature of her unique gift, for she is the only "anguissette" in the world, the only person who bears in her eye the blood-red mark (dart) of Kushiel, the divine embodiment of love through punishment and the mingling of delight and pain, so that she exudes at least as much pleasure-heat when lashed as when kissed. When occupying one of her many patrons' "pleasure-chambers" and having various shackles, whips, and blades applied to her person, Phedre becomes "awash in pleasure at the exquisite pain" and sees through red vision the bronze face of Kushiel. As with any gift of the gods, Kushiel's dart is both a curse and a blessing. Will Phedre remain a helpless victim of the impulses she comes to despise or find a way to wield her gift as a weapon to save her land?
Despite straining a bit for deep male voices, Ann Flosnik's reading of Kushiel's Dart is excellent, and I suspect that her refined manner and nasal and husky voice make listening to it more moving and exciting than reading it would be (though it was helpful to see the spelling of the many exotic proper names in a printed version).
Although Kushiel's Dart has many exciting, moving, and arousing scenes, and although the evolving relationships between Phedre and Alcuin, Delaunay, Hyacinthe, Joscelin, and Melisande are compelling, I felt that it all lasted longer than necessary. For example, Carey could have combined and condensed Phedre's two stints as bed-slave to two different Skaldi war leaders into one. And the section involving the Master of the Straits seemed in retrospect unnecessary and weighted the book too much towards the reality of the divine.
But if you like lines like, "my fingertips grazed his erect phallus, straining against the fabric of his hosen," and if you enjoy stories of romantic historical fantasy featuring political intrigue, dramatic fight scenes, and graphic and often kinky sex, and if you like books like Lois McMaster Bujold's Paladin of Chalion and Jay Lake's Green, you might like Kushiel's Dart. I enjoyed it, but I feel that I've had enough of Phedre for the time being.
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- Shannon
- 2009-08-14
Selected readers will love this book.
This series was recommended by a friend. I usually read paranormal type romances, mostly vampires. I was also warned about the Sadism and Masochism. Truly, this plays a roll only to explain Phedra's character. She was born a masochist, it defined her and who she was. It also made her unbelievably strong. That strength was needed for her to succeed in her travails. It is not a book about sex. There is graphic sex included, but it is included to support the plot. Most people know that more things are revealed in pillow talk than in other conversations. I was intrigued from word one, and never read the actual book, Audible was my introduction. However, it is not an "easy read" you actually have to pay attention to what is going on.
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- Jim "The Impatient"
- 2012-06-28
Thought my player was broken
I looked at my player and could not believe I had only been listening for seven hours. I thought I had been listening for seven days. I tried to get into this, the language is beautiful and it is about a whore and her pimp. The first four chapters were ok, when are little dart is coming of age, and she actually does things. After chapter four it is blah, blah , blah, blah. I wanted to throw my player out the window.
If you like the movie Tess, you might like this. If you like George R. R. Martin, Robin Hobb or Orson Scott Card, you will be so disappointed.
At one point the main character complains about having to study boring history and then she turns around explains the boring history to us!!!
I don't get it.
Anne Flosnik is an excellent narrator. I did not give her five stars, because she is popular enough to pick her own material and she should have never agreed to this mind numbing dribble.
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- Ava
- 2009-10-01
Much better than I thought it would be
I tried to read this book nearly a year ago, but just couldn't get into it. At first impression, it was a little startling for my tastes and I finally put it away thinking this one was not for me. Recently, though, I was looking for a good long audiobook to fill up some travel time, and came across the reviews here. They were good enought that I thought that I'd give it one more try. I'm glad I did.
It's still startling in some aspects. The high emphasis on sexuality as related to pain is still a little off-putting, but it is well incorporated into the storyline. The main character is fascinating; however some of the secondary characters could use a little more fleshing out.
The narrator is reminiscent of Davina Porter. Ms. Flosnik's range of voices is not quite as strong as Ms. Porter's, but she has a style and tone that are very pleasant to listen to. Unlike some narrators I have heard, her voice does not become annoying after a while, nor does it easily fade into background jabber.
All in all, I found myself enjoying this audiobook enough that I'm downloading the next book in the series. I recommend this audiobook highly for mature listeners.
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- D
- 2009-08-12
Good book, bad audio performance
The posh accent ruins this book. Hyacinthe sounds like a cockney. Quite disappointing. This narrator is much better suited for Austen, and should stay with what she's good at.
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- chris
- 2009-03-29
Twisted and unusual
The first part of the book is about courtly intrigue, and describes the setting and characters. The culture and main character are so unusual it kept me reading. Just when I thought the story was starting to sag, the real story begins. The timing and manner of the start of act two were predictable, but the events afterward were not.
Graphic sex pervades the book, as it is integral to the main character. This didn't bother me although it seemed the author had a point to make, with their god saying "love as thou wilt". In fact the protagonist uses sex as her primary, and only, weapon. The author spends enough time describing the culture that the characters' use of sex all makes sense.
The ending was happy without being overly so, and set up a sequel. I felt it coming before finding out that this was in fact part of a series. That isn't a bad thing, but this book could also stand alone.
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- Aluna
- 2017-02-16
Wow
Qu'est-ce qui a rendu l'écoute de Kushiel's Dart agréable ?
Un livre que j'ai lu/écouté sur le conseil d'une inconnue sur Babelio ^^
J'avoue que le concept m'a paru étrange (à mon ami aussi au début, a priori), parce qu'on suit quand même l'équivalent d'une prostituée (dans notre monde à nous), dans un univers où les "serviteurs de Nama" comme les appellent l'auteur sont considérés avec un certain respect. Cerise sur le gâteau ? Notre héroïne n'est pas qu'un simple serviteur de Nama, entrainée et vouée à fournir le plaisir sexuel (et à le ressentir) jusqu'à acheter sa propre marque, elle est également la seule depuis des générations qui a été touchée par la Déesse Kushiel, lui donnant ainsi la possibilité de jouïr de la douleur physique… OK, j'en ai perdu certains ? C'est normal. Donc, vous l'avez bien compris : notre héroïne est donc assez masochiste.
Mais heureusement, elle n'est pas que cela. Et ce roman n'est pas que cela. En fait, quand on y pense, l'art de l'auteur consiste à justement vous peindre la beauté de son monde malgré cet aspect qui pourrait nous paraître dérangeant. Même les scènes de sexe sont poétiques : cela vous donne une idée du travail effectué par l'auteur aussi bien dans le fond du texte que dans sa forme. Le style est juste impeccable, impossible d'y être indifférent. Sans oublier que l'univers… cet univers si éloigné de nos principes restent juste, équitable, beau. C'est difficile à expliquer, mais alors que le sujet controversé aurait pu accentuer les différences hommes/femmes, les sujets sur le viol ou la prostitution forcée, c'est tout le contraire : car dans sa singularité, ce monde reste tolérable, juste envers les sexes, et logique à sa façon dans son culte de la beauté. Réellement, chapeau à l'auteur, c'est majestueux.
De plus, ces personnages… l'héroïne a beau être du genre têtu, entêtée, parfois trop, les événements vont la forger et nous allons vivre avec elle des aventures épiques et incroyablement bien racontées. Quand son monde se brisera, le vôtre également. Quand elle devra se battre pour sa nation en dépit des conséquences, vous aussi vous partirez en guerre; Phèdre vous apprendra le patriotisme dans sa réelle définition, l'humilité, l'amitié, l'amour et enfin "que les grandes actions demandent toujours de grands sacrifices". C'est rare pour moi de dire cela, mais j'ai juste… adoré ce personnage féminin, même si je ne l'aimais pas énormément au début.
Et l'intrigue… que dire ? Elle est juste géniale. Le rythme ? Là, oui j'aurais quelque chose à dire : c'est horriblement lent. Ça met vingt ans à démarrer vraiment alors sachez qu'il y a un réel risque que vous ayez envie d'abandonner avant la fin/ Mais si vous le pouvez, ne le faites pas, vous passeriez à côté de quelque chose… de magique. Je ne lirai pas la suite car je n'en ressens pas le besoin et que l'histoire aurait pu s'arrêter là pour moi, mais comment dire… j'ai adoré !
PS. Gros plus pour la narratrice du livre audio ! Elle est juste géniale. Allez-y les yeux fermés.
En conclusion, un ouvrage qui, même s'il pêche par sa longueur à démarrer, est d'une rare excellence. Que ce soient l'intrigue, l'univers ou les personnages, vous allez adorer chacune des pages (après le long début évidemment) et en le terminant, vous vous direz juste ceci : Wow.
Qu'est-ce qu'a pu apporter Anne Flosnik de plus à l'histoire par rapport à si vous aviez lu le livre ?
Sa capacité à imiter plusieurs voix, l'ambiance du livre audio étaient juste... géniaux !
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