21. Jacqueline Carey Discussion

[Philip Overby]

Number 21 is Jacqueline Carey, most famous for Kushiel's Dart and other books in the Kushiel Legacy series. I read that Carey got the idea for the first book by reading the Book of Genesis and it was also highly influenced by Jewish folklore. I've seen her work recommended a lot for quite some time. I downloaded a sample on my Kindle (I just broke it today, yeah, crappy day) but didn't get around to it.

Anyone have any thoughts on Carey?

 

[Steerpike]

Read Banewreaker. Great book. Tolkien-style fantasy, but told from the point of view of the dark lord and his minions. Things are not what they seem.

 

[Feo Takahari]

I've read Carey twice, and been disappointed both times.

I made it all the way through the Sundering. I've mentioned before that I find most kinds of character interesting, so this should have been right up my alley--it's got every epic fantasy archetype the author could reasonably fit in, and all of them are likable. The problem is that Carey tries to fit in a standard fantasy plot, using the new perspective to frame it as a tragedy. Tragedy requires that the victims fall due to a tragic flaw, and when villain archetypes are made reasonable and well-intentioned, they become less flawed. The characters themselves feel like they should be smart enough not to fall into the narrative pitfalls that doom them, and I maintain that they only fall because the hand of the author pushes them--she grants them sympathy, but in forcing them to live out a plotline that no longer fits them, she fails to grant them agency.* (Also, the dragons are total Mary Sues, though I suppose it's typical for the genre.) (Also also, "Charred Ones"? Seriously?)

Kushiel's a different kettle of fish. I made it about halfway through the first book. I've heard it said that it's possible to write about pain, describing exactly what causes it and what function it serves, without ever mentioning that pain hurts. Carey writes about sex without conveying that sex is sexy. She almost gets it in the "this is how we pray" scene, but the rest of the sex is just Phedre letting people she dislikes hurt her to pleasure themselves, without giving much indication of what she gets out of making them happy. This might have improved if and when she ever had sex with her love interest, but there was a deeper problem that kept me from continuing--I didn't feel like Phedre had much going for her aside from the kinky sex. She had a bit of wisdom and a bit of cunning, but nothing that really made her stand out, or even made her all that interesting.

I haven't really hated anything Carey's done, but I'm unlikely to take another chance on her unless something really gets rave reviews.

*If you want an example of what happens when you give a villain archetype agency, look up The Long Look by Richard Parks.

 

[Philip Overby]

I know there are some people around here that really enjoy her work. It definitely sounds like something I wouldn't normally read, but I'm willing to give it a try. I've seen her books for years, but just never picked one up because I didn't really know what they were about.

 

[Steerpike]

I know there are some people around here that really enjoy her work. It definitely sounds like something I wouldn't normally read, but I'm willing to give it a try. I've seen her books for years, but just never picked one up because I didn't really know what they were about.

I'd try Banewreaker​, first