Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey

3 Tomato Faces


Mortification Factors:

• The cover is a bit over the top
• Some of the "love" scenes are hot enough not to want to have anyone reading over your shoulder
• The alternate history thing that Ms. Carey had during the first 4 books has gone really wacky for the Kushiel's Legacy trilogy. We have regency clothing with Pictish warriors, ancient Greeks with Venetian doges. It's a jumble of epochs where history all happens at the same time.

Redeeming features:

• Wonderful, wonderful conclusion (maybe?) to the series
  
• In this book, the Basque get independence!

In this book, Imriel and Sidonie have come out regarding their love for each other. The country of Terre d'Ange is divided: the younger generation are happy for them but the oldsters who lost family members in the Skaldic war started by Imriel's mother, Melissande, are vehemently opposed to allowing the traitor's son to marry the heir to the throne. To secure their happiness, Imriel vows to find his mother and to bring her to justice.

Before this can occur, Terre d'Ange receives a delegation from Carthage (another odd anachronism), and the Carthaginian general ensorcels the city and carries off Sidonie as his zombie bride. Funny!

With the help of his traitor-mother, Imriel manages to rescue Sidonie, stop a war in Aragonia, break the spell on Terre d'Ange and convince his countrymen to support his marriage and eventual co-rule of the nation. Sweet!

This book is action-packed fun, but would best be enjoyed by someone who has read the whole series. I recommend this series to anyone who likes fantasy, romance, quasi-history or any type of swashbuckling romp! Jacqueline Carey also does a pretty good job of writing love scenes from a male perspective.