Review – Kushiel’s Scion by Jacqueline Carey (4/5 stars)

When I heard that the new trilogy in the Kushiel’s Series by Jacqueline Carey was not going to be from Phedre’s view but from her foster son, Imriel’s, view I was a bit worried. Would the story be the same without Phedre leading it? I shouldn’t have worried this is a very good book.

As soon as I started it I gave a sigh of relief. This book is again beautifully written and does justice to the three previous books that take place in the same world. This book is entirely about Imriel, Phedre’s foster son. It is basically a coming of age story and there is a lot of character development. Imriel changes a lot from the beginning of the book to the end. There is a lot of intrigue as in the previous books. Although this book is less about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and more about the importance of ordinary people doing ordinary things.

All the above being said this book could have almost been broken down into maybe two books and I think it would have been better. If the book would have ended when Imri set off on his voyage to the University, that would have been perfect. As it stands the last third of the book started to drag on for me. Once they started with the siege, I was bored and hard pressed to even finish the book. This usually isn’t a problem for me as I love these books. The end of the book didn’t really deal with Imri that much and I thought that most of the siege was unnecessary. I understand that the siege had both some plot development points and was supposed to drive home the fact that you don’t have to be *the* hero to be important. Still, I found it boring and laborious to get through.

If it hadn’t been for the slow last third of the book I would have given this book 6 stars if I could. But the last part really hurt my opinion of the book. I am still excited to read the next book, but I will need a break before I delve into that book.