Read-Along: Kushiel's Chosen, Part 6

Welcome to week 6 of the read-along of Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Chosen!  Our host this week is Lynn of Lynn’s Books, and her questions cover chapters 62-72.  As always, if you’d like to join us, here’s our goodreads group.  Beware below of spoilers through chapter 72. This is our second to last week, and everything is coming together.  This was a pretty stressful section-break, since it cuts off just before the group enacts their final plan!

1.We had a bit of a discussion about Kazan in the previous week’s questions, about his nature, double crossing, etc, and whether Phedre was right to save him.  What are your thoughts on Kazan now given these most recent additions.  Also, I think we should include his mother in that discussion - it was interesting to finally see her I thought.  And, in fact his whole homecoming.

His homecoming changed my perception of his relationship with his mother.  I had imagined her blaming Kazan for his brother’s death.  It looks like the truth was that she initially blamed Kazan while grieving, and realized too late that her blood-curse had caused her to lose both her sons.  It was good to see how deeply she regretted the curse, and that she and Kazan forgave each other.

Also, I appreciated seeing Kazan realize that he now has to worry about politics.  He came in to a hero’s welcome, but his presence put his home in danger.  I think now that he’s perhaps not going to be a pirate anymore, he’s going to need to think more about the wider impact of his actions.  It was good of him to commit to a plan that minimized the risk to his homeland. 

Lastly, I liked that he acknowledged to Phedre that their ‘bargain’ was not a bargain at all.  It seems like he learned quite a lot about himself and his actions in the cave, and it will probably help him to be a better person in the future. Also, his blood curse is gone, and his family has welcomed him home— it seems like he could have easily abandoned Phedre to her task.  I know he sees it as repaying a debt, but I think more highly of him that he is helping her through the end.

2.What did you think of the whole ‘tribute’ ship idea - is that your idea of a good plan or your worst nightmare?

Can it be both?  I think it’s both.  I think being trapped in such a tiny place would be really horrible, and I would fear that those little air holes weren’t big enough.  It got her into town alive, but what a journey.

3.Let’s just talk about the reunion with Joscelin and Phedre.  Oh my word!  More to the point the changes in both of them and how you think their relationship will now move forward.

It looks like losing each other may have made them both re-evaluate their priorities.  For instance, I remember Joscelin saying something along the lines of, “I don’t care if you have a thousand patrons!”  I still don’t think Phedre will want to give up serving Naamah and especially Kushiel, but I think she is very clear now that she loves Joscelin and does not want to hurt him.  Also, the flower-strewn tent was adorable. I respect that they made that for Joscelin and Phedre, even though that part of their reunion was probably a bit against Yeshuite custom.

4.Lastly, what do you think Phedre’s plan is - it’s in a temple, she spoke about making retribution in earlier chapters and yet her latest plan seems to have caused gasps of surprise.  What do you think we have in store.

I don’t really have a clear idea.  I know she wants to clear out the corruption in the temple of Asherat-of-the-sea. Maybe there will be some kind of oracle-like proclamation from Phedre inside the temple, using some kind of voice amplification?  They’ll also have to get to the queen right away, and I think they’ll have to use Joscelin or Phedre for that, so Ysandre will recognize them and trust them.  I believe they said Melisande will not be there, so I suppose there won’t be any dramatic unmasking.  Perhaps the pirates will fight Marco Stregazza’s people, since they’re very keen to kill some Serenissimans.  Well, those are my ideas, we’ll see how wrong I am soon :)!

Other Stuff:

—On Phedre’s vanity, it made me laugh that one of the very first things she said to Joscelin was “What did you do to your hair?”

—I like that Kazan is not trying to be possessive of Phedre.  He could have been unpleasant about meeting the guy she loves. 

Read-Along: Kushiel's Chosen Part 5

Welcome to week 5 of the read-along of Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Chosen!  This week’s host is Susan of Dab of Darkness, and her questions cover Chapters 50-61.  If you’re interested in joining us, check out our Goodreads group.

I’m a little late this week, because I made the odd life choice of wearing myself out riding horses shortly before going on an intense weekend trip to Copenhagen.  Now that the sheer exhaustion and muscle soreness have abated a little, I’m back to blogging!  This section took some turns I didn’t expect, so beware of spoilers below.

1) This week we learn plenty more about Kazan Atrabiades and his personal demon, the kriavbhog. What do you think of this demon and his blood curse?

It seems extremely unfair to me.  He did kill his brother, but it was completely accidental.  Kazan was going to suffer tremendously even without a blood curse.  He said he would have given anything to have his brother be alive again, and I think he was telling the truth.  I can’t imagine the grief and guilt that must haunt him daily.  And on top of that, he knows that his mother definitely blames him, since she set the blood curse on him.  He’s shouldering all of this alone, and doesn’t even have a family to turn to.  The supernatural curse may be bad, but I think the completely natural reaction to his situation is harder to bear.

2) On the island of Dobrek, even Phedre has to admit she had some harsh pre-conceived notions about pirates in general and then Kazan specifically before she was brought to his home. How do you think this experience will affect Phedre going forward?

Phedre grew up pretty sheltered (at least, up until Delaunay’s death), and she has seen so many different ways of life since then.  She still seems to feel superior about Terre d’Ange, but I think each experience like this must broaden her horizons a little.  Also, she has now learned a completely different language to add to her arsenal of knowledge, so that may help her in the future.

3) Nikanor’s ship returns and Phedre is once again off on the high seas. But, alas, she is not ransomed safely. Were you angry at Kazan for not telling Phedre who she was to ransomed to? Or angry at Phedre for not having told Kazan the whole of it in the first place?

I don’t judge Phedre from not telling Kazan everything.  It would have been a bit weird for her to trust her pirate captor with all the secrets of Terre d’Ange politics.  I was a bit angry at Kazan for not telling her.  If he really thought that she wouldn’t mind going to Benedicte, why not warn her in advance? Somewhere deep down, he must have known it was going to be a bad betrayal.

This reminds me of their ‘bargain’, as well. I think Phedre was right to call it out as a sop to his conscience for raping her, but she then chose to go into it as a Servant of Naamah.  She seemed to feel led by Naamah to really commit herself to the role, and I suspect that may be what convinced Kazan to save her at the cost of his own men.  He might not have done so much for a random hostage, but things are different when it’s for a woman who was his lover.  Not to mention, he must have felt so guilty for betraying her. 

4) Nearly to Epidauro & safety, Phedre can see the kriavbhog is killing Kazan and orders the ship about into the storm. Was there really no other choice?

She could have just let him die, so there definitely was another choice.  I don’t know if that’s really a choice she would have ever made, though.  He risked the lives of himself and all of his men to protect her life from Benedicte, so I don’t think she would have ever repaid that by letting a kriavbhog kill him.

5) Now in the land of Kriti, we meet Oeneus, Hierophant of the Temenos along with the Kore, Pasiphae.  What do you think of these two and the small amount of aid they offer Phedre and Kazan?

I think it was not a small amount of aid for Kazan.  Whatever that absolution comes from, it seems to have given him some peace. It sounded like it also called off his blood curse.  They introduced Phedre to the local secular authority as well, so they’re helping her as they can.

6) Kazan enters the thetalos to be cleansed of his blood guilt. Of course, Phedre is pricked by Kushiel to go comfort him as she might. There she faces her own guilty demons. Would you be concerned if you had to pass through the thetalos?

I really liked that Phedre was forced to go in there by Kushiel, because I think she faced a lot of hard truths that she had been avoiding.  For instance, the fact that she enjoyed hurting Joscelin.  I also think it was right that she was not absolved for her guilt.  I think she may have been right about it being better to remember how it feels, when she commented about how easily Kazan talked of killing people after his absolution.  I hope that she’s more likely not to make the same mistakes in the future.

As for me, I’m sure it wouldn’t be pleasant, but I don’t think I’d be in fear of dying of it.  I’m sure everyone has done things that they regret, but to my knowledge none of mine carried as dire consequences as Phedre’s or Kazan’s.   

Review: Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe

Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe

Published: Timescape Books, 1983

Series: Book 4 of the Book of the New Sun

Awards Nominated: BSFA, Locus Fantasy, and Nebula Awards

Awards Won: John W. Campbell Memorial Award

The below may contain spoilers for the series.

The Book:

“Severian continues his journey, and now it leads him into war.  He still searches for the Pellerines, in order to return the sacred artifact called the Claw of the Conciliator.  Severian will have to face who he is and who he must become, if there is to be any hope for the future of Urth and its dying star.” ~Alli

This is another audiobook that I listened to during my commute. Reviews of the previous three books in the series can be found here, here, and here.

My Thoughts:

The Citadel of the Autarch seems pretty much the same as the previous three volumes, with Severian wandering around, having experiences, and listening to stories.  This time he comes into an area at war, which is somewhat less exciting to me than when he was traveling in Nessus or in the mountains. One of the highlights of this section for me was a storytelling competition that he oversees among fellow patients in a sickroom. The competition provided an interesting chance to see the values of a variety of different cultures on the planet, including the Ascians, who can only speak in discrete set phrases (perhaps a pun on ASCII). As the series comes to a close, many of the mysteries from throughout the story are cleared up, and there are some interesting thoughts on identity and time travel.

I’d been delaying writing this review for a while now, both because I’ve been very busy and because the overall completed series has left me unenthused.  I can tell that this is a very carefully constructed tetraology, and I can understand how many people have probably had a lot of fun analyzing it. The world is also complex, and I have enjoyed uncovering different aspects of it slowly through Severian’s experiences.  Ultimately, though, there are no characters that I particularly care about, and I didn’t find the plot particularly engaging.  Severian wanders from encounter to encounter, and he is surprisingly passive through it all.  I was hoping there would be something more to his being made into the autarch than fate, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The series has certainly had its moments, but in the end I think I have to admit that it just doesn’t speak to me.

My Rating: 2.5 / 5

I had a hard time getting into this classic series, and ultimately I think it is just not for me.  I think the first novel is a pretty good indicator for whether or not you will enjoy the series as a whole, since it continues in much the same manner.  This last installment was less interesting for me, since it largely featured a war I never managed to care about, and since I was underwhelmed by the conclusion of Severian’s personal story.  I have never been especially engaged by the characters or the plot, and my main joy from these novels has been from reading experiences of Severian’s that are either creepily atmospheric, point out creative aspects of the world of Urth, or both. I know a lot of people love these books, and I gave it my best shot.  In the end,  I probably should have accepted earlier that this just wasn’t going to be my kind of series.