Good speculative fiction reimagines our world in ways that quicken the mind and whet the imagination. Great speculative fiction throws in a gasp-inducing plotline and characters you can’t help but love. Jacqueline Carey writes great speculative fiction. Her latest work, Kushiel’s Mercy, is no exception.

Prince Imriel de la Courcel has grown to manhood in the shadow of his mother’s treachery against the realm. When he loses his heart to the Queen’s heir, their love, smacking of high treason, tests the most sacred law of Terre d’Ange: Love as thou wilt. Promised absolution for sins which are not his own and leave to marry the woman he loves, Imriel is charged first with proving himself by an act of loyalty which bears dire personal consequences. Poised on the edge of his adventure, unseen dangers send the world spinning topsy-turvy, and Imriel must find a way to save his beloved and all those he loves, not only from this new threat, but from themselves. Packing some of the best plot twists I’ve seen in years, this book sent me into multiple spasms of booknerd glee — so to speak.

While not a queer love story in the traditional sense, this tale of forbidden love sworn to overcome all obstacles is bound to read as familiar territory to queer folks. And there’s a smattering of guy-on-guy and girl-on-girl-on-guy sexuality to boot. For newcomers to the Kushiel’s Legacy series, the land of Terre d’Ange is a lusty one, where queer desire, polyamory, and BDSM are not merely accepted alongside heteronormative practices, but held sacred, as are all forms of sexuality.

Those easily squicked by sexuality infused with power play, domination and submission, and sado-masochistic play should be forewarned that the relationship between Imriel and his Princess Sidonie is charged with this energy. For those readers who find joy in such pleasures, this book and the others in this series are a rare delight. The writing is exquisite, and this particular story is of the swept-away-can’t-put-it-down-leave-me-alone-I’m-reading variety.

This is the third and final book in the trilogy about Prince Imriel, and the sixth book in the Kushiel’s Legacy series that began with the tale of Imriel’s fostermother, Phedre. While newcomers will find this tale a standout stand-alone, if this sounds like a book right up your alley, do yourself a favor and start from the beginning of the series with Kushiel’s Dart. As for this installment and its masterfully told story of love lost and found and lost and found again, color me hot and bothered.


Kushiel’s Mercy, by Jacqueline Carey
Grand Central Publishing, 2008
ISBN: 9780446500043
Hardcover, 653 pages
GENRE(S): Speculative fiction, Romance/Adventure, BDSM