Jacqueline Carey | Books and travelling with Lynn

Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey, readalong week No.4

Posted On 27 December 2016

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Jacqueline Carey, Naamah's Kiss, readalong week 4

Today is the fourth week of our readalong of Naamah’s Kiss. Feel free to join in (the schedule is below) or to jump in with the comments. This week the questions are being hosted by Allie at Tethyan Books. Please be aware that spoilers may be lurking below for this and future books in the series so please be careful.

Dec. 5th Week 1 – Chapters 1-12, Hosted by Lynn

Dec. 12th Week 2 – Chapters 13-26, Hosted by Susan
Dec. 19th Week 3 – Chapters 27-36, Hosted by Grace
Dec. 26th Week 4 – Chapters 37-48, Hosted by Allie
Jan. 2nd Week 5 – Chapters 49-60, Hosted by Susan
Jan. 9th Week 6 – Chapters 61-74, Hosted by Lisa
Jan 16th Week 7 – Chapters 75-End, Hosted by Lynn

1) The Circle of Shalomon still moves forward, despite the spirits’ tricks and the drain on Moirin. Do you think there is any deeper intent behind the gift Moirin receives, and the kindness of the spirits to her? Do you have any thoughts on how the gift might be involved with her destiny?

I don’t really know what to make of the Circle or the gift that Moirin received. I think the Circle are dabbling in things that they know very little about, I think they are putting themselves and Moirin in a difficult position – and possibly a life threatening one – and it occurs to me that maybe the spirits are kind to Moirin because they are interested in her for some reason of their own. They seem to be a little bit fascinated by her which gives me a bad feeling.

2) Moirin’s gift puts her in a difficult position, where wanting to help people could eventually kill her. Do you think you would be able to refuse the healing and/or the summoning if you were in Moirin’s place?

It’s a difficult question isn’t it. Do you keep helping others even though you know you’re affecting yourself so badly. I think Moirin does need to take a more balanced attitude – the fact is, if she kills herself then she will no longer be able to help anyone will she?

3) Phanuel returns! Do you have any new thoughts about him on his second visit? Later, when he is ill, do you think he would have agreed for Moirin to take such a risk (including her bargain to Raphael) to heal him

Phanuel seems such a calming influence – in fact I think that Moirin clearly takes after him in that respect. I actually don’t think he would approve of Moirin taking such a risk to heal him and even more so if he found out about her bargain with Raphael – although he won’t find out about that from Moirin now that she’s swore not to talk of it.

4) Were you surprised when Jehanne is finally the one to rescue Moirin from being bled dry? Do you trust her motivations? On the other side, what do you think about how Raphael and Thierry handled her being rescued from them?

I was surprised but I liked that Jehanne came to the rescue and these chapters revealed a different side to her and definitely made her a lot easier to like. Like I said above Moirin seems to be a calming influence – although, that being said, she’s not succeeding in keeping Raphael calm is she! As to the way Raphael and Thierry handled it – Raphael acted like a spoilt little boy, sulking and petulant. Boo hoo for him – he didn’t like it when his two little play toys decided to enjoy each other’s company – bully for him, he certainly didn’t mind when he had both of them dancing to his tune. Thierry, well, he maybe didn’t handle things as badly as Raphael but he also showed himself in a bit of an immature light with his comments about Moirin. At least he had the good grace to apologise and look after Moirin during The Longest Night.

5) Do you think Moirin is a good Queen’s Companion? What do you think of her influence on Jehanne, and has your perspective of Jehanne and the complicated love polygon changed?

I don’t really see Moirin in the role of Queen’s Companion. It feels more like a distraction, a temporary interlude, more than anything else. I can see that she’s had a good influence on the Queen and her relationship with the King.

6) We see another Longest Night! Did anything notable stick out to you this time? What did you think of the court festivities with respect to the Night Court?

I find that one of the things that I really enjoy about the Longest Night is the attention to detail about the costumes and seeing how everyone will be attired.

And here is the current list of participators:

Allie at Tethyan Books
Lisa at Over the Effing Rainbow
Lynn at Lynn’s Book Blog
Grace at Books Without Any Pictures
Susan (me) at Dab of Darkness

Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey : Readalong week No.3

Posted On 19 December 2016

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Jacqueline Carey, Naamah's Kiss, Readalong week 3

Comments Dropped 5 responses

Today is the third week of our readalong of Naamah’s Kiss. Feel free to join in (the schedule is below) or to jump in with the comments. This week the questions are being hosted by Grace at Books Without Any Pictures. Please be aware that spoilers may be lurking below for this and future books in the series so please be careful.

1. What are your impressions of Queen Jehanne?

I wouldn’t say that I like her. Which isn’t necessarily that I dislike her – I don’t know her well enough at the moment. But, I certainly wouldn’t trust her. I get the impression that everything she does is self serving – the incident with the viper – being annoyed because she felt Moirin had stolen her thunder. And then there’s the whole step-mother vibe – let’s see!

2. Moirin has found herself in the middle of a sticky love triangle. How do you think it will play out?

I think that Moirin is going to have to step away from both of them to be honest. They’re just using her – it feels almost like she’s just a plaything to distract or tantalise them both or maybe bring a little spice into their relationship. I think it could end badly for Moirin because she’s obviously getting sucked in and I don’t trust either of these two.

3. Now that we finally get to meet Moirin’s father, what do you think of him?

He feels like a very calming influence. Very reasonable, nice – he seems like a good guy to be honest. He wasn’t judgemental of Moirin and he had a good natured laugh at her too.

4. The scene with the summoning of Valac seems to be a shift in tone from the rest of the series. Is the Circle in over its head? What do you think is happening here?

This has a bad feel doesn’t it. Sharp white teeth, slit eyes – it makes me think of something that is just waiting to be released by trickery. I think the Circle thinks its much more clever than it really is and I think they’re dabbling with things they know very little about. It definitely feels like something dark is going to come of this.

5. What do you think of the descriptions so far of the Ch’in?

I guess they’re as I expected. The master who is all patient and comes out with lots of wise statements. Then we have Bao, scowling and prickly. Moirin and Bao put me a little in mind of Phedre and Joscelin when they first met – each disapproving of the other – I wonder.

Dec. 5th Week 1 – Chapters 1-12, Hosted by Lynn
Dec. 12th Week 2 – Chapters 13-26, Hosted by Susan
Dec. 19th Week 3 – Chapters 27-36, Hosted by Grace
Dec. 26th Week 4 – Chapters 37-48, Hosted by Allie
Jan. 2nd Week 5 – Chapters 49-60, Hosted by Susan
Jan. 9th Week 6 – Chapters 61-74, Hosted by Lisa
Jan 16th Week 7 – Chapters 75-End, Hosted by Lynn

And here is the current list of participators:
Allie at Tethyan Books
Lisa at Over the Effing Rainbow
Lynn at Lynn’s Book Blog
Grace at Books Without Any Pictures
Susan (me) at Dab of Darkness

Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey : Readalong week No.2

Posted On 12 December 2016

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Jacqueline Carey, Naamah's Kiss, Readalong week 2

Comments Dropped 6 responses

naakiss Today is the second week of our readalong of Naamah’s Kiss. Feel free to join in (the schedule is below) or to jump in with the comments. This week the questions are being hosted by Susan at Dab of Darkness. Please be aware that spoilers may be lurking below for this and future books in the series so please be careful.

1) How does one go about finding their destiny? Do you think Moirin is doing a good job of finding her’s? How did you find your own destiny, or have you?

I guess it depends on if you really believe in ‘destiny’ – does that mean therefore that you have a number of paths open to you or perhaps just one predetermined one? Or do you believe that you’re born, you make choices and they lead you to your present position? I’m more inclined to the second road. I like to think I’m in control of my own life story and that I have some choice in the matter. I think Moirin is so far doing a good job of setting out on her own adventure, it’s still a little bit early to say how well she’s succeeding about finding her destiny but then she didn’t really have much to go on in the first place. I like to think that my future is an open book – I’ve still to experience a good deal of it and create my own adventures.

2) Moirin is pretty uncomfortable within stone walls and cities in general. Have you ever found yourself in a similar position, whether in the forest or at sea or in a large city?

I can’t say I’ve ever particularly felt uncomfortable in any of those settings. The thing that affects me more is heights. So I would be uncomfortable if I was on the top of a high building for example – particularly if it didn’t have any sort of perimeter boundary or wall – it would make me feel like I was going to fall off! I don’t mind being up high, just not the feeling of being up high and without some sort of barrier between me and a long drop.

3) We continue to meet or hear about descendants of characters we met in the first 6 books. Who has caught your attention the most?

I particularly liked the cabin boy’s story about being a descendant of one of Phedre’s Boys and the Captain saying that virtually every sailor could make the same claim.

4) The Maghuin Dhonn. The Tsingani. Do you see parallels between the two or how they are treated?

Yeah, in that people are wary of both, sometimes afraid and also maybe a little judgemental – I also think they’re the scapegoats for everything and Moirin being blamed for the death of Cillan (spelling??) is a perfect example. Obviously he wouldn’t have gone on such a foolish raid if he wasn’t bewitched! And yet nobody thought to try and stop his notions beforehand. I think the Maghuin Dhonn maybe suffer a little bit more in terms of their reputation as a result of Imriel’s story whereas the Tsingani’s reputation improved after the same story.

5) First impressions of the denizens of the City of Elua? Of Raphael de Mereliot?

Well, first impressions – and this is going off the few we’ve met so far – they seem to have retained that D’Angeline self awareness don’t they. I quite liked the two ladies on the coach – they were harmless really and they even offered Moirin a place to stay which was rather nice considering they barely knew her. Raphael. He’s sort of sexy and dangerous isn’t he. I don’t know whether to trust him yet. He’s certainly using Moirin at the moment – even with her knowledge, he has a relationship with the Queen which seems to me could go horribly wrong and he’s definitely scheming – although what about I have no idea.

6) Morin continues her hunt for her D’Angeline heritage. What do you expect from Phanuel, her father?

Leading us all the way to the Temple, kind of tense and looking forward to meeting this elusive character, only to find Phanuel has gone on a walk about – Ms Carey – I’m looking at you! How sneaky. I’m not sure what to expect of him although I thought it was curious that he was so convinced that Moirin would seek him out. He’s either quite canny or perhaps he has some sort of magical gifts of his own.

And here is the current list of participators:
Allie at Tethyan Books
Lisa at Over the Effing Rainbow
Lynn at Lynn’s Book Blog
Grace at Books Without Any Pictures
Susan (me) at Dab of Darkness

Kushiel’s Mercy (Imriel’s Trilogy #3) by Jacqueline Carey readalong final week

Posted On 20 November 2016

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Mercy, Readalong final week

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kushiels-mercy Today is the final week of our readalong for Kushiel’s Mercy by Jacqueline Carey. This week Susan at Dab of Darkness is hosting. Beware of spoilers because they’ll be lurking. Now, over to the Q&A.

1) We talked last week a bit about the charm Imriel put on Sidonie so she could maintain her own will. Did it work as well as you expected? Less or more? Is there anything more they could have done with these charms?

Mmm, an intriguing question. The spell was just not of the same strength as the ensorcelling I suppose – or looked at another way it couldn’t be sustained in the face of such an overwhelming strength of support. So many people all suffering under the same delusion – difficult to not succumb – even Durstan fell back under the spell. Interesting that Sidonie’s will power weakened when Imriel was finally sent away and she lost her final support. The pieces of thread that were used in the spell seemed very flimsy but Imriel was using what he knew. I wonder if there would have been something more substantial that the spell could have used – like leather bracelets or something else – although I don’t suppose that would have made the spell any stronger. I was thinking of the spell that ensorcelled the city – I couldn’t help wondering though – surely there must have been some people who didn’t fall under – somebody who missed the spectacle as it were?

2) Mavros as part of the Queen’s Guard! Was that a surprise to you? Were you surprised by any other characters in this weird, corrupted version of the City of Elua?

I don’t think it did surprise me. After all, everyone was suffering the same delusion so it makes sense that they all rallied round. It was so awful watching these characters behave like this. Durstan and Joscelin were the most surprising for me I think – they were just so different and out of character!

3) In a desperate moment, Imriel seems to be filled with the light of the 13, or at least Elua, until he’s knocked out. Do you think it was Elua answering his prayers sideways?

It was such a strange moment wasn’t it. I think it was the Gods helping. Lateral thinking. This way he got to look at the problem from a different angle (literally) and as everyone else then left he only had to subdue Joscelin (not as easy as it sounds of course). I couldn’t help thinking they should have tied Joscelin up!

4) We have a few desperate moments once the location of the gem is revealed to Imriel – his duel with Joscelin, his ride to the square, his scramble up the tree, his taking hold of Sidonie, and the breaking of the spell, the appearance of the demon. What did you like most about these moments? Anything you didn’t like?

I thought the way the spell was broken was really well done. I was wondering how Carey would manage it to be honest. It certainly had the potential to be a bit of a let down but the whole, emerald exploding and the demon manifesting in the dirt like a little whirlwind before blasting everyone – well, it was pretty impressive actually. And I like that Carey made both Imriel and Sidonie jointly responsible for breaking the curse. I thought it was good that even though Sidonie was once again under the spell she still wanted to trust Imriel.

5) Terre D’Ange is at peace. What reconciliations stood out to you?

Well, the part I was looking forward to most was the reconciliation with Alais and her parents and to be honest I thought that was a little under played so I was a bit disappointed with that particular scene. I wanted to have a bit more of a making up scene with Ysandre and Alais.

6) Finally, we have a wedding. Perfect ending to the trilogy? Need something more? Any final questions that you want answered?

I think it was a really good ending with lots of possibility for more excitement to come. It seems like maybe Alais is being set up for a future story? I think the only thing I did want, but it seems a little like asking too much, was something more about Melisande. I think at the back of my mind I thought she would sneak into the city in disguise to observe the wedding – very unrealistic I know!! And, I know that she will never be forgiven for what she did but I think I would have liked it if Imriel and Sidonie visited her. Is that wrong?

Overall though. I loved this book and after a start where I at first felt that I still wanted to read more from Phedre and Joscelin I confess that Carey completely turned me around on that score. I loved Iriel’s adventures after all.

Kushiel’s Mercy (Imriel’s Trilogy #3) by Jacqueline Carey readalong week No.6

Posted On 13 November 2016

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Imriel's Trilogy #3, Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Mercy, Readalong week 6

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kushiels-mercy Today is week 6 of our readalong for Kushiel’s Mercy by Jacqueline Carey. This week Tethyan Books is hosting. Anyway, here’s the Goodreads link and also the schedule is below in case you want to join in. Beware of spoilers because they’ll be lurking. Now, over to the Q&A.

1. The Euskerri paid a brutal price for their sovereignty. What do you think about how this played out? Did anything stick out in your mind?

It was a horrible battle wasn’t it and the Euskerri paid such a high price. I think the thing that stuck out most for me was that Sidonie has such a head for strategy – good on you Sidonie!

2. How do you feel about the way things ended for Astegal? Was it just? If not, what would you have preferred to see happen?

Well, to be honest I sort of expected that ending for him. Well, not exactly, I didn’t see him having a fight with Imriel but I did think he would lose the battle and either die during the battle or be captured and executed. I can’t say I felt any sorrow for him at all, sorry if that seems a bit harsh but I just can’t find it in myself to feel any pity on this occasion.

3. Do you have any theories on why Imriel’s charm is able to protect Sidonie?

Well, at first I was thinking it was maybe just down to the fact that it’s a talisman that protects against magic? I suppose there’s also the fact that both Sidonie and Imriel believe in it and I wonder if that gives it some power, plus calling on their own Gods?. And then there’s Sidonie’s heritage and the fact that she maybe has a trace of magic in her blood. At the end of the day I’m not really sure – I am glad it worked though (at least so far!)

4. What do you think about Alais’s change of heart regarding political power and her new plans for her future?

Well, I don’t entirely know what Alais’s new plans entail for her or what it would mean for her going forward but I think it’s good that she has reached some decisions about her own future – I kind of hope that they’re not the sort of decisions that she can never walk away from or change though because she is only young – and I’m not patronising her, just thinking that you change your mind a lot over the course of your young years (and I’m speaking from experience in that respect). I guess if you look at her past there has been quite a lot of violence involved in one way and another and so perhaps she’s tired of the depths that people will sink to in order to acquire power.

5. The spell twists the personalities of people we knew, sometimes in disturbing ways. Do you see the seeds of who they are now in their true selves? Given their currently twisted view of reality, do you think anyone is acting against their own principles?

It’s like something out of Stepford isn’t it! It’s so weird – even the way Phedre and Joscelin are behaving – they’re like automatons with no real soul left – or maybe it’s that the soul has been trapped. I don’t know but it is spooky as anything. As to whether they’re acting against their own principles – I’m not sure if they are or not, it’s a tricky question. For example, Phedre and Joscelin seem to think they’re protecting the City and defending what they’s fought for in the past – but, I think rather than say they’re acting against their own principles I’d probably rather say they’re acting against their own principles so much as acting out of character. The way that they’re all behaving with their own children for example, really cold and indifferent. That is what really strikes me. Plus, it strikes me if so many people were telling them a different story they would take steps to try and either prove or disprove it once and for all – rather than sitting behind walls threatening battles. I guess, to me, they’re acting on their principles, but they’re delusional and irrational.

The Schedule:

Oct. 9th Week 1: Chpts. 1-10 (Hosted by Dab of Darkness)
Oct. 16th Week 2: Chpts. 11-22 (Hosted by Tethyan Books)
Oct. 23rd Week 3: Chpts. 23-35 (Hosted by Emma Wolf)
Oct. 30th Week 4: Chpts. 36-49 (Hosted by Emma Wolf)
Nov. 6th Week 5: Chpts. 50-62 (Hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog)
Nov. 13th Week 6: Chpts. 63-75 (Hosted by Tethyan Books)
Nov. 20th Week 7: Chpts. 76-END (Hosted by Over the Effing Rainbow)

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