[Fandom] Yet more Kushiel
Yes, it's what's on my mind at the moment. Sorry, folks.
Rereading Kushiel's Chosen now. Barely 50 pages into it and already I wanted to reach into the pages and smack Joscelin silly. Now I'm nearly 200 pages in, and they're about to depart for La Serenissima. marinshellstone and lilwindblossom you two know the part I'm talking about, where he agrees to go, and when it's done to remand her to Naamah and Kushiel.
I want to kick him. A lot. Little bastard. As much as I adore him in Kushiel's Avatar and beyond, and even in Kushiel's Dart when he was just slightly irritating ... he makes me feel an insane, inexplicable rage in this book. Truthfully, Chosen is the least favorite of the first trilogy for me, partly because of all of the side stuff that happens after La Dolorosa, before she manages to get back to La Serenissma, but also in part because of Joscelin's idiocy.
See, for me, it's very simple. He'd already broken all but one of his oaths. He'd already made Cassiel's Choice. What more could there be for him to angst and woe about? Of course, Phedre's not the easiest woman to love, but again I say Joscelin obviously knew that before he decided to throw in his lot with her, and all the people who really mattered in his life had already accepted his decision. Carey can be a very subtle writer, and I do grasp that there's something else that bothers him beneath the surface, but I can't fathom what it might be. But then, I'm a hopeless romantic, and I don't understand why his love for her, if strong enough for him to defy the Cassiline Prefect, wasn't strong enough for him to live with his choice afterward. Until he thought Phedre dead (the old Damsel in Distress bit works every time, yes?).
But of course, without Joscelin's insistant angst and woe, the events of the book would be far less interesting, and probably couldn't have fallen out as they did. Surely the scene in the Little Court when all finally becomes clear would have gone much differently if Joscelin had been there (REMY! FORTUN! SOB). I do suspect that a great deal of the reason for Joscelin's seemingly unnecessary bout of TEH ANGST was due to plot reasons; it wasn't necessary for their relationship (because really, the Joscelin at the end of Dart is perfectly happy, and he is even at the beginning of Chosen!), but was for the sake of the plot. Which, you know, kinda sucks. But whatever.
Rereading Kushiel's Chosen now. Barely 50 pages into it and already I wanted to reach into the pages and smack Joscelin silly. Now I'm nearly 200 pages in, and they're about to depart for La Serenissima. marinshellstone and lilwindblossom you two know the part I'm talking about, where he agrees to go, and when it's done to remand her to Naamah and Kushiel.
I want to kick him. A lot. Little bastard. As much as I adore him in Kushiel's Avatar and beyond, and even in Kushiel's Dart when he was just slightly irritating ... he makes me feel an insane, inexplicable rage in this book. Truthfully, Chosen is the least favorite of the first trilogy for me, partly because of all of the side stuff that happens after La Dolorosa, before she manages to get back to La Serenissma, but also in part because of Joscelin's idiocy.
See, for me, it's very simple. He'd already broken all but one of his oaths. He'd already made Cassiel's Choice. What more could there be for him to angst and woe about? Of course, Phedre's not the easiest woman to love, but again I say Joscelin obviously knew that before he decided to throw in his lot with her, and all the people who really mattered in his life had already accepted his decision. Carey can be a very subtle writer, and I do grasp that there's something else that bothers him beneath the surface, but I can't fathom what it might be. But then, I'm a hopeless romantic, and I don't understand why his love for her, if strong enough for him to defy the Cassiline Prefect, wasn't strong enough for him to live with his choice afterward. Until he thought Phedre dead (the old Damsel in Distress bit works every time, yes?).
But of course, without Joscelin's insistant angst and woe, the events of the book would be far less interesting, and probably couldn't have fallen out as they did. Surely the scene in the Little Court when all finally becomes clear would have gone much differently if Joscelin had been there (REMY! FORTUN! SOB). I do suspect that a great deal of the reason for Joscelin's seemingly unnecessary bout of TEH ANGST was due to plot reasons; it wasn't necessary for their relationship (because really, the Joscelin at the end of Dart is perfectly happy, and he is even at the beginning of Chosen!), but was for the sake of the plot. Which, you know, kinda sucks. But whatever.