Kushiel’s Avatar: The End of an Adventure

Kushiel’s Avatar (2003)
Written by: Jacqueline Carey
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 750 (Paperback)
Series: Phèdre’s Trilogy Book #3
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

Why I Chose It: I decided that it was my destiny to read the entire nine book Kushiel’s Legacy series after I found eight of the books dirt cheap at a library book sale. I even made it my 2019 Speculative Chic resolution. I should have thought more about the fact that every book is well over six hundred pages.

The premise:

A decade of peace has passed in Terre D’Ange, the country founded by the god Elua. Since the world’s most famous courtesan saved her queen from assassination, Phèdre nó Delauny has been enjoying a quiet life until a prophetic dream calls upon her to serve her gods one last time.

But what they ask may be too painful for even an anguissettte to bear.

When the young son of the traitor Melisande Shahrizai — Imriel de la Courcel, who stands third in line for the crown — is kidnapped, Phèdre enters an uneasy bargain to find the boy in exchange for the information that will free her beloved childhood friend Hyacinthe from his eternal imprisonment as the new Master of the Straits. When it becomes clear that Imriel’s disappearance is part of a larger, far darker scheme, Phèdre knows it is her sacred duty to end it.

At her side is her loving consort Joscelin, who will also risk losing himself in Phèdre’s gamble to rescue Imriel and save her country from a spreading darkness. And beyond her doubt, her fear, dangles the promise of a holy mystery so great that it could transform Phèdre into justice incarnate… or consume her in the flames of her own passion. All of Phèdre’s journeys have led here, to the grandest of conclusions in an epic tale of fantasy, adventure, and, above all, love.

Kushiel’s Avatar is the stunning conclusion to Jacqueline Carey’s epic trilogy.

Spoilers Ahead.

Discussion: The book started very slowly for me and I actually put it down for several months. It’s been ten years since the events of Kushiel’s Chosen, and Phèdre has been living happily in the countryside with her consort, Joscelin. Phèdre dreams of Hyacinthe, her childhood friend, who was left behind on an island to become the Master of Straights way back in Kushiel’s Dart. She discovers that Hyacinthe is truly imprisoned on his island and vows to learn the true name of God to free him. Melisande, Phèdre’s onetime patron and enemy, sends her a letter asking for her help in finding her kidnapped son, Imriel. The beginning of the book feels like a repetition of the earlier books — Melisandre’s schemes, Phèdre taking on an ill-advised adventure, and Joscelin begging her not to go.

It takes about two hundred pages for the story to really get going, but I’m glad that I hung in there because the horror in Daršanga is the best part of the entire series. At first, Phèdre believes that Imriel’s kidnapping was politically motivated but gradually she comes to understand that it is a punishment from the cruel god Kushiel for his mother’s crimes. Phèdre and Joscelin learn that Imriel has been taken to Daršanga, a horrifying hell on earth, run by the crazed Mahrkagir and terrifying bone priests who have harnessed the power of death.

Phèdre learns that the Mahrkagir has taken “the act of love, which begets life”(p. 281) and “transformed it into an act of hate, begetting only death” (p.281). Although Phèdre is frightened and Joscelin begs her to say no, the gods themselves demand that she go into Daršanga. Until this point, these books have been fantasy and romance but Daršanga is genuine horror. The Mahrkagir has kidnapped a harem of women and children from all over the world that he regularly rapes and tortures to death. Because she is Kushiel’s chosen and an anguissette (masochist), Phèdre becomes his perfect victim.

Although Phèdre has faced imprisonment and hardships before, Daršanga reveals the depth of her strength. Sexuality is sacred to the D’Angelines, so the Mahrkagir defiles her religion as well as her body. She is completely alone, as Imriel despises her and the other women call her “Death’s Whore.” In order to save the other prisoners, Phèdre has to allow the Mahrkagir to fall in love with her. She truly becomes a leader. Daršanga traumatizes Phèdre, Imriel, and Joscelin. Characters recover from the harrowing events in the earlier books a little too easily, so it feels appropriate that they continue to suffer even after it is over. Imriel gradually becomes a son to Joscelin and Phèdre.

This is an oddly paced book. The beginning drags and the journey the characters make through this universe’s version of Africa after Daršanga also went on too long. But then the search for the true name of God goes by entirely too quickly and easily. The conclusion to Hyacinthe’s story is over very fast. One of the other flaws of the book is that it tries to make Phèdre and Hyacinthe’s relationship romantic. Joscelin worries about the possibility, and Phèdre indulges in some fantasy and jealously. I never bought them as a couple, even in Kushiel’s Dart, and it is more unbelievable here, considering how happy Phèdre and Joscelin are together.

In conclusion: I’m glad that I finished Kushiel’s Avatar, in spite of the slow start that lead me to neglect the book for several months. Phèdre nó Delauny is one of my favorite heroines of all time. She is intelligent, brave, and unapologetically sexual. She is well served by her skills as a courtesan and a spy. Phèdre begins the trilogy as an unwanted orphan and ends it as a diplomat who has saved her country several times. I wonder if I will still enjoy this series now that I’ve finished the books with Phèdre as the main character, but I’m intrigued to see what Imriel’s Trilogy holds.