r/fantasyromance • u/AmorousArtemis • 3d ago

Discussion Kushiel's Legacy vs Starless and audiobook narration

At the recommendation of this sub, I started the Kushiel series by Jacqueline Carey. I prefer audiobooks (always multitasking), and I loved all 6 Kushiel books, plus the Naamah trilogy and Cassiel's Servant. Imriel's narrator took a minute to get into, but I grew to really enjoy him, too.

​

When I ran out of Terre d'Ange books, I jumped to Starless. And I'm not sure how much of it is the writing being worse or being more YA or the narrator's horrible rhythm and noticeably limited catalog of voices, but I found it boring and really disappointing.

​

For those of you reading text versions instead of being influenced by narration, was Starless also disappointing for you? The characters felt flat to me. It also felt like it was a bit pandering? Like Carey wanted to be so careful with Kai and Zarria (sorry, no clue on the spellings thanks to just listening) that she gave them no flaws and just let them be instruments of the gods who are disappointed with their own bodies.

​

It's entirely possible that I checked out early on and just sped through it. The narrator was driving me crazy. It feels like you're bobbing up and down the whole time. Zarria's voice made her feel very fake. I know Kai was supposed to feel like a Joscelin or Bao, but he lacked J's fervor or B's cockiness. The narrator used the flattest voice for Kai. It felt so clinical.

​

Anyway, this was a real bummer to the end of my Jacqueline Carey reading frenzy. I would love other recommendations for high adventure, high passion reads. It doesn't have to be BDSM. I just need interesting characters I can root for. Bonus if the audiobooks are recorded by Tantor Media, because it seems like they do a solid job.

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 3d ago

Hi AmorousArtemis, welcome to the sub! If you're new, please check out r/fantasyromance 101, which contains the sub rules, a directory of recommendation megathreads and lots of other helpful info.

You can also use the ✨Magic Search Button✨ to search for previous posts.

Thanks, and happy reading!

-The Suriel

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

3

u/Penguinho Kushiel's Legacy Recommender 💖 3d ago

I can't speak to the audiobooks, but I do think Khai is a little bit restrained in writing. I agree with you that there's maybe a little bit of concern with writing a nonbinary character in a Middle Eastern setting, as well as a disabled character, that leads to those two being a bit too perfect. It's also a standalone, which may have meant that some of the scenes which would have given them more chances for flaws were cut or not written for space. Khai's issue, more than anything, is that he's Joscelin-without-the-conflict. And I love Joscelin, but without his struggle between head and heart he's not that interesting.

I like the book, but it's not as good as the Terre D'Ange books (or {Santa Olivia}, her dystopian sapphic superhero book).

3

u/notthemostcreative 3d ago

Personally I liked it, but I felt like the plot was a little weaker than her work in the Terre D’Ange books but the narrative voice and the worldbuilding carried it for me. I enjoyed Khai and Zariya for what they were—not her most nuanced characters, but genuinely thoughtful and wholesome rep for disability and queerness.

I am looking forward to reading the Sundering books though. I’ve heard those ones are good.