Cassiel’s Servant

With this lyrical, BDSM-infused romantasy, Carey circles back to her Locus Award–winning debut fantasy, Kushiel’s Dart, 21 years after its first publication—but the epic love between courtesan Phédre, who was sold into sexual slavery as a child, and celibate warrior Joscelin, here retold from Joscelin’s point of view, sits differently in 2023’s sexual and political landscape. Fortunately, in this revamped version, Carey does her best to minimize the sexualization of children and racialization of beauty that were prevalent in the original.With the edges filed down a bit and all of the larger plot points known (the book ends with the wedding of Queen Ysandre), the original political themes fade, and a narrative that often verges on cozy emerges, lingering over Joscelin’s youthful training days in the Cassiline Prefectory before shifting to his rube-in-the-city culture shock as he takes his first assignment, which brings him disapprovingly into Phédre’s decadent world. It’s the stuff of fan fiction, with Carey lovingly applying a full painter’s palette to what had previously been only sketched. Carey proves she has lost none of her inimitable style nor her ability to fully realize characters; devoted fans will revel in getting Joscelin’s backstory. (Aug.)