Starless by Jacqueline Carey

STARLESS is part of #FearlessWomen, a Tor Books’ celebration of science fiction and fantasy books bywomen starting this summer. Please use #FearlessWomen and #FearlessFantasy when you post about STARLESS and tag @TorBooks in your posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to join the discussion.

Synopsis: Jacqueline Carey is back with an amazing adventure not seen since her New York Times bestselling Kushiel’s Legacy series. Lush and sensual, Starless introduces us to an epic world where exiled gods live among us, and a hero whose journey will resonate long after the last page is turned.

Let your mind be like the eye of the hawk…Destined from birth to serve as protector of the princess Zariya, Khai is trained in the arts of killing and stealth by a warrior sect in the deep desert; yet there is one profound truth that has been withheld from him.

In the court of the Sun-Blessed, Khai must learn to navigate deadly intrigue and his own conflicted identity…but in the far reaches of the western seas, the dark god Miasmus is rising, intent on nothing less than wholesale destruction.

If Khai is to keep his soul’s twin Zariya alive, their only hope lies with an unlikely crew of prophecy-seekers on a journey that will take them farther beneath the starless skies than anyone can imagine.

Review: This is a novel that I was looking forward to. Why is that? Jacqueline Carey! It is not possible to miss one of this author’s novels and I was very curious to discover her new story.

Khai was raised in a kind of monastery, from an early age he was educated to become a skilled assassin and even more. Yes, because he is destined to serve as Shadow to the king’s daughter. Yet he did not expect this story and link to plunge him into the midst of great dangers. But as long as he is with the person he is responsible for, he is capable of everything!

I thought the ideas about Khai were really good and I admit that I did not expect such a revelation at the beginning of the story. With Zariya, they will go on a quest that will prove much more important than expected! The universe is also interesting to discover and I was curious to see what would happen. However, I must admit that I struggled to stay immersed in the story. The pace is quite slow and I had a little trouble on that side.

This aside, it was an interesting discovery.

 

Excerpt

“Right.” On the floor of the Dancing Bowl, Brother Yarit looked me up and down, a sour expression on his face. “Here’s your first lesson, kid.” With a deft twist, he unwound the tie that bound his hair back. “Catch.”

“Always keep a garrote handy,” Brother Yarit advised me. “That’s what I damn near used to kill you.”
Oh, I remembered.

“Here,” he said. “Let me show you how to do it.” Honor beyond honor.

Those were the words I whispered in my thoughts as I suffered Brother Yarit to lay his hands on me and demonstrate, pulling my hair back into a tail and winding the cord and the pegs around it, releasing it with a twist. Those were the words I whispered to myself as he made me practice it over and over.

Several of the brothers watched from the mouths of tunnels above the Dancing Floor. It made Brother Yarit uneasy.

“I agreed to train the kid!” he shouted up at them. “I never agreed to share clan secrets with all of you!”
None of the brothers responded.
“You agreed to everything when you undertook the Trial of Pahrkun,” I murmured, twisting and untwisting the garrote around my hair. “You are Pahrkun’s instrument now, brother.”

Brother Yarit glared at me. “Let me see you jump.”

 

12 thoughts on “Starless by Jacqueline Carey

  1. Pingback: #FearlessWomen Blog Tour: Starless by Jacqueline Carey Excerpt and Review | if the book will be too difficult

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