Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Cassiel's Servant

If, like me, you are a fan of Jacqueline Carey's Terre d'Ange books, I can strongly recommend Cassiel's Servant. When this book was first announced, I was worried, not sure if it would add anything to one of my favorite books. I can strongly say, yes it does.

Joscelin is such a deep water character, being able to hear the story from his perspective and learning his background, truly rounded out a story I know well.

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hrtlss_grl's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A retelling of the first book in the Kushiel's Legacy Series (Kushiel's Dart), this book is so much more. It actually fleshes out the character of Joscelin, giving him more agency and showing us a whole different side of Terre d'Ange. While written to match the first book, it is considerably shorter do to less description, giving it a different feel from Phedre's voice. Joscelin is definitely his own person with his own way of seeing things, giving this book a less prose heavy bent. I loved the glimpses of things we never got to see in the original book, and plan to read it side by side with the original any time I read this series from now on. Just remember, it does follow the plot of the first book, and so it has graphic violence and also torture and slavery and the inability for Joscelin to prevent what happens to Phedre which makes him suicidal, and you do get to see his thought processes through all that.

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