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Naamah's Kiss (2009)

by Jacqueline Carey(Favorite Author)

4.09 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

044619803X (ISBN13: 9780446198035)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Grand Central Publishing

series

Moirin's Trilogy

review 1: Really wonderful and exactly what I needed to pull myself out of a reading slump. I enjoyed the other books before in the series, but I think this is the brightest and most uplifting of all of them. I loved Moirin as a heroine because she is hesitant, awkward and not self-assured like Phedre always was. She has many gifts, but she had to learn how to use them. She came into herself during the events that happened in the book, and it was thrilling to go along with her journey. There are awful and terrible things that happen in this story, yet I didn't feel the sense of darkness and despair like in Phedre's or Imriel's stories. I loved all of the different mythologies woven together and the sense of travel and the beauty of the world, especially through Moirin's eyes as she ... moreis seeing it all for the first time. Like previous books there is court intrigue and there is danger. I thought it was quite interesting how everything fit together. I liked that we got to know Moirin from her very beginnings and follow her across the seas that she has to travel, to various places. What I love about this author is that the women in these books are not afraid to be women. They can appreciate beauty and art and jewels and finery, but they can also be fierce and passionate and loyal. Just because someone appreciates beautiful things does not make them vain or simple. I liked how sexuality was portrayed in this series as well. Moirin can love both women and men equally, and sex is a giving, loving experience. It is an act of worship, not reviled. What bothered me enough to take away one star was the portrayal of Bao and when he spoke in broken D'Angeline and the author made it sound like Chinglish. I didn't appreciate that because throughout the other books, none of the foreigners that were encountered spoke in this way. It is yet another way to make the portrayal of a person of color, especially an Asian man, appear to be less intelligent. Even though I was eventually won over by the romance, it still irked me that nobody else in the book except him spoke in this manner. Other than this point though, the book took me on a wondrous journey and I really enjoyed the parts in Terre d'Ange as well as the parts in Ch'in. I especially loved the dragon, I thought he was a great character, and the idea of him reminded me of all of the stories I read when I was a kid. I'm looking forward to the next book in the trilogy.
review 2: A second read of this novel gives it a higher rating than the first read. I thoroughly enjoyed it much more this time around, having given it a few years from my last read. I'm not sure exactly what precipitated the change in opinion... but there it is.A few key things about this book just don't work for me though.First, how easily Moirin falls into city life. She goes from barely being able to sleep inside... to attending balls and events as a royal companion. Yes, there is a development, but a relatively short one at that. She perfects language skills in a manner that's unbelievable. This is one of many things that make her too similar to Phedre. Carey is trying a little too hard to replicate the character, when there is enough to develop this story individually. Second, Bao. He's a fine character on his own. He's a terrible character for someone to fall in love with, especially the reasons why. And unfortunately, it's not going away, and I think maybe this is why I never continued the series before.But I loved everything with Snow Tiger and the dragon. The White Jade Mountain is astonishing imagery. Eh, maybe this really should still be a 3 star rating. We'll call it 3.5 for the sake of argument. Good story, but nothing matches the heart-wretching affair of Phedre and Joscelin. less

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