This series is a guilty pleasure beach read for me. I read it every few years and while it isn't the most engaging story or the best written I find it enjoyable and worth the time. ( )

Kushiel’s Justice is the 2nd book in the 2nd trilogy of Kushiel’s Universe. This was good, as good as the first trilogy at least, but I liked the first book in this trilogy better. There was a lot of angst, particularly in the first half, and then a lot of wandering around in the second half, and I got a little tired of those things.

I still enjoyed the story though, and I still really like the main character of this trilogy, Imriel. Another thing I like is that the author tends not to take the story in the direction I sometimes fear she will. Some small examples: I was afraid we’d be in for a long, soap-opera like marriage of bitterness between Imriel and Dorelei, and I was much happier with the way it was actually written. I also like how characters who are friends or lovers trust each other unreservedly, without assuming the worst about each other at the least provocation like so many other authors make their characters do . I hope those trends will continue! I also think the author writes relationships well. Even though these books have more romance and sometimes angst than I necessarily want, I’m able to buy into and appreciate the main relationships.

My Kindle edition of this book had several editing errors, whereas I hadn’t noticed many in the previous books. Extra words added, words missing, the wrong words used, a place name spelled incorrectly through the first half of the book and then correctly through the second half, etc. It surely wasn’t the worst I’d ever seen, but it seemed like a lot to me. I hope this doesn’t represent a change in editing quality that will continue to be present in the remaining books. ( )

This was a fantastic ending to Imriel's trilogy.
I was never as attached to Imriel as I was to Phedre, but it did allow me to see my favorite characters from the 1st Kushiel trilogy through the eyes of the next generation.
I also think the author backed away a little from her handling of Melisande. Really it has been 6 books with Melisande as the villain and the way it was resolved still left me wanting more.
All in all an excellent addition to the series. ( )

Of the six books, definitely my second favorite. ( )

89 points/100 (4.5 stars/5).

Imriel is back from Tiberium, ready to marry the sweet Dorelai from Alba. However, Imriel also loves Sidonie - the one person in the entire realm he can't have. While Dorelai is a matter of duty, Sidonie is a matter of the heart.

Well, that was a heartbreak I didn't need. I slept on this because I wasn't sure what to say about this book, how much to say. I'm not certain I have a lot to say here.

If you're on the fence whether or not to read Imriel's Trilogy after the first, I say give it a try. The first book was kind of boring. This one is what you're looking for, though you do need the knowledge of the first book to really enjoy this one. This book has the adventure and the heartbreak and the love in it. This was on par with the stories we got from Phèdre and Joscelin, but Imriel has his own story to tell. He isn't piggybacking off their story (much).

Phèdre and Joscelin are actually in this book quite a lot. I'm not certain how I feel about this. I love being able to see them again, don't get me wrong. I just feel like parts of the story rely on them being there, when this is Imriel's tale to tell. They're not even around during the one time he needs them the most, either. I love them, but I really hope they take more of a backstage the next book.

In this book we see Imriel's biggest growing up as a person. He finds himself here. He doesn't always like what he sees, either. Imriel is better after his enslavement in Darsanga, though the scars are still there. This book continues the healing from the first, though not exactly the way you would expect. Imriel is more rooted in his life now this time around, instead of his life in the past. Perhaps that is part of what makes this one so much better than the last one.

You know, at some point Imriel brought up that he was cursed, and who he said it to told him to stop being silly. But, is it really silly? I mean, some of this Imriel definitely brings on his own head. That boy makes some of the dumbest choices, I swear to Elua. However, it is undeniable that Imriel is suffering because of some larger plan. Just as Phèdre and Joscelin suffered for some larger plan. You can call it a curse, you can call it the will of the gods, or you can call it god-touched. It is all the same thing. And it means a life of trouble for our poor Imriel, who had already suffered enough by the time we get to his story at all.

Something was introduced this time that I absolutely fucking love. Fae!!! Okay, they're never called fae. They're called the Old Ones, on the island of Alba, which is an England stand-in. They live in forests, disappear, can change shape, and they can divine the future. They're fucking fae. I LOVE FAE! I'm so glad for this new addition. Even if it did end the way it did.

The biggest theme of this book is the idea of duty versus love or to put it another way: the duty to your country versus the duty to your religion. Their entire religion, their entire belief system, is to love as thou wilt. Imriel has to choose between the two. He has to make some really rough choices this book. Whether they were good choices or not seems clear, but I still feel like it isn't that simple. This whole thing was so rough that it makes the entire series worth it. Yes this theme, what happens in this book, makes the entire trilogy worth reading, and I haven't even read the third book yet.

This is a tale of two girls, of two loves. I'm actually really glad Carey writes this. There is the love that burns hot, hotter than anything these two had felt prior to this. Imriel and Sidonie assume this love would burn out fast, they ignore it, they try to cool it off, hell, Imriel runs to another country to try and get away from it. They do everything in their power to try and keep it from becoming reality. Then there is sweet, kind Dorelai. This is the love that grows over time, with proximity. It is also a mismatch in the level of love, because Dorelai loves him much more than Imriel loves her. I really do love the way this romance is written.

There is more I perhaps could say. Like the internal turmoil Imriel goes through, or how much Queen Ysandre annoys me. However, I think I'll leave it here. I really liked this one. ( )