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Not as engrossing as the previous trilogy, but still well-written and enjoyable. Will continue with the series. ( )

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 Scion is the first book in the second of three Kushiel’s Universe trilogies. This trilogy focuses on Imriel, the son of traitors, third in line for the throne of Terre d’Ange, who wants more than anything to just be a good person and do the right thing. We met him in the previous trilogy when he was ten or eleven and he was a great character. I liked him even more in this book, reading from his own perspective this time.

We spend a lot of time growing up with Imriel in the first part of this book, with a little bit of recapping from the previous trilogy but mostly moving forward past that time. For a few hundred pages maybe, I wasn’t really even quite sure what the plot was since the little bit of dramatic news in the opening chapter didn’t really seem to go anywhere. Despite that, I was never bored. I was interested in Imri’s smaller-scale troubles and minor political intrigues while he was growing up, and I was interested in the later parts when the action picked up and reached a larger scale. I was more consistently entertained with his book than I had been with the previous trilogy. I did enjoy those books too, but they had some slow and sloggy parts. I didn’t think this book did.

For those who read my Lightbringer reviews earlier this year, you might remember the Boob Quotient chart. Jacquelin Carey is trying to give Brent Weeks some competition with her Phallus Quotient. She’s not quite there yet, but she’s closing in. Actually, Carey’s books were published first, so I guess she was the body part trendsetter and Weeks was just trying to dethrone her…

Sarcasm aside, I enjoyed this story a lot and I look forward to seeing what happens next. As with the previous books, this one has a mostly-complete story with some plot threads I expect to be carried throughout the trilogy. I’m rating it at 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 on Goodreads. ( )

I love this series so much. ( )