This is a companion book to Kushiel's Dart, covering the exact same story of it, except from Joscelin's point of view.
Now, I've been having thoughts on this topic of late. I still need to write a companion review for the latest Seanan McGuire books, except I am having Mental Health Crisis this fall and frankly haven't been able to mentally do all the shit I normally do that requires a lot of thoughts. But the one thing that occurs to me when someone writes a companion book is: did we need it? Did we get different plot, insights, anything from rereading this plot from someone else's point of view?
Much as I think this book is well written and enjoyed reading it, I strongly suspect re-writing Dart wasn't necessary?
I confess I wasn't hyped to read the book because much as I love the series, Joscelin is the most stoic character in it and by virtue of being a professional stoic, is kind of the least interesting. But the author is an excellent writer and even got me interested in a guy who's spent his whole life intending to be a professional stoic. The book covers how Joscelin always knew he was intended, as the middle son, to join the Casseline Brotherhood. He's absolutely fine with this destiny and has no interest in rebelling against it, and is a bit baffled at his best friend in training, Selwyn. Selwyn lost an older brother and was forced into the Brotherhood, and much as Selwyn loves training in fighting, he's not at all cool with the celibacy requirement and gets his butt kicked out for being caught fucking before graduation. This sticks in Joscelin's mind a bit, and when he finally gets hired for a bodyguard job, it's bodyguarding a professional courtesan. Even though he sees Phedre literally light up upon meeting her, at first he's...well, not into the job or particularly impressed by her and her predilections, even as he does hit it off with the rest of the household. But as things go on, he realizes Things Aren't What They Seem.
Joscelin's origin story as about as "new" as this plot gets because otherwise it's just pretty literally rewriting the previous book from another POV. I enjoyed reading it very much, mind you, and I did enjoy hearing of his personal struggles as he's totally stressed and abused by the Skaldi and ends up breaking almost every oath he ever swore, and learning to live with that. He falls in love with Phedre but respects that she might want to be with Hyacinthe if able.
Now, I haven't reread Dart in quite some time, so I really enjoyed rereading the story again and revisiting Terre d'Ange. But if I had read Dart again recently, I suspect I'd feel like I was reading the same thing over again, because I probably was. I don't feel like we got anything much new added to the original story to do this book. (Though I did get a kick out of Joscelin's relatives arriving at the end and hearing the "Phedre's Boys" chants. Yes, that's my girl.) Is it needed? Well, no, it's not. I don't know if the author plans to rewrite the entire first trilogy from Joscelin's point of view or not--wouldn't be surprised--but unless we get some new material (which I note on Amazon, might have some potential in the second book), I sort of wonder.
So on the one hand, I'd give it four stars and enjoyed the read. But would I recommend it? Perhaps as a library read (which is what I did), because it literally doesn't seem needed and doesn't really expand what came before.
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