Kushiel's Justice (Book #64)

The Seattle Public Library lets you keep a book for three weeks. If no other patron is waiting for it, you can renew it up to twice, but with new releases there's generally a queue waiting for it, so renewals are forbidden.

A normal person would presumably go to the library every three weeks. I go weekly. I generally have 30 books or so on my hold list, and on average three of those become available each week. The holds expire if you don't claim them within 8 days, so every Saturday I drop off what I've finished (or decided wasn't worth finishing) and pick up my new finds.

Usually I read the books in the order they're due, so I don't end up having to return books unopened because I never got around to them in three weeks. Which possibly makes me a bit obsessive-compulsive. Or maybe just a good Presbyterian, because we're the denomination that likes everything to be done decently and in good order. But sometimes I make exceptions. Kushiel's Justice (Jacqueline Carey, 2007) was an exception. I've been hooked on this series since I read the first chapter of the first volume, and there was no way any other book was going to keep me from finding out what happens next for Imriel de la Courcel.

It's a good read. Carey's twists on the familiar religions and mythologies of our world always make me rethink my own beliefs, and in a good way. Not crisis-of-faith, more, "Just what do love, compassion, and atonement really require of us?" And this book, all about revenge and redemption, and redemption THROUGH revenge, certainly qualifies as thought-provoking amidst all the adventure and sex and memorable characters that keep me coming back to this series.

If you follow that Amazon link, though, don't scroll down. There's a MASSIVE spoiler in the Publishers Weekly review. Normally I don't mind spoilers, but I spent half the book or more bracing for this one, and I think I would've gotten more out of it if I hadn't seen it coming.