Kushiel's Chosen was good. ^_^ Just like the first one the story was very complex and had so many layers and threads in it. It had everything, conspiracies, kink, pirates... I did occasionally want to boot a few characters in the head for being stupid, but that's part of what makes these books good. None of the characters are 'perfect', they all have their blind spots. I'm about to start the third one, Kushiel's Avatar. The only thing that bothers me is that besides Cassiel, Naamah and Kushiel I can't keep the other followers of Eula straight. That made things a little hard in the second book, not 'cause you really needed to know it, but because it kept distracting me. So Cassiel was the Perfect Companion, Naamah was basically the goddess of whores, and Kushiel was the punisher of the heavens...what where the other followers? I know there was Camael, and Azzah...I think there were six, but I have no idea what they did. Except that one of them makes their descendents smell like ripening apples. It's little touches like that that make me really like these books. I also like how each book pretty much stands on it's own. When one ends a complete story has been told. If the author never writes another you're not going to cry, well..maybe you will, because she writes so well, but you won't be crying because you have no idea how the 'story' ends. At the same time, each book follows the other seems like a logical follow up, never a book just to write a book in that world like some other authors I could mention *cough*Mercedes Lackey*cough*. And now for Merrow's recommended reading! *does her imitation of the end of Reading Rainbow* If you liked Kushiel's Dart and Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey you might also try: The Samaria Trilogy, by Sharon Shinn. All three take place in the same world where true angels fly through the skys. With their songs they control the elements on the world, deciding where rain falls and does not fall. Once a year all humans and angels must gather together and sing of their peacfullness to the heavens, otherwise Jovah will destroy the earth. The song is lead by one human and one angel, the Archangel (who can be male or female) and his/her spouse. The spouse of the Archangel is determined by Jovah by a glittering jewel 'homing device' that leads one to the other. In the first book the new Archangel-to-be Gabriel finds his destined wife-to-be to be a young slave girl named Rachel who wants nothing to do with angels, court intrigue or being the new angelica and leading the chorale with her amazing voice. Tigana (or anything else) by Guy Gavriel Kay. In Tigana, when the Sorcerer King Brandin's son was killed as he tried to take over the city-states that peninsula called the 'Palm' he set down a fearful curse. A small band of travelers try to lift the curse and free the Palm from Brandin's tryanny while keeping it out of the clutches of Brandin's rival Alberico of Barbadior. This book is rich with characters, displaced princes, wandering musicians, scheming dukes, masters of disguise. The settings and plotlines are varied, it goes from the inner seralgio (harem) of Brandin to battlefields that may or may not be just a waking dream. All in all... good stuff! Merrow