Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Naamah's Kiss
    Naamah's Kiss
    Naamah's Kiss
    Audiobook26 hours

    Naamah's Kiss

    Written by Jacqueline Carey

    Narrated by Anne Flosnik

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Once there were great magicians born to the Maghuin Dhonn, the folk of the Brown Bear, the oldest tribe in Alba. But generations ago, the greatest of them all broke a sacred oath sworn in the name of all his people. Now, only small gifts remain to them. Through her lineage, Moirin possesses such gifts-the ability to summon the twilight and conceal herself, and the skill to coax plants to grow.

    Moirin has a secret, too. From childhood onward, she senses the presence of unfamiliar gods in her life: the bright lady and the man with a seedling cupped in his palm. Raised in the wilderness by her reclusive mother, it isn't until she comes of age that Moirin learns how illustrious, if mixed, her heritage is. The great-granddaughter of Alais the Wise, child of the Maghuin Donn, and a cousin of the Cruarch of Alba, Moirin learns her father was a D'Angeline priest dedicated to serving Naamah, goddess of desire.

    After Moirin undergoes the rites of adulthood, she finds divine acceptance...on the condition that she fulfill an unknown destiny that lies somewhere beyond the ocean. Or perhaps oceans. Beyond Terre d'Ange where she finds her father, in the far reaches of distant Ch'in, Moirin's skills are a true gift when facing the vengeful plans of an ambitious mage, a noble warrior princess desperate to save her father's throne, and the spirit of a celestial dragon.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJul 9, 2009
    ISBN9781400182510
    Naamah's Kiss
    Author

    Jacqueline Carey

    New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline Carey was born in 1964. After receiving BA degrees in Psychology and English Literature, she embarked on a writing career. Kushiel’s Avatar is her third fantasy novel, completing the Kushiel’s Legacy trilogy, which also includes Kushiel's Dart and Kushiel's Chosen.

    More audiobooks from Jacqueline Carey

    Related to Naamah's Kiss

    Titles in the series (3)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Sagas For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Red Kite Grey Shadow

      Nov 3, 2022

      Red Kite Grey Shadow
      6 min read

    • Article

      Form Seven Alpha

      Oct 10, 2023

      So here I sit with it again, Form 7⍺. It is printed on cheap paper with low-quality ink that smudges under my fingers. The option they judge least bad for me has been scored through, unavailable, while the four other options remain. Since the last ti

      26 min read

    • Article

      The White Fox

      Oct 13, 2017

      The White Fox
      10 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Jan 1, 2020

      In class, I stared because of the blood going blue.The chalk that coated our fingerly teeth.The way we lapped each other (on the shorewhere the flowering). I gave away our location. Smacked my lips in the coat closet.Sucked at her teeth. We, on all e

      4 min read

    • Article

      Your Poetry

      Jun 25, 2021

      The music labeled from A to ZI can’t get those sounds out of my headThose 45s are from our lifeSometimes the memories cut like a knife Jukebox Nights have been the bestAll my problems to get off my chestSpent with people I love and have sharedA good

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Thousand Embers

      Aug 13, 2023

      The old man’s grave hung like a mist over the whole of the wops. The world was still and soundless. Even the owl that watches over this place had ceased to call its name. Ru-ru. And though it wasn’t cold, an eerie chill possessed us, our breath visib

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Way Back Home

      Apr 30, 2022

      Morning light in Sydney has a quality of powdered gold, spilt celestial talcum. It gets up the nose. The streets seem to have nothing to think about other than parking and shopping, violence a concept from another hemisphere. The calm seems deliberat

      6 min read

    • Article

      Left Behind

      Mar 1, 2019

      Left Behind
      6 min read

    • Article

      Five Poems

      Nov 1, 2022

      Five Poems
      3 min read

    • Article

      Ursula K. Le Guin

      Jun 15, 2018

      He was thinking of Lookfar, abandoned long ago, beached on the sands of Selidor. Little of her would be left by now, a plank or two down in the sand maybe, a bit of driftwood on the western sea. As he drifted near sleep he began to remember sailing t

      15 min read

    • Article

      Yara And The Witch Queen

      Oct 1, 2019

      I knew the dangers of witchcraft. My parents had told me about the time before I was born, when magic plagued our desert kingdom of Bahati. Untrained witch doctors trying to cure warts ended up paralyzing their patients or turning them into crocodile

      10 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2019

      Ayat Jaffar, age 9 Avon, OH Over winter break, I went to Umrah. Umrah is an Islamic Pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. I went with my mom, dad, and older sister. We went around a big black stone and between two big mountains seven times each in mem

      7 min read

    • Article

      On Her Way…

      Sep 26, 2020

      On Her Way…
      3 min read

    • Article

      Small Tortoiseshell

      Mar 8, 2022

      Small Tortoiseshell
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Story Pilgrimage

      Jun 8, 2021

      A Story Pilgrimage
      3 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Silence of Witches

      Dec 10, 2019

      The Silence of Witches
      6 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Thirty Names of Night

      Oct 30, 2020

      The Thirty Names of Night
      13 min read

    • Article

      A WING AND a prayer

      Sep 28, 2021

      A raven saved my life Cate McMurray, 47, from West Midlands I ’d always known I was different. As a small child, I used to see and hear people who weren’t there. One day, I was playing hide ‘n’ seek with my two sisters, and tucked myself away in a cu

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Girl Who Knew No Fear

      Jun 8, 2022

      The Girl Who Knew No Fear
      4 min read

    • Article

      Sacred Play

      Feb 27, 2024

      NATURE HAS ALWAYS soaked me in waterfalls of wonder. In a redwood forest, when I crawled into the hollow of an ancient tree and listened to its centuries of stories. By a lake, as I watched thousands of flamingos suddenly take flight. In the ocean, w

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Thin Place

      Nov 16, 2020

      We looked out of the window at the torrential rain. We’d booked tickets for the Castle’s Halloween event. The Castle was famous for being haunted by the ghost of its last court jester and made the most of this reputation every October, hosting a fair

      6 min read

    • Article

      What Africa Means To You

      Apr 9, 2021

      What Africa Means To You
      10 min read

    • Article

      Six Poems

      Jul 1, 2018

      When I said, to my mother, What was a goodthing about me as a child?, my mother’sface seemed to unfurl from the center,hibiscus in fast motion, the anthersand flounces springing out with joy. Oh you wereenchanting, she breathed. What do you mean—craz

      5 min read

    • Article

      Every CLOUD

      Aug 31, 2022

      Every CLOUD
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Naamah's Kiss

    4/5

    419 ratings30 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I've been putting off reading this trilogy until it was all out, wanting to immerse myself in Carey's world all at once. I'm glad I did: it took me a while to get to the point of wanting to read it without putting it down, but I got there. It starts slow, I suppose, but so did Kushiel's Dart, really... In any case, I got into it more than I did Imriel's trilogy: perhaps it helps that this is long past the days of Phèdre and Joscelin so there can be no disappointment at their portrayal or lack of it.

      I didn't love Moirin as much as I love Phèdre, but that's sort of to be expected.

      The Mary Sue-ness of Jacqueline Carey's characters continues, of course: everyone wants Moirin. A local noble boy, the guy who drives her to the capital city, the guy who runs her over in the street, a queen, a prince, a random scion of the Shahrizai, her teacher's assistant, a princess... And she's beloved of not one god, but three. It only irritated me at first, and then I settled back into the way of it.

      I thoroughly enjoyed the other characters: Jehanne was capricious and sharp but you could also understand why she was loved; the king had a minor role but drew me through his compassion and sadness; the dragon was amazing; the princess was out of her depth but trying, trying so hard...

      At first I was trying to compare the characters to those of earlier books, but there is no Joscelin, no Queen Ysandre, no Hyacinthe -- and that turned out to be a good thing.

      Something is missing, here, from the earlier trilogy -- some richness in the world, some newness. I couldn't see even the court in the City of Elua as clearly as I did in Phèdre's tale. Is it just that I've grown to expect a lot out of Carey, and it's no longer new to me? Perhaps.

      Looking forward to reading the rest.
    • 2/5
      Learned of this book with a mixture of "yippee!" and "dammit!" I loved the complete, double-trilogy series, but now here's another one, which I will have to (of course) read. Stupid guilty pleasures.
    • 5/5
      This book was phenomenal and heart breaking and heart making. It only takes so many pages before I remember why this woman has always, always, always been one of my top favorite writers no matter how long its been since I read one of her books.

      This new character is so completely different and yet amazing. I fell in love with her naivette and how she learned. Everything. Her new cohorts. Those she lost, those she loved, how she saw The Lady and The Lord and her Bear. And everything.
    • 4/5
      I'm always nervous when a favorite author breaks away from her original, beloved characters to extend a world's story in a different direction, but "Naamah's Kiss" is a worthy successor to the stories of Phedre and Imriel.

      Moirin's story is filled with adventure, passion, danger, and the mysterious but constant calling of her destiny. It is less complex and intricate than Phedre's story, but I found it more satisfying than that of Imriel. I look forward to the next installment.
    • 4/5
      Very good, love the places she travels to.
    • 4/5
      Still silly. Still fun. This was the first one I had the audiobook experience with. The accent was a little silly and the dragon voice was not great, but I was still giddily absorbed.
    • 5/5
      I've re-read this series several times now and never fails to delight. It was my "bath book" - ie what I read while in the bath - and I found myself sitting there until the water went cold each night, even though I knew what was going to happen next. It takes place about 100 years (I think) after Phedre and then Imriel's adventures in the previous two trilogies. Moirin, a descendant, is sent by her Goddess on exciting adventures through Terre D'Ange (France), Ch'in (China, obviously) and later the alternate-history-with-magic lands equivalent of Mongolia, Russia, and India; helping or resisting a queen, demons, a princess, a celestial dragon, a nasty early Christian Priest and various others. As usual, plenty of love, sex, and impossible choices.
    • 5/5
      Note: This is the first book in the third trilogy set in the Kushiel’s Legacy series. However, this last trilogy is set a few generations later and stands on it’s own so don’t be afraid to start here if this book intrigues you.The Bear Witches of Alba are all but extinct but for those few that remain, they do possess small magics and the Great Bear does look out for her own. Moirin grows up in a cave in the depths of a forest and from these humble beginnings she will be tasked by her divine Bear to fulfill a destiny that lies over seas. First she travels to Terre D’Ange to find her D’Angeline relatives, including her father. A D’Angeline lord and healer is intrigued by her small gifts and she’s soon wrapped up in a semi-secret demon summoning circle. She also meets a Chi’in Master and his student/body guard Bao. Perhaps her destiny lies even further than she could imagine.I read this for the second time as part of a group read and there were weekly discussions which hold plenty of detail on what I think of the book. Once again, I was wrapped up in Carey’s world building. I fell in love with the D’Angelines when I read Kushiel’s Dart so many years ago. I recall my first time reading this book and how it didn’t wow me as much as the first 6 books. However, knowing this round that this is Moirin’s tale, I gave it a better chance. Indeed, I did like this book quite a bit more the second time through. I think with the first read through, I was constantly looking for reflections of the characters I had come to know and love from the first 2 trilogies. Now with the second reading I was focused on Moirin.I loved Moirin’s small magics. She’s inherited a few from her D’Angeline side as well as her Alban side. Each individual one is rather small, but as we see Moirin grow from a child to a young lady to a woman, she learns to use her powers to great effect. Carey does a most excellent job of showing the reader this growth as the story unfolds.Moirin is of the Maghuin Dhonn, the Bear Witch people, which we learned a little about in earlier books in the series. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the Maghuin Dhonn directly through Moirin. While much of Maghuin Dhonn live in near isolation, they are still a connected people and will come together in larger groups for certain occasions, such as Moirin’s coming of age ceremony. Moirin has to work hard to be acknowledged by the Bear Witch herself, but that acknowledgement comes at a steep price, one that I think we won’t fully understand until the end of this trilogy.As usual with this series, there are several lovely sex scenes. Carey doesn’t skimp but she also doesn’t toss in throwaway love scenes. These interactions always reveal something more about the characters involved. I found this especially true in the later part of the book where there is a princess and a dragon. I won’t say anything further as I don’t want to be spoilery. Just know that it’s worthy.I do have one quibble for this book. At the end, there is some drama and death and I did feel there was some deus ex machina involved. It involves the ultimate bad guy and why he wasn’t properly trussed up. Even with this one small criticism, I did enjoy how the ending leaves our heroes in a complicated place, setting us up for the next adventure.The Narration: Anne Flosnik is a joy to listen to. She does such an excellent job with the multitude of accents needed for this book. She’s also great with a voice for Moirin that ages as she comes of age throughout the story. Her male voices are quite believable.
    • 5/5
      I loved the original three Kushiel books. I found the narrative voice magical, loved Phedre, the world painted, and even at times was moved to tears. I was less taken with the immediate sequel involving Imriel. And then came this one--and back when it came out I didn't get far. I was put out that the familiar characters I'd love were gone. This time around with time having passed I could enjoy this book on it's merits--and I did greatly enjoy it. It doesn't get the five stars of those first three books. I'm at the beginning of the third book and I have yet to be moved to tears, to feel as deeply about these characters as I did the originals. But I'm enjoying the tour through this alternate world--this one featuring it's version of China. And I like Moirin--not the way I loved Phedre--but there you are.
    • 4/5
      It's been quite awhile since I've delved into Carey's lush world. This was a wonderful extension to her Kushiel series, focusing on an ancestor of Alice the Wise in Alba.
    • 4/5
      It was good to back in Terre d'Ange and Alba again. Great story, great adventure!
    • 3/5
      August 2011-*re-read in preparation for #9*
      The third time through this was a little less engrossing than the first two. I still stayed up till 3 reading it, but I was not so enamored with the protagonist. She's more of a Mary Sue than I realized- everyone falls in love with her, she has insights into war that fail to occur to hardened generals, she rises to every situation magnificently, in short, she's annoyingly perfect.

      August 2010- *re-read as refresher for #8* stet

      July 2009-I'm torn about how to rate this one. It was a solid adventure story, and the protagonist grew in ways I liked to see. The invented land (loosely China) was a little less satisfying, and the dragon, although delightful, was less fleshed out than I wanted him to be. I loved the fact that it was set many years beyond the other 6 Kushiel books. Phédre and her cohorts have become the stuff of legend, which was great fun. I will be back for the next installment in Moirin's story, but the first three books, the ones starring Phédre, remain my favorites by a long shot.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this, but felt it never really got going til 200 pages from the end. I never, unlike the other series Carey has done, got a sense that Moirin was ever in any real danger or that much was at stake - a feeling that continued until she finally gets to Chi'in.

      It's a shame, but if I hadn't loved the Kushiel's Dart series so much, I don't think I would bother with another Carey after reading this.
    • 4/5
      I just reread the first six books set in this world, and this one took me by surprise. It's sweet and gentle and pleasant, and if it's not so incredibly rich and complex as its predecessors, it has a lot more hot girl-on-girl action. I think if this were the first of the Terre D'Ange books I'd read, I would have been wholly unprepared for the rest of them, but this one was well worth reading.
    • 4/5
      hundreds of years have passed; Phedre is almost a legend. now Moirin's destiny takes her from Celtic Alba to Terre d'Ange and then to the land of Ch'in. starts slow, and lacks some of the complexity of earlier tales of this altworld; Moirin herself seems oddly flat, though Queen Jehanne and Snow Tiger, the heir to the throne of Ch'in, are both charming and complicated for very different reasons. and there's a pretty neat dragon. all in all, an entertaining read, though not as compelling as other works in the Kushiel Universe.
    • 4/5
      Love this series and Carey! These books never disappoint
    • 4/5
      I love that the Kushiel series is continuing, and I went into this one expecting it to fall short of the others. It did a little, but I still enjoyed it. Unlike the first series with Phedre, I felt like this book moved very quickly, almost in a rush. I'm not sure if it was me reading very quickly, but everything seemed to always be moving and changing.Overall, I enjoy Moirin's character, and I like the way she is coming into herself. She's tough, and there is definitely something about her that draws other people in. Bao is one of the most interesting characters since Joscelin, and I'm very interested to learn more of his back story. And I love Bao's and Moirin's terms of endearment to each other: stupid girl and stupid boy. It's a different kind of sweet.Continuing on, I'm ready to see what happens next, now that Moirin is on to her next journey.
    • 5/5
      New characters and exploring a new world through the eyes of Carey is always a marvelous adventure.
    • 4/5
      My room mate was reading the first novel in the Temeraire series as I was reading this, and I was pleased when my heroine also went to China and learned more about Celestial dragons. The book covers a lot of geography, starting on Alba, moving to Terre D'Ange, and then taking ship for China. The long sea voyage wasn't as interesting as Temeraire's overland trip, but the time passed with study and a few stand out incidents. Moirin felt like her own person, though there are shades of Phedre in there, as well as the latter's relationship with Joscelin. She's descended from both the Maghuin Dhonn and royalty of Terre D'Ange and the gods of both lands move in her. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
    • 4/5
      ** spoiler alert ** after reading, george rr martin's "game of thrones", i was curious about the author. i went to his website and clicked on his "what i'm reading" link. among many books, he recommended carey's "banewreaker" and "godslayer". dutiful new martin fan that i am, i walked on over to my local library and found only one carey book available - "naamah's kiss". i liked the first page and proceeded to check out... 644 pgs later, i am wholeheartedly not displeased... :) the heroines in this novel are marvelous - moirin, jehanne and xue hu/snow tiger are absolutely unforgettable... their inherent strength, their vulnerability, their capacity to love (many), etc... i was captivated by them and was so sad when the novel came to an end... i'm SO looking forward to reading about what happens to them next in "naamah's curse". admittedly, seven chapters in, when cilian and moirin consummate, i was a little worried that i'd been scammed and conned into a tawdry romance novel. i kept going and my worries faded. i was/am a very happy and willing companion to moirin on her lengthy and conflicted journey, following her "bedammned destiny". when i first read about master lo and bao, i worried again that i might be treated to a smorgasboard of asian male stereotypes - the asexual, emasculated old wise man (master lo) and the misogynistic chauvanist (bao). again, i was proved wrong - happily. and the ch'in princess, snow tiger, a literal dragon lady, also proved to rise above the iconic stereotypes of the "sexually predatory dragon lady" and the "submissive china doll". as an asian woman, i was relieved and completely besotted with these characters. i applaud carey for her detailed care and vision of these characters, most especially bao... finally! a strong, sexy, conflicted, loving, funny man who is also asian! what a concept! :)
    • 4/5
      Not quite as good as the [Kushiel's Legacy] series, but still enjoyable. This starts the story of Moirin, decendant of Alais from the Kushiel series. She is the daughter of a woman of the Maghuin Dhonn and a D'Angeline priest. She goes on a journey to find her destiny. It takes her to Terre d'Ange and Ch'in, where she helps a princess restore her father's kingdom.After getting to know Terre D'Ange so well in the Kushiel series, Ch'in is a little boring. Moirin does spend a good part of the book in Terre D'Ange, so we do still get a taste of the fun to be had there.
    • 3/5
      Short version: 2-dimensional characters and overly contrived plot. The beginning was great, but the longer I read the thinner and thinner the story and characters became.
    • 2/5
      I absolutely loved the first Kushiel Trilogy. The second was enjoyable enough. This third one is...not what I want from Jacqueline Carey. I enjoyed Kushiel etc. because of the complex and dense plotlines and the intense interactions of characters and the way that events and histories intertwined and created a very believable world. Naamah's Kiss is little more than a fairy tale. Not that it isn't well-written...it's just below the skill level that I know Carey is capable of. If you take out the sexual content, you might as well read it to a six year old and find great acclaim for it.
    • 4/5
      The first book in Jacqueline Carey's third foray into her Terre d'Ange universe. Young Moirin mac Fainche, half bear-worshipping Maghuin Dhonn and half sexuality-vernerating D'Angeline, sets out on adventure as she looks for the destiny imposed by her disparate deities and heritage. I love Jacqueline Carey's lush writing, the embrace of sensuality and sexuality that permeates her cultures and characters. My first read reminded me strongly of Phedre as a young woman, but to be fair, I'd have to reread the first Kushiel trilogy.
    • 4/5
      Naamah's Kiss is the first book in Carey's third trilogy set in the world of Terre d'Ange. This book follows Moirin, the great-granddaughter of Alais de la Courcel and child of the Maghuin Dhonn, as she travels from Alba to Terre d'Ange and then to the distant land of Ch'in. As always, Carey's characterization and storytelling are phenomenal, and the novel is completely engrossing. Naamah's Kiss is considerably lighter fare than the previous two trilogies, given the often dark tones of the two previous trilogies, and interestingly, the book seems to lack a little depth because of it. It's not Carey's best work, but it's very good nonetheless.
    • 3/5
      This is the first installment in what will be the third trilogy by Jacqueline Carey set in the world she created in the Kushiel books. In this installment it's about 150 years after the story in the second trilogy.I really like these books, but this one is probably my least favorite so far. Carey's a good writer and a really good storyteller. I would probably like this one better if I hadn't like the Kushiel books so very much. This is a little light on political intrigue and a little heavy on erotica, but not so far in that direction that it's soft core porn. It's tasteful and that's fine, but I really wanted more from the story. When I add to this quibble my objection to the stilted dialect used for the character of Bao and this book sits firmly in the just okay column. Having said that, I'll still grab the next one when it comes out. I'm interested to see where the story takes Ms. Carey next.
    • 5/5
      This book was just as good as any of the Kushiel's Legacy books. I loved Moirin's story. Kept me very interested through put the book. I never got bored. I hope the next book is just as good as this one. I cant wait to find out what come next for Moirin on her search for "B". Great Read!!!!!!
    • 5/5
      After Santa Olivia, Carey's stature as my favorite author was assured. Naamah's Kiss carved that distinction into marble. Any successive contenders for favorite author will have tall plinths to ascend before their names can be carved near the zenith.Departing chronologically but not spiritedly from my beloved characters in the Kushiel's Legacy, this generational descendant retains the compassion and character and thrill and intelligence of its predecessors. Rather than merely reacquaint us solely with D'Angeline society as it has progressed over four generations, Carey starts us in the wilds of Alba with a descendant of Alais, now referred to as Alais the Wise, who is part of a family branch that followed the isolationist nature of the still mistrusted Maghuinn Donn: Moirin, great granddaughter to my beloved princess who matured to inspire Alba.Alais' great granddaughter has no less a grand destiny to fulfill; indeed, it is this destiny that fuels her outward exploration. Thematically central, the thread of destiny remains ever present to Moirin as she literally feels her destiny respond to the courses she ponders. It is this internal compass that propels or hinders her along the way, the impetus that sends her beyond one ocean to Terre d'Ange, and then beyond a greater ocean to distant and newly connected, yet forbidding Ch'in.Magic is much more prevalent for Moirin and a greater factor in Naamah's Kiss, taking on a larger presence than in the Kushiel's Legacy sextuplet. Moirin lives with magic, having inherited through her ancestry from Alais and the Maghuinn Donn gifts that many thought lost. She hears the call of the bear goddess of the Maghuinn Donn, but also feels and is guided by the presence of the D'Angeline consorts Naamah and Anael. Weaving together with her demanding destiny, this exploration of magic and divinity compels a significant part of the story and positions Moirin in spheres of intrigue and power to which her naivete is quickly forced to adapt.Despite her humble upbringing in the wilds of Alba, or perhaps due to it, Moirin has a lusty desire to learn, explore her nature, and follow the call of her destiny. This often manifests as a stubborn streak, which combines with her naive charm to engender a new character Carey has created that has stolen my heart. Methinks Naamah would be especially pleased by this.
    • 5/5
      Though I’ve had Carey’s Kushiel series on my "want to read" list for quite a while, this is the first of her books that I’ve read. It absolutely won’t be the last. Carey has created an incredibly complex yet easily understood world, and has a knack for introducing us to it without boring us with rote history lessons. I was immediately pulled into Moirin’s world, and gladly followed her on her epic journey as she searched for her divine purpose. The D’Angeline are obviously based on the French, and the Ch’in on the Chinese, but it only adds to your ability to visualize what is happening. Considered "wild" by most every other culture, Moirin still manages to find away to fit in without losing herself, even if she does have to learn how to handle living in man-made structures and eating with utensils rather than her hands. This story was a little bit coming of age, a little bit romance, and a lot of adventure. It ends with a cliffhanger of sorts, and I can’t wait to read the next one. I’ll also be picking up that first Kushiel book much sooner than I expected.
    • 4/5
      With Naamah's Kiss, Jacqueline Carey, whose reputation has been largely based on the Kushiel world novels, returns to that world. This time, Carey decides to jump forward in time a few generations, so that she can create a new situation, a new protagonist, and explore new parts of the world. While the Phedre Trilogy and the Imriel Trilogy shared a lot of the same characters and geo-political situation, Naamah's Kiss jumps forward three generations, to a granddaughter of Alais living amongst the Maghuin Dhonn in Alba. Things have changed for Terre D'Ange. The top-of-the-world D'Angelines are being left in their self-important intrigues and idylls. A new continent has been discovered in the West, Terra Nova. There are emissaries from places as distant as Ch'in. And yet, the D'Angelines are leaving others to mostly reap the benefits of all of this.And into this decadent version of Terre D'Ange will come our heroine, Moirin. Half Alban and half D'Angeline, we follow her early life as it grows from a solitary existence with her mother in the wilderness, to the meeting with a member of the Dalraida's family. The circle of her existence and her experiences grows as Moirin develops. The tension between the two halves of her life is a constant undercurrent as she undertakes a journey to Terre D'Ange, and into the court of the Queen herself. And then beyond...And in all of this, she follows Elua's command as filtered through Naamah: Love as thou wilt. Unlike the previous two sets of novels, the sexual relationships here are not wrapped around tastes in dominance and submission. As a scion of Naamah, Moirin offers herself as she is. For all of that, even without the dominance and submission issues, Moirin's sexual nature draws her into a number of contradictory, and sometimes tragic relationships. Carey comes through with the tragic aspects of Moirin's path in life, as well as growing the sweet innocence of her life into mature adulthood.While the travelogue aspects of the novel are interesting as always, once again, Carey shows that the strongest part of her fiction is her characterization. We get to see Moirin grow as a character, with a fractally complex path of challenges, advances and retreats. Its not a smooth path of development, just like it isn't in life. Also, too, the secondary characters come alive, with agendas, dreams and thoughts of their own, which intersect with Moirin in complex ways. It seems to me that Carey has learned a lot from her previous novels and has definitely grown as a writer since Kushiel's Dart, in a good way.The novel does come up with an ending that could end Moirin's story, however I suspect there will be further volumes of her tale, and I would gladly read them.I also think that this novel might work for those readers who might be curious as to the world of Terre D'Ange and do not find the D/s sexual situations of the other trilogies to be to their liking. There is plenty of sex (and yes there is violence) in this novel, and there is f/f content as well, but as a whole, its not as drenched as the other novels sometimes were. In addition,with moving ahead three generations, this novel could work as an entry point to readers in the series. I still think that starting at the beginning is a good policy, but sort of like how Erikson's Midnight Tides, book five of the Malazan series, can serve as an alternate entree into that world, I think Naamah's Kiss can also serve in that manner. Overall, I am very well satisfied with the novel. One criticism sticks out. Ms. Carey, I love the maps in your novels. (My love of maps of all kinds gets a thrill from those). What I think you also need at this point is a timeline of events and people. It took some puzzling to figure out what happened when, but I think your history is complex enough to need one for easy reference.