The Kushiel’s Dart series sucks.

It relies on a conception of prostitution that disregards the economics of prostitution in the real world, but uses the ‘alternate history’ tack to play at verisimilitude.

It is similar to the pdf about the Companion Inara– just full of romantic assumptions that aren’t reflected in history or the present day.

Perhaps the most repulsive aspect is making the heroine a super-healing ‘natural-born masochist’, who requires ‘pain and humiliation’ to be properly sexually gratified.

The second most insulting and repulsive bit is the way that sexuality is interpreted and handled. There is no underbelly in this fairyland of hedonism with suspicious rulesets. Plus, even I know that sex isn’t love, yet it’s the foundational religious and series premise (“love as thou wilt”), which is just…baffling. Because the ONLY practical definition of love is assorted sex acts and practices (except for the sex acts and practices that are disallowed of course–’as you wilt’ comes with some very strange catches)

Deep Throat is less insulting, mostly because it isn’t played straight.

If the Kushiel’s Dart heroine was driven by a desire for blood and damage to her own flesh, and could not heal easily, that would have been an interesting story, at least. As it is, it’s kind of a Mary Sue adventure, but with sex-for-pay instead of for free, as is the usual standard. There’s no comprehension of how suffering works, even when it’s pursued as a means of pleasure.

I should write my own books about some fantasy world where rape is the vilest of crimes and yet with no sense of irony prostitution of ‘natural masochists’ is considered teh awesum. And of course we never find out if anyone ever fakes it or fakes it in others for personal gain. But that is just one small example of there being no underbelly to this series.

One of the reasons sex-positivity tires me out is stuff like this, where the writer tries to put a religious-y coat of paint on hedonism, dress it in quasi-sacred garb. But practically speaking, love’s not solely or even primarily sex (and it is problematic to associate it with sex for pay primarily on top of that), and it’s kind of irritating to be presented with an agenda disguised as a fantasy series.

I could go on, but I will end my dissatisfactions here…