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Cover of Naamah's Kiss

Naamah's Kiss

Jacqueline Carey

First published 2009 · 800 pages

A lush, sweeping journey of spiritual and sensual awakening across beautifully rendered, mythic continents.

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What it feels like

Reading this book feels like embarking on a grand, unhurried voyage across a richly painted tapestry of myth and magic. The narrative unfolds at a steady, deliberate pace, inviting you to savor the sensory details of distant lands, intricate court politics, and deep wilderness. It is an intensely sensual and spiritual experience, steeped in a mood of earthy mysticism and romantic wonder. The prose is lush and ornate, wrapping the reader in a world where divine will and human desire are inextricably linked. It will delight readers who love their epic fantasy to be as much about emotional and physical intimacy as it is about saving kingdoms, offering a sweeping, character-driven journey that rewards patience with profound emotional resonance.

Mood
  • lush
  • mystical
  • sweeping
  • earthy
Tone
  • earnest
  • sensual
  • reverent
  • romantic
Pace
steady
Themes
sacred intimacy · divine destiny · cultural exploration · nature and magic · coming of age
The writing
Lush, ornate, and deeply sensory, the prose lingers on the physical and emotional textures of a vast, mythic world.
The arc
The protagonist journeys from a sheltered, wilderness-bound innocence to a profound, worldly awakening guided by divine purpose and desire.
Who it's for
Fans of sweeping, character-driven epic fantasy who savor intricate world-building, extensive travelogues, and unabashedly romantic, sensual storytelling.
Content notes
  • explicit sexual content
  • violence
  • kidnapping

About the book

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.

Description from Open Library.

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