For the most part I was engrossed, and that was despite not always liking Moirin’s decisions and also finding some of the secondary characters to be a bit annoying. I think the author’s writing continually improves throughout these books. I spent the first couple of pages mourning all my favorite characters from the previous two trilogies, but then I became wrapped up in this new character’s story. Early in the book we learn that she’s the great, great granddaughter of Alais. This one, on the other hand, is set about 100 years later and introduces us to a brand new character, Moirin. The second trilogy had taken place shortly after the first trilogy and followed a character we’d already met. Naamah’s Kiss is the beginning of the third and final trilogy in the Kushiel’s Universe series. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Through her lineage, Moirin possesses such gifts-the ability to summon the twilight and conceal herself, and the skill to coax plants to grow. But generations ago, the greatest of them all broke a sacred oath sworn in the name of all his people. Once there were great magicians born to the Maghuin Dhonn, the folk of the Brown Bear, the oldest tribe in Alba.

Naamah's Kiss by Jacqueline Carey