adularia25's review against another edition
3.0
These books are great in that they focus on lighter jeweled members of the blood (those who wear light colors of jewels are less powerful in this world). But the main failing is what was wrong with "Tangled Webs" - those who wear the darker jewels, be it Sadi or Lucivar or Saetan, come swooping in as Deus ex Machina whenever things get particularly rough. Yes, the other characters have to work out their issues largely on their own, but I would have liked them to work out their issues ENTIRELY on their own. No interference from the characters who, at this point, have already been the focus of a trilogy and then-some. Let the new characters share the spotlight. Let new stories grow. As much as I love Sadi and the gang, it is time for them to go - they have had their stories, now let them have a well earned rest.
jj7twin's review against another edition
5.0
Several generations after the events in The Invisible Ring and four* years after The Queen of Darkness, we have our new story. It does open two years after Janelle purges the realms but most of the story is after that. The last of Lia and Jared's descendants is back home and asks for help to restore his territory under an honorable queen. He doesn't like Cassie because he doesn't feel the Queen/court pull and it stresses what should an easy transition. The Blood in Dena Nehele are essentially starting from scratch but Theran* has so many notions on what a queen should be and do. It seems like he wants a Queen but still maintain the power of ruling because she's not "his queen". Things start to heal towards the end but the rest of the story is amped in the next book and it brings it all to a good end.
dja777's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book, and always love diving back into the Black Jewels world, but this sequel is not as good as the original trilogy.
crysta's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
jesselhenson's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
fast-paced
5.0
silverannika's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
m_is_for_awesome's review against another edition
2.0
This was an excellent short story with a second, unnecessary story-line added to it like stuffing to make it into a full length novel. Which disappointed me because I adore 'what came next' novels, and this book is a look at what happens in the land of Dena Nehele after the Black Jewels Trilogy.
The story sets out to be the anti-fantasy Romance with a less-than-gorgeous Queen and a surly, uneducated Prince who has spent so much time fighting for the freedom of his people he hasn't a clue what to do with peace. I was really interested in the fallout you can see here from the end of the main trilogy - after the evil infecting the Blood was removed, and all the Blood touched by it, things didn't go well in the lands they'd possessed. The non-Blood landens revolted, innocent Blood were slaughtered, landens were slaughtered in return, and come the end of the revolt there are no adult Queens to form a government around, and the only capable males had spent their entire lives hating Queens and refusing to serve. Into this comes the Shadow Queen, a lightly Jeweled Queen from the Shadow Realm who accepts a contract to form a court and teach the locals what having a real Court means.
I really liked this set up - what Janelle did in the Trilogy wasn't a magic wand that ended all problems. It was a fire that burned out an infection and cauterized the wound but left deep, deep scars. And I liked the chance to see what life was like for the everyday Jeweled Blood, ones who didn't have the power to smash whole nations to paste.
Sadly, Bishop added an entire plot around Sadi and family (did the editor feel folks didn't want to read a Blood novel without one?) and it feels like filler. It feels shoehorned in. It distracts from the real story. And having such powerful characters lurk in the background, it is impossible to maintain the tension of story. Because at any moment Lucivar or Saetan could snap their fingers and solve any problems the Queen might have.
After all that, the book ends abruptly, and without any real sense of climax or denouement. Kept to a short story about just Dena Nehele this would have been fabulous. As it was - just ok.
The story sets out to be the anti-fantasy Romance with a less-than-gorgeous Queen and a surly, uneducated Prince who has spent so much time fighting for the freedom of his people he hasn't a clue what to do with peace. I was really interested in the fallout you can see here from the end of the main trilogy - after the evil infecting the Blood was removed, and all the Blood touched by it, things didn't go well in the lands they'd possessed. The non-Blood landens revolted, innocent Blood were slaughtered, landens were slaughtered in return, and come the end of the revolt there are no adult Queens to form a government around, and the only capable males had spent their entire lives hating Queens and refusing to serve. Into this comes the Shadow Queen, a lightly Jeweled Queen from the Shadow Realm who accepts a contract to form a court and teach the locals what having a real Court means.
I really liked this set up - what Janelle did in the Trilogy wasn't a magic wand that ended all problems. It was a fire that burned out an infection and cauterized the wound but left deep, deep scars. And I liked the chance to see what life was like for the everyday Jeweled Blood, ones who didn't have the power to smash whole nations to paste.
Sadly, Bishop added an entire plot around Sadi and family (did the editor feel folks didn't want to read a Blood novel without one?) and it feels like filler. It feels shoehorned in. It distracts from the real story. And having such powerful characters lurk in the background, it is impossible to maintain the tension of story. Because at any moment Lucivar or Saetan could snap their fingers and solve any problems the Queen might have.
After all that, the book ends abruptly, and without any real sense of climax or denouement. Kept to a short story about just Dena Nehele this would have been fabulous. As it was - just ok.
lisalark's review against another edition
4.0
Again, quite cute and sweet, especially for Bishop. I really enjoyed the nuance of the main"antagonist" character, because he wasn't so much a simple bad person as a person with different values and sensibilities and ideas and talents who just couldn't quite fit in to a new framework. I think that's ultimately more interesting and harder to write than a simple baddie.
I have almost exhausted this series, and that is sad.
I have almost exhausted this series, and that is sad.