Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch sees an ancient prophecy come to life in her dazzling web of dreams and visions. Now the Dark Kingdom readies itself for the arrival of its Queen, a Witch who will yield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself. But she is still young, still open to influence - and corruption.
Whoever controls the Queen controls the Darkness. Three men - sworn enemies - know that. And they know the power that hides behind the blue eyes of an innocent young girl. And so begins a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, magic and betrayal, where the weapons are hate and love...and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining...
I'm not really sure what to say about this book! I enjoyed it immensely. I finished it at 3 o'clock in the morning, and got up out of bed to check whether the next book in the series was available on the library website, so that's a good sign.
Maybe the reason I am a bit stumped is that I am not really much of a fantasy reader, and so for quite some time it was a bit like hard work to get into all the world building straight in my head, and what all the various levels of jewels meant but once I got into the book I was in. In a lot of ways Bishop has taken the world as we know it, and turned it upside down. The good guys live in Hell, women are the power mad rulers whose every whim is to be catered too, and I have to say that the obedience ring sounds completely scary! Glad not to be a bloke in Bishop's world I can tell you!
The characters were interesting, and I can't wait to meet up with Lucivar and Daemon in particular again in the next book, in particular to know whether Daemon actually can find a more equal relationship than he has with any of the women that he has to service (for want of a better word!)
The main storyline for this first book is the introduction of Jaenelle as Witch - destined to rule the world and an incredibly powerful witch. To her family, she is emotionally unstable. To all her friends in the various countries of the world that she travels to by web (basically seems to be a large spiders web with different paths depending on the colour of the jewel that you have!) she is a character that brings laughter and light, freshness and hope!
I am really looking forward to reading more of this series!
Rating 4/5
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great review! I loved the trilogy. Dreams Made Flesh is good for when you are done and want a bit of some of the characters but it's nowhere near as good as the trilogy. :)
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it Marg. I started out reading every page, but rapidly learned to skip someof the more graphic scenes. HOpe you like the others too!
ReplyDeleteI hope so too! I've got the second one here to read already!
ReplyDeleteThis is a good series, and one that I've read more than once.
ReplyDeletehttp://allbookedup-elena.blogspot.com/2009/04/daughter-of-blood-anne-bishop.html
The best news is, there's two new ones out now and I've heard rumors of rumors that there's going to be more.
I own one of the two new ones, but haven't read yet! I do want to read any more books in the series, but then I am a little concerned that it won't quite live up to the greatness of the first three books!
ReplyDeleteI've linked to your review now!
Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe Shadow Queen, the newest of the two new ones does live up to the originals I think.