The Black Jewels Trilogy

One of my favorite trilogies of all time!

Ms. Bishop writes Romantic Fantasy. The trilogy starts with Daughter of the Blood: From the back cover "Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch sees an ancient prphecy 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 wield 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 late and love .. and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining..."

The story continues with Heir to the Shadows, and finishes with Queen of the Darkness.

This is a captivating story. You will fall in love with the characters, and follow in suspense what happens to Jaenelle and Daemon.

I purchased a second copy of this book because my first Omnibus has been lost on the realm of Bookcrossing, and my set of books of the trilogy went out on a ring. Having recently read Dreams Made Flesh I could not avoid a re-read of The Black Jewels Trilogy. So, I purchased a new copy.

I did my re-read. I read the 1204 page book in less than one week. I did get other things done, just not much. Anne's writing just flows, and even though there are many breaks and opportunities to stop so you can do something like eat or do things the real world calls you to do, you cannot put the book down. I even know what happened next, having read the books a couple times before.

I haven't read the stories in awhile. I had read the short stories of Surreal when they came out. I mentioned in my Dreams Made Flesh review that it would have been interesting to read the DMF stores (and even the Surreal stories, and Invisible Ring) all in story order. I may just do that one day. But I am glad that I did my re-read of BJT after reading DMF. It is quite clear that the stories in DMF needed to be told. They were all stories Anne refers to in detail in the BJT. I am astounded. I see why they would not have made the cut to go into BJT, as all of them were separate from the main story of Witch, which is told in BJT. Heck, Lucivar's story qualifies as a novel by itself for word count. And Anne did say that to have gone in BJT to tell Kaeleer's Heart would have been to start another story.

To read the trilogy as three separate books is a bit misleading. It gives you a "good" stopping point, but then you might read something in between. The opportunity to read it in one bound volume changes the story slightly, so you can feel how Anne meant the story to be told. Even having read the trilogy one book right after the other, it was not the same feeling as reading the Omnibus.

This is one of those books that once you put down, it stays with you. At the time, I had no interest in picking up another book very soon. The characters were still with me long after reading. They've actually never left me from the first reading, but they are re-invigorated.

As a writer, I feel inspired after reading Anne's work.

I didn't get the chance to read my Omnibus when I got my first copy of it. I am whole-heartedly pleased with my second purchase. I only hope my first one travels along to people who will savor it and appreciate it.