Rating: 4
Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy was a bestselling hit over in the United States, but unfortunately did not have the same impact over the pond. Set in a fantasy world where the powerful Blood use their power and Craft to rule the Realms in a very dark tale, in which the discovery of one young girl will change the course of everyones lives. She is Witch.
Thankfully for fans of the trilogy, the story of Witch did not end there. Dreams Made Flesh followed the trilogy, a collection of novellas giving us insight into our favourite characters' pasts. This year gives us Tangled Webs, which follows the end of the trilogy, with a fun, albeit strange tale!
Tangled Webs is quite frankly ridiculous. Set years after the end of the war, Jaenelle is still recovering from her sacrifice, and decides to give everyone a fun gift, by creating a Spooky House. Basically, she fills an old house with spells and tricks designed to spook the landen children, who believe the Blood truly live that way. However, an author brought up believing he was landen, discovers that he is Blood, and angry that he is not accepted, turns against the Blood, creating his own Spooky House, filled with true nightmares and dangers, designed to trap and ultimately kill Daemon, Lucivar and Surreal, who represent all that he could never be. Clearly he has spent too little time with the Blood, and has no idea who he is up against.
Like I said, the story is ridiculous. But that makes it no less fun and entertaining! The first half of the story is slow, but allows us glimpses into the lives of Daemon and Jaenelle, Lucivar and Marian, and Saetan, the High Lord of Hell. It is these stories that interest me, especially when delving in to the history behind Saetan's past and relationship with his sons. Then the story focuses more on Surreal as she becomes trapped in the house with her escort, Rainier. Here the story takes a darker and more violent turn, and though the idea of the Spooky House is an unexpected and perhaps even mundane choice for an author of Bishop's quality, she writes the story and characters so well that the reader gripped throughout and leaves us guessing how it will end.
A bizarre addition to the Black Jewels Saga, but an entertaining read for fans of the series, giving more insight into the lives of some of our favourite characters. It certainly left me wanting to reread the trilogy!
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4 comments:
Thank you for the great review, Mariel. I really enjoyed the trilogy along with The Invisible Ring and Dreams Made Flesh. I'm waiting for this one to come out in paperback before I pounce on it. The premise does sound ridiculous, but I do love the characters and am looking forward to reuniting with them. :-)
I love the Black Jewels trilogy, and I own this one, but I haven't read it yet, but I will get to it eventually!
I'm glad you enjoyed it, even if the premise is ridiculous! Anne Bishop has us so hooked on the characters that we will read and enjoy whatever she comes up with as long as it means spending more time with them :P I'm looking forward to reading this one.
I'm sure you'll all enjoy this, once you get past the
slightly ridiculous premise! I was a little surprised how much I enjoyed it all things considered. I look forward to hearing what you all think!
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