Wow! I mean Wow! Daughter of the Blood is one of the most mesmerizing, powerful, unforgettable books I have ever read. Talk about making a splash with your first published novel; Anne Bishop does that and more. This is the kind of complex, intricately crafted novel that almost demands multiple readings if one is to grasp all of the nuances worked seamlessly into the story. The universe Bishop brings to life here is unlike any other I have had the good fortune to tread, and while I sometimes felt unsure of certain elements of the plot and a little confused about several of the large number of characters featured herein, the writing is devastatingly captivating. Some people call this a mix of romance and horror; for all my horror loving friends out there, don't let the mention of romance stop you from immersing yourself in this incredible novel. I would categorize Daughter of the Blood as a sensuous dark fantasy of a type many horror fans should love.
Daughter of the Blood is a concentrated form of literary magic. Like magic, one often finds oneself shocked and amused, unable to explain what you just experienced but blown away by the impact of it. The action takes place in a fantastic world where the land of the living overlays the land of the demon-dead, the very fabric of realities linked together with the beauty and force of powerful silken webs of existence so tiny that most of the living never suspect their existence. It is a dark universe where traditional good and evil transcend one another. In fact, the most positive of forces reside in Hell itself, led by Saetan, the High Lord of Hell himself. Two of his estranged sons, Lucivar and Daemon, exist among the living on the other side of the veil, enduring unbelievable hardships at the hands of powerful female witches. Women rule the world of the living, and even the most powerful of men are exploited and dominated. Those "of the Blood," both women and men, possess magical powers drawn from an assortment of multi-colored jewels, but even men of the Black (the most powerful jewel) are subjugated and enslaved to demented Black Widow queens and priestesses. Daemon has been forced to serve his queens in the most humiliating of ways for centuries; having never known his father, he has become the coldest of men, forced to wear the Ring of Obedience (and, let me tell you, you don't wear this particular ring on your finger) and suffer terrible brutalities. Only his dreams of she who is yet to come, the only woman he will willingly serve, keep him from falling into an abyss too deep to return from.
Everything changes, in both Hell and the world of the living, when the prophecy of a new and all-powerful witch is fulfilled in the form of a sapphire-eyed young lady named Jaenelle. She is not just "a witch;" rather, she is Witch. At twelve years old, she has little understanding of just what she is, but she travels between the realms to seek the instruction of Saetan in the Craft and continually amazes her new tutor with the power and knowledge she possesses. Daemon, whom Saetan first views as a possible threat to Jaenelle, ends up serving Jaenelle's grandmother and develops a powerful bond and a very real love for the young lady. He will become her protector from several forces of evil, namely the corrupted Black Widows and dark priestesses now holding sway in the land, women intent on destroying Jaenelle and the threat she poses to their continued rule by perversion. Daemon is one of the most impressively constructed characters I have met in a long time, as is Jaenelle. Surprisingly, there are moments of great humor to be found in these pages, most of them arising from the young girl's naiveté about the world and Saetan's attempts to answer her increasingly bold questions, but a continuously dark story takes a dramatically shocking dark turn toward the end as Jaenelle's secret life, the one she keeps hidden from Saetan and Daemon, is exposed, threatening to destroy her and the men bound to serve her. The romantic elements of the novel, seemingly problematic due to the character's young age, are handled with great care and beauty, revealing the hand of a true master craftswoman of words at work here.
Those who like their novels straightforward and easily understandable may balk at the richness of the world Anne Bishop has created here, but lovers of dark fantasy and well-constructed literature in general will find themselves immersed in a world they have never imagined. I don't have the words to describe just how powerful an effect this book had on my consciousness and emotions. This first book of The Black Jewels Trilogy is the most unique and easily the most powerful work of dark fantasy I have ever read. Thank goodness there are two additional books in the series, for I could not, at this point, leave this universe of Bishop's creation even if I wanted to.
