Customer Reviews

Dreams Made Flesh (Black Jewels, Book 5)

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dreams Made Flesh is a wonderful addition to the Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop. The four stories contained in the anthology are "Weaver of Dreams," "the Prince of Ebon Rih," "Zuulaman," and "Kaeleer's Heart."

"Weaver of Dreams" is a brief history of the creation of the Spinner of Dreams, spiders. The evocative, rich, mythological inspiration for Draca's relationship to the spiders is fascinating to read about.

"The Prince of Ebon Rih" is Lucivar Yaslana and Marian's story. Many of the customs of Eyrien race are explored along with the intricate love between Lucivar and Marian. This story takes place at the conclusion of Heir to the Shadows.

"Zuulaman" is the story of the lengths Hekatah went to try and control Saetan. We learn a great deal about Hayll's Hundred Families and how Saetan became the ruler of the Dhemlan Territories. This story of treachery shows just how far Hekatah was willing to go to get her way.

"Kaeleer's Heart" is the long awaited story of what happened after the conclusion of Queen of Darkness. Janelle is healing, but not fast enough for Daemon. The real question is if Janelle wants to be all that she once was. Also addressed is the significance of Twilights Dawn, the jewel Janelle now wears. Many of the vibrant characters seen in the Black Jewels Trilogy make appearances in the story.

Dreams Made Flesh is a nice addition to the Black Jewels Trilogy. "Zuulaman" explains much of Saetan and Hekatah. "Kaeleer's Heart" puts a wonderful spin on the ending to the Queen of Darkness and gives a much more satisfying end to the series. The weakness of this anthology is that is not a stand alone. This book is primarily for fans of the series.

Anne Bishop is the author numerous fantasy books, the Black Jewels Trilogy; Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, and Queen of Darkness. Invisible Ring is set in the same world as the Black Jewels Trilogy. She is also the author the World of the Fae series; Pillars of the World, the Shadows and the Light, and the House of Gaian. Bishop won the William L. Crawford Memorial Fantasy Award for the Black Jewels Trilogy. Please visit her website, http://www.annebishop.com/ for more information.

"The Prince of Ebon Rih". Since his return from the sadistic court in Terreille, warlord Prince of the Blood Lucivar wants nothing to do with women. His sister Jaenelle prevents the rape of a hearth witch by five aristos; then tells the woman that she will be Lucivar's new housekeeper. When Lucivar realizes he has feelings for Marian, he woos her but his mother wants him to marry an aristo and will do whatever is necessary to end this relationship. This absolutely riveting romantic fantasy will appeal to readers of both genres.

"Zuulamam". Saetan's wife is pregnant and asks him to help her family out of their financial difficulties. When he refuses, she goes to Zuulamam where she pretends to be a hostage to get what she wants. She and the Zulamam do something horrific that pushes the Lord of Hell into a killing rage. This short story is a great character study that shows the many different faces of Saetan.

"Kaeleer's Heart". To save the realm of Kaeleer against its enemies, the witch Jaenelle with her lover Daemon worked their magic; Jaenette almost died. When she came out of the healing webs, Daemon worried that she no longer loved him just as she feared that she changed too much fro Daemon to love her anymore. A witch of the Blood who covets Daemon tries to break the lovers up. Daemon, more powerful than his father Saetan, unleashes his wrath on the realm seeking the person responsible for the attempts on Jaenette's life. This is a beautiful adult fairy tale.

These three novellas and the very short story " Weaver of Dreams" are exciting, entertaining and exotic tales in the "Black Jewels" Universe.

Harriet Klausner

I honestly think 7 exclamation points is a perfect title for this review. Finally we have an ending to the Black Jewels Trilogy (sorry if that killed it for those who haven't read it yet, but at least you won't have to wait as long as those who read it did to get a real ending). And what an ending it is! I loved it!

Ok, so this book is actually comprised of four stories. The first, in all honestly, I completely didn't understand. One of the things I disliked about the BJ Trilogy was that I totally didn't understand the whole threads and webs thing. But hey, thats just me, maybe you got it and you'll like this story. For those who didn't, well luckily its short and you don't need to understand it.

The next story is about how Lucivar met his wife. Ahhhhh what a beautiful story. Some parts are sad, some super happy, some anger, etc. I promise its not cheesy though (well, maybe not too much). There were some parts that made me laugh my butt off too, much more than most of Bishop's work (good stuff, I promise). You get to see more sides of Jaenelle as well; more of her human-like qualities are shown, but she's still a pretty fierce chick. After this story, Lucivar really grew on me, much more than in the trilogy.

The third story is basically what happens when you piss Saetan off. It goes back in time, previous to the whole trilogy (if this sounds like it'll throw you off, I promise it won't). You learn more about Saetan's character here, and it explains a few things you might have not understood before.

Last, but not least, is the addition to the ending of the BJ trilogy (I guess its technically not the ending, but feels more like an ending than the last one). Those questions you had when you finished the trilogy will all be answered, thank god. Definetly much more satisfying, as well as a great story in itself.

One thing I must point out- the cover art is so much better on this book. Its so lame, I know, but I really hated those covers. I'll even look past the fact that Jaenelle is blond, not a brunette, but oh well.

If you haven't read the Black Jewels Trilogy, you will not understand this book. It is specifically meant to add on to the original trilogy, so if you try to read it you will be sufficiently lost. But if you have read the trilogy, PICK THIS UP! Even if its been a while since you read them, do it. You can go ahead and re-read them, but its really not necessary. It had been a while since I read them, and I managed just fine. I found this book 50 times more engrossing than the trilogy, and I loved the triogy too. The stories flow better, the characters are more in depth, and finally you can rest easy in regards to what happens to everyone.

...you just might get it. After finishing "Queen of Darkness" I felt vaguely dissatisfied with the open ending as I guess many other readers did, too. I wanted to know how the story ended and what became of Jaenelle and Daemon and also what Jaenelle's new jewel, Twilight's Dawn, symbolized. After the very intense reading experience of The Black Jewels Trilogy I craved a sense of closure. When I found out that there was going to be a continuation of the story, I was very excited and couldn't wait to get my hands on the book. It contains four new stories from the realms:

"Weaver of Dreams" is the shortest of the four and tells us how the webs of power and dream webs came into being through the body of a dragon and where the weaver of dreams originated from. It written in a very ecliptic style and quite difficult to understand, but I liked the mysterious tone of the story.

"The Prince of Ebon Rih" takes place after "Heir to the Shadows" and tells the story of how Lucivar fell in love with his Purple Dusk hearth witch. All her life Marian has just been a maid for her family because of her light jewel. Then everything takes a dramatic turn and she ends up as Lucivar's housekeeper. Soon Lucivar is smitten with his Eyrien hearth witch; unfortunately his mother isn't and they have to overcome quite a few obstacles before they can live happily ever after.

"Zuulaman" is a story from Saetan's past. The queens of Zuulaman try to coerce Saetan into signing some very dubious trade agreements by holding his wife and son hostage. When he doesn't comply they kill his son in a very bestial way. To stop his son from crying in the Twisted Kingdom Saetan undertakes to erase all traces of Zuulaman...This story shows the dark side of Saetan and we come to understand why he is feared by many.

"Kaeleer's Heart" finally is what should be the happily ever after for Jaenelle and Daemon. But after Jaenelle has risen from the healing webs too soon, she is very fragile and Daemon feels guilty because she did it for him. Then there is also a witch who wants to have Daemon for her own and doesn't stop at anything to get him. It is very touching how Jaenelle and Daemon try to overcome their problems in the aftermath of the unleashing of Jaenelle's power. The happy ending finally comes about when Daemon understands what Twilight's Dawn symbolizes...

The stories were all very well written though I felt that maybe they lacked the intensity of the original trilogy. On the one hand I quite liked the stories and I enjoyed reading about all the familiar characters again. On the other hand I also felt that having everything that happened to Jaenelle and Daemon afterwards revealed also diminished my enjoyment of the original trilogy: in a way I liked that the ending didn't provide closure and that I could indulge in my own fantasy of what happened to them after because this kept the story alive for me. Now that closure has been provided this has been taken away from me and there is no mystery left.
I couldn't have resisted buying this book but now I think that I should have never wished for Anne Bishop to write an ending to the story. In the future I will me more careful of what I wish for...

Anne Bishop, after giving us the Tir Alainn trilogy, has gone back to her award-winning, besteselling roots of the Black Jewels realms. This novel, a collection of four short stories, gives insight into different events that have influenced the events that take place in the Black Jewels trilogy, as well as what occurs afterwards. The book is well written and much like her original trilogy, although the stories told are unimpressive and seem more like a cashing-in on the series than explaining things more in-depth. These stories can be appreciated if you are an adamant fan of the Black Jewels series, but are otherwise lackluster. The stories are written with the expectation that the reader is strongly familiar with the Black Jewels trilogy, so if it has been a while since you have read the originals (like me), it may benefit you to reacquaint yourself with the original story, characters, and Realms, otherwise you will be lost. An overall fun, quick read, but not vital to knowing the secrets behind the Black Jewels trilogy.

Wow. At first I was upset that this book was of short stories, but after reading them, that thought had fled my mind... instead of one story, I got three (and one very short one, the first called Weaver of Dreams, that tells of the orgin of the jewels of power orgininated) amazing tales that take us deeper into the emotional realms of Lucivar, Saetan and Daemon's hearts, minds and souls. It was wonderful to be back in the world of the Dark Jewels again, and Anne Bishop did not drop a beat. Her stories read like one of the trilogy books, haunting, fluid, moving and wonderful. Although they were a bit lacking, but only because I was left wanting more. If you are a fan of Anne Bishop, and want to see deeper into some of the main characters, this book is for you. If you are new to Anne Bishop's world, I would not start here, but with Daughter of the Blood and continue to read read the The Black Jewels Trilogy first, so that this book means more to you.

I stayed up very late with this one...
I really love the Black Jewels books and was really excited when I found out Dreams Made Flesh was coming out. And this one does not dissappoint.
Usually I am not a big fan of short stories, but "The Prince of Ebon Rih" and "Kaeleer's Heart" are long enough, and detailed enough to be really satisfying. I really liked the way the story of Lucivar and Marian was fleshed out. My only complaint is that I think it would have been even better if Lucivar had had a conversation with Marian's family...
I'm also soooo glad Anne Bishop added a footnote to the end of "The Queen of Darkness." "Kaeleer's Heart" lets the reader know how Janelle's recovery progressed and what her powers are like with twilight's dawn. It adds a feeling of completeness that I missed with "The Queen of Darkness."
"Zuulaman" is short, but haunting. It adds on to the story of Saetan and Heketah; it doesn't tell us much we didn't already know, but it adds emotion and depth to Saetan's character--and Hekatah's depravity.
This book so completely drew me back into the world of the Black Jewels...Now I have to go back and re-read the rest of the books..again.

I was worried about this book--how could you have a sequel to the Black Jewels Trilogy without it diminishing the story? Most sequels are a disappointment. Not "Kaeleer's Heart". It wrapped up some questions left over from the Black Jewels in a very satisfying way. The trilogy wouldn't have been as powerful if this story had been included; reading it later as a separate story gave closure without spoiling the rhythm of the original series. The other stories in the book were also very enjoyable, and it was a pleasure to visit the characters again.

On the negative side, the writing didn't seem to be quite as flowing and elegant as that in the original series. Readers should read the original trilogy before reading these short stories in order to get to know the characters and to get a full appreciation for Anne Bishop's talent. The only other negative impression I had about the book was that some of the character's behaviors and speaking styles didn't seem to mesh completely with the original series. Not a surprise, really, given the years that have passed since the publication of the last of the Black Jewels trilogy. None of these issues were enough of a detriment to keep this book from being one I'll read again--Anne Bishop is one of the great fantasy writers.

The story of Lucivar and Marion answers so many questions that were left from "The Queen of the Darkness". Their love story is almost as beautiful as Kaeleer's Heart. The excerpt Zulamaan only ignited my desire to learn more about Saetan, the story of the man himself. This book is definitely worth getting and a must buy if you love the Blood trilogy. I hope the author continues writing more stories about the people she introduced in the Blood trilogy.

I'm not going to bother reviewing the stories in this book and talking about what they cover as that's been done enough. But I wanted to remark on two things I was worried about when I picked up this book - primarily for the fourth short story because I wanted a little more time with Daemon and Jaenelle (though I thought the ending for the trilogy was just right.) From reading the description of the book I had two concerns. First, that since there were four short stories the one I was most interested in would be too short and hurried, and second, the description lead me to believe there was all of a sudden all this new angst between them and I'd have to march through the story to finally have it resolved at the end.

Thankfully both worries are totally unfounded. The Deamon/Jaenelle story gets the most pages of the four stories (I'd guess maybe 35-40% of the book.) Also, while the fears and unspoken issues Daemon and Jaenelle have as the story begins are totally understandable, they really are minor and are resolved fairly early, allowing someone like me who doesn't care to read constant angst to sit back and enjoy the show once that part was resolved.

As a side note for anyone who hasn't ready the original trilogy yet (to which I have to ask, why are you still reading reviews? Buy it already!) this book is published, and therefore most often read, after the trilogy. However, some might prefer from a timeline perspective to buy this book along with the trilogy and intersperse it with them, reading the first and third short stories after the first book of the trilogy (they occur before it in the timeline, but answer questions that are best left vague in the first book to enjoy it more,) the second short story takes place between the second book and third books so can be read then, and the last short story takes place immediately after the trilogy ends.