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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunned and awed, February 8, 2006
Mystifying, sensual and radiating with dark magic, tests of faith and compassionate love. This book just lungs for your heart, rips it apart, just to put it back together on the very, very last page.
I admit I havent been stunned and awed over a sci-fi/fantasy novel since the first coming of G.R. Martin. And I havent ached, fought, hoped and feared for a character like the one of Daemon Sadi since I read the first chapters about Tyrion "The Imp" Lannister in Martin's Game of Thrones. I mean, how can one writer catch her reader's uninhibited emotional attention, like Anne Bishop did with this last book of her terryfic Black Jewels Trilogy?
So, let's take a closer look. Queen of Darkness actually is neatly divided in two parts. In the first two thirds it's a - sometimes a bit slow - dance of longing, hope and finally passion. As Daemon Sadi, sworn consort to Jaenelle, the powerful Witch queen who rules the Shadow Realm, reenters the stage, he not only has to overcome his own fears: Would his beloved lady still want him after all that happened before? He also has to overcome her youthful uncertainties: Will she be enough for a man who has lived for 1700 years? Or will she break him apart if she claimed his heart, like those other witch queens tried by forcing him into a slave's service? Of course love prevails - that was never in question.
Had the story ended at this point, I would have considered QoD a good fantasy romance coming to a long awaited conclusion. But Anne Bishop got me there. She really tricked me into believing, that the rest of this novel would be a swift clean-up. Many otherwise good SF&F stories tend to conlude with a good deal of disappointment when the main protagonists become too strong and powerful (I just name Eddings as the master example for way too omnipotent leading characters). But in QoD all of sudden Jaenelle and her friends really face destruction of everything they treasure. And I swear, it's not some deus et machina out-of-nowhere threat, but some evil developments of ongoing machinations and a few well-placed twists of fate. When it seems as if even the greatest sacrifice wouldnt be enough, Daemon Sadi and Jaenelle come up with a devilish plan. And betraying those who trust the most is just a minor part of it. What follows is as mind-blowing as anything I've ever read. It's phenominal in detail, painful in execution and exhilarating in conclusion.
Anne Bishop - you've really crowned yourself as one of the gendre's best with those last 150 pages of Queen of Darkness.
> "Daemon?" There was so much uncertainty in her voice.
> "Hi, sweetheart" he said, his voice husky from the effort not to cry. "I've missed you."
> Her hand moved slowly, with effort, until her palm rested against his face. Her lips curved into a smile. "Daemon."
> This time, when she said this, it sounded like a promise, like a lovely caress.
Oh, what a jewel of beauty!
Thank you, Anne Bishop. Thank you very much for this lesson about pure and unconditional love. And if it comes to that, no sacrifice can be too big. No price too high. And no faith too deep.
So, after I read the last page, it was way past midnight. I went to my beloved wife who was already sound asleep and held her tight, so tight.
What more can I say?
I'm still weeping.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The thrilling conclusion to The Black Jewels Trilogy, May 15, 2004
With Queen of the Darkness, Anne Bishop closes out one of the best dark fantasy trilogies ever written. The depth and richness of the worlds she created in this series must be experienced to be believed, especially with "good guys" including the likes of Saetan, High Lord of Hell, and his sons Daemon Sadi and Lucivar. Of course, Jaenelle Angelline is the center of attention as always; the young girl we first met in Daughter of the Blood, struggling to find friendship, acceptance, and guidance from those who - unlike her awful family - could recognize her for what she was, has grown up and now sits upon the Dark Throne of Ebon Askavi. She is surrounded by a coven of friends from neighboring realms and their males, protected by the most powerful warlords of the Blood, yet despite her own power as Witch - the almost mythological manifestation of true Blood power, dreams made flesh - sorrow continues to number all of her days. Daemon Sadi, her chosen Consort, has yet to return from the Twisted Kingdom of madness, many Kindred lives have been lost at the hands of the evildoers ruling the kingdom of Terreille, and a cataclysmic war looms on the horizon, a war Jaenelle knows will kill everyone she cares about.I think the beginning of this novel threw me off stride a little bit, and I was never able to completely recover. As Queen of the Darkness opens, several years have passed since Daemon emerged from the Twisted Kingdom, yet he is nowhere to be found. When he is located, largely by luck or fate, and brought to the Hall alongside the likes of Wilhelmina, Jaenelle's sister, he remembers nothing of the cataclysmic events that closed out the first book in the trilogy. When Jaenelle returns, a definite rift exists between her and Daemon, and Jaenelle has little to do with a sister she once loved. The situation with Daemon becomes clear as the book nears its end (culminating in a very touching scene), yet I felt there was a strong disconnect between the characters. Later, when the evil plots of Hekatah the dark priestess and her hateful ally witch Dorothea must finally be dealt with once and for all, I didn't completely buy into the way things happened. Certainly, there were some surprises, and I could barely stand to see some of the things that took place actually happen, but things just didn't seem 100% right. The pivotal subterfuge around which Jaenelle's secret plans are put into motion seemed especially contrived - it was as if everyone just decided one morning that they should look at a central character differently, and I never saw any justification for the types of doubts that arose. Fans of the series will be thrilled to know that justice is finally done, and those who have hurt Jaenelle and the members of her Dark Court over the years get exactly what is due them. Sadly, however, some dear characters are also lost or maimed through acts of villainy and the vindictive lust for power. The Kindred, non-human creatures of the Blood whom we encountered in Heir to the Shadows, are woven into this concluding novel in a beautifully intricate fashion, making for a more complex but at the same time enriching reading experience. At the same time, secondary players in the drama, many of whom I had struggled to truly understand, also emerge in grand fashion as the trilogy approaches its climax. Even if I wasn't 100% satisfied with this third and final novel, I have nothing but the highest of praise for Anne Bishop's literary genius and for The Black Jewels Trilogy as a whole. No fictional kingdom of dark fantasy has ever seemed so vivid and original, nor have characters as complex as the main actors in this story ever been seen before - not by my eyes, anyway. The subject matter makes these books unsuited for young readers, but mature readers who appreciate originality and the word-weaving of literary magic will very likely find themselves deeply immersed in this world and come away echoing my final comment here: Anne Bishop is the Queen of Dark Fantasy.
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
With both a bang and a whimper., May 11, 2003
This novel occupied me. I read it very quickly, in about twelve hours, wanting to know what happened after 'Heir to the Shadows.' It made me very emotional in places. All of those are supposedly the marks of a great novel.And yet... I rated it three stars when all's said and done. The good first: Daemon Sadi is back. And his character has gotten a reworking that wouldn't have been possible if not for the traumatic events that happened to him in the first two books. I see now some of the reasons for his absence in 'Heir to the Shadows,' and they are good ones. He is the bang in the book, his insecurity and returning confidence great conduits for the reader's emotions. And his actions near the end of the book really deserve the name of the novel's climax, rather than what Jaenelle does. I have rarely seen such a skillful evocation of a character dancing on the line between good and evil. I won't reveal what it is, not wanting to get into spoilers, but this is the part in all the books that most played with my emotions, and yet left me breathless and happy afterward, instead of irritated that I'd been toyed with. The other parts of the book were the whimper. When the book begins, we have leapfrogged several years in time, and I will reveal this, since I don't think it spoils much of the plot of the book: Lucivar is married. This abruptly appears, and we don't get to see much of his wife or son, which makes the transition appear pointless. Lucivar was developed as a deep character in 'Heir to the Shadows,' and there seems no reason to abandon that. I never quite learned what the author was doing here. The minor character problem has continued to pile up, so that I often flipped through the pages trying to reconcile a scene that didn't seem to make sense. Was this person the son of this woman, or her brother? Why was Character A so upset about Character B's action? One skill that Bishop does seem to lack is introducing large numbers of characters all at once. The book as a whole seems rushed, but the introduction or reintroduction of the characters especially so. The problems with Jaenelle have deepened and intensified. I could accept her characterization through Daemon's point of view, since he is in love with her and not seeing her realistically. But the other characters continue to stare at her with religious awe. It is very strange. I still had the feeling that most of their awe was for her potential powers, rather than what she had actually done. What Jaenelle actually does ends the book, and it was very disappointing to me. Where Daemon's ending kept me entranced, this made me almost close the book. Where I admired the emotions that Daemon's ending evokes, here I thought it was tears for the sake of tears. And the very, very last pages of the book seemed to be a shaky compromise between 'happy ending' and 'angsty ending.' Perhaps I'm alone in preferring one or the other, but if there's a compromise, let it be well-done. This didn't strike me that way. It's hard to say whether I'm disappointed with the trilogy or not. I would definitely recommend reading it. However, I can't recommend it wholeheartedly, and especially not to people who need to sympathize with a female character to keep the plot moving forward. I've heard the series touted because of Jaenelle, but I don't think she ever achieves the status of real heroics; those are reserved for Saetan, Lucivar, and Daemon. So if you don't mind male characters in the lead, love odd societies and dark fantasies, and can deal with an ambivalent ending, I would say go for it. If not, perhaps best to leave these on the shelves.
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