The Black Jewels Trilogy- Guest post by Chelle

Written By: Kellie - Aug• 12•11

It’s a rather odd experience: donning the robe of a wary evangelist. For all the warmth it offers, that robe is a heavy garment, woven together as it is with thick threads of deeply-hued love, brightly embellished with moments and hours spent immersed in an another world, and held together by zigzag seams of worry that someone might not feel just that way. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve taken up that robe in the name of Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels books, but I can begin to explain why (and that’s all it will be: a woefully short, superficial look at something that’s long been burrowed deep in my reading psyche and heart).

There is much to commend this series: dark, detailed world-building; occasionally brutal, more often beautiful, and always absorbing story lines; and a cadre of characters so well done, so vital, that they alone make reading these books more than worthwhile. And, as it turned out, three characters would ensure my fall: Saetan, Daemon, and Lucivar. Individually lethal, all three scarred by grievous, unthinkable traumas, and bonded so thoroughly, so palpably that it made my fangirl heart sing an aria. To say that, while I read these books, I lived for the moments these three men would be on the same page would be an understatement: I craved their shared dialogue, I worshiped the moments they spent painstakingly putting one another back together, and I held my breath in between.

With the Black Jewels books, Anne Bishop created heartbreaking characters navigating very real relationships in an encompassing, transporting fantasy world that you’re never quite ready to leave.

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You can visit Chelle at her blog, Persephone Reads =)

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Sebastian- Anne Bishop

Written By: Kellie - Aug• 12•11

Synopsis: Long ago, Ephemera was split into a dizzying number of magical lands-connected only by bridges that may take you where you truly belong, rather than where you had intended to go. In one such land, where night reigns and demons dwell, the half-incubus Sebastian revels in dark delights. But in dreams she calls to him: a woman who wants only to be safe and loved-a woman he hungers for while knowing he may destroy her.And an even more devastating destiny awaits him, for an ancient evil is stirring-and Sebastian’s realm may be the first to fall. -Goodreads

Review: There are a few similarities between this book and elements of the Black Jewels Trilogy, but at the same time, the vibe is really different. The concept of this world is really fun and has loads of potential. Ephemera shapes itself around the people that live within it’s borders. There are countless different landscapes, all connected by bridges. When crossing a bridge you risk going where you are most meant to be, rather then where you wanted to go.

While I thought the world building was fantastic, I didn’t find the characters as engaging as what I expected. The plot was awesome, I loved the whole entity devouring the world thing and the storyline flowed beautifully but I don’t think I cared enough about which characters would still be standing at the end. Which is odd, because the characters are strangely reminiscent of many of the main cast of Black Jewels.

I’m going to keep this review fairly short as it’s been a couple of years since I’ve read it and don’t want to say anything I don’t know for sure. I will say that the story line and world building are interesting but the story is still a little rough. The second book in this series has a bit more emotional pull for me and I’m really interested to see what the third book will be like. It has been four years since this book came out so I want to know what she’s dreamed up for this world in the mean time.

Rating

 

 

 

Second Opinions
@ Croft Fantasy Reads
@ Twisted Kingdom
@ The Happy Booker

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Anne Bishop: Author Love guest post by Sullivan McPig

Written By: Kellie - Aug• 11•11

Years ago a friend of mine with a similar taste in fantasy books told me to try the Black Jewels Trilogy as she was sure I’d love it. Not being able to find it at my local bookstore and not yet buying online at that time I forgot about it though.

Then one day I came across an anthology called Imaginary Friends and in this anthology was the story ‘Stands a God Within the Shadows’ by Anne Bishop.

I fell in love with this story. The writing, the story itself, the emotion in it: everything about it was brilliant. To this day it’s still my favourite short story. So I just had to read more by this author.

 

I started out my search for more books by Anne Bishop at the local bookstore again. And what did I find: Anne Bishop was the author of the Black Jewels books my friend had mentioned to me years before.

As is usually the case my bookstore still didn’t have the trilogy, but they did have one other Black Jewels book: Tangled Webs.

I took a chance and bought the book even though it wasn’t the first book in the series.

And I’m very glad I did! Tangled Webs was just as beautiful a read as the short story in Imaginary Friends. There was one negative thing though: the characters were so cool, so intriguing that they overshadowed the story. All the while I kept getting sidetracked as I wanted to know more about them and their history. One thing was certain when I finished the book: I had to read more books in this series!

My next read was The Shadow Queen, also a book further along in the series and I loved it, but my curiosity about the characters and their past kept on growing. So my search for the original trilogy was on and finally I found them combined in one large volume.

 Absolutely brilliant!

The Black Jewels Trilogy is fantasy at its best: gritty, dark, but also filled with hope, love and friendship. An epic story with the most amazing characters I’ve come across in fantasy. And just as every other book I’ve read by Bishop it’s written so beautifully it’s a joy in itself to just lose yourself in the flow of the text.

 

When I finished the trilogy I got hold of all the other books in the Black Jewels series that were available at that moment and devoured them so to speak. And since then I’ve been rereading them all on a regular basis.

At the moment there’s just one book in the Black Jewels series I haven’t read yet and that’s ‘Twilight’s Dawn’ a book that contains short stories and for the moment is only available as a hardcover. I have a rule that I will not buy a hardcover if a paperback will become available of that same book as well, but I can tell you I’m itching to read ‘Twilight’s Dawn’ and I will need all my willpower to keep to my rule in this case. Still more than 200 days to go till the release of the paperback according to book depository. I will try to be strong.

I think there’s a high possibility I will cave though….

Anne Bishop’s writing is too beautiful to resist.

 

Visit Sullivan McPig at Pearls Cast Before a McPig!

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Lucivar Yaslana

Written By: Kellie - Aug• 10•11

What he looks like: Well, no question that like most of the long lived races Lucivar has black hair, golden skin and golden eyes. He also has a beautiful set of membranous black wings. Yup, he’s good looking and he can fly.

Where he comes from: After being taken from his father at a young age, Lucivar grew up in the warrior hunting camps of his race before being forced to live as slave. Frequently tortured  into give into the whims of the twisted women of the aristocracy, Lucivar fought back whenever he could, quickly becoming known for the fierce temper he shared with his brother Daemon.

Why we love him: Lucivar is handsome, loyal to his family, a good father and husband, plus a crazy good warrior. More than any of the other men in these books he gives the impression of being a good person and he’s willing to fight for what he believes in.

If you love the men of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, there will be no resisting Lucivar (or for that matter… his brother). You can find him in any of Anne Bishop’s ‘Black Jewels’ novels.

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Review: Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop

Written By: Kellie - Aug• 09•11

daughter of the blood

Series: The Black Jewels, #1
Publisher: Roc
Publish Date: May 1st, 1998
Source: Purchased
Goodreads

Rating: 4/5 – The beginning to my all time favorite series!

Synopsis: The Dark Kingdom is preparing itself for the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy–the arrival of a new Queen, a Witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself. But this new ruler is young, and very susceptible to influence and corruption; whoever controls her controls the Darkness. And now, three sworn enemies begin a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, magic and betrayal, and the destiny of an entire world is at stake.
-Goodreads

Thoughts: I don’t read a lot of dark fantasy. In fact, I don’t read a lot of dark anything. So you can imagine my surprise when I read this book, which is decisively pretty dark for quite a bit of the book, and it immediately jumped to the top of my favorites list. I was just so blown away by the world Anne Bishop created and the people she put in it. It caught me off guard and drew me right in. While I can acknowledge some of the flaws that other people have pointed out to me, even understand where they’re coming from, personally, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Anne Bishop’s beautifully crafted world, The Three Realms, is unbelievably corrupted. Most of it’s people are tainted, selfish and cruel. Those who aren’t tend to lead horribly deprived lives, subjugated to the whims of some truly horrible people. But at the beginning of the book, it is prophesied that a Queen (this is more than just a position of power in these books) will come with the potential to put things right. Thankfully, the series isn’t told from the perspective of that girl, because then it would be Mary-Sue tastic and not terribly original, but instead from the people who love her, need her and are trying to keep her safe.

The Three Realms is a world and culture unlike anything I’ve read in any other fantasy book, which is saying something. On that alone, I’d recommend this book. I’ll admit, the characters may not be super original, but they’re still highly compelling and for me have a stronger draw than most of the fantasy heros that are found in book after book nowadays. The central character Jaenelle is admittedly over powered, but she’s got a few issues of her own as well as a pretty horrible family to deal with. Her powers aren’t really anyone’s focus though, so it doesn’t become annoying, thankfully.

While I wouldn’t say this book is mostly dark, there are some very disturbing scenarios and themes. No questions, the characters have some pretty serious things they all have to over come and for the most part it, what they’ve been through comes across in almost everything they do. Traumatic events have real consequences, and nothing is glossed over here.

This is the first of three, and probably the second best of the group, but in my books all three books of this trilogy deserve 5 out of 5. I have read these books more times than I can count and will hopefully read them all again at least ten more times. There are also a handful of sequels, which aren’t quite as good, but once you fall in love with these books, you’ll take every morsel you can get. This book will be available as part of the Anne Bishop giveaway at the end of this week.

Second Opinions
@ Eyrie.org
@ Romance Rookie
@ Figments of Fantasy

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Favorite Authors Month- Anne Bishop

Written By: Kellie - Aug• 08•11

So, I’m officially declaring the first week of favorites month a roaring success. I spent the week eating, sleeping and breathing Carrie Vaughn, but now we move on. Onwards, to the wonderful and talented Anne Bishop. She is, without question, the first author (as an adult) I could really call a favorite. My cousin recommended the Black Jewels trilogy to me when I was in high school, and those books, literally. changed. my. world.

I probably read other fantasy books before this, probably a lot. But this series was my gateway. I even vaguely remember reading the first chapter for the first time, even though it was years ago and I’ve read that entire series more than a few times over. It stuck with me and made SURE I knew that I didn’t want to settle for reality. I wanted magic powers, and epic romance and everything else that comes with fantasy at its finest. To me, THAT is Anne Bishop at its finest.

I will be doing yet another giveaway so that one of you can share in the wonderful worlds that Anne Bishop has created. So be sure to stay tuned this week!

Do you love Anne Bishop? Tell me why!

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Carrie Vaughn Quotes

Written By: Kellie - Aug• 07•11

“What the hell kind of name is Kitty for a werewolf?”

“Cope or go crazy.”

“To be a DJ was to be God. To be a DJ at an alternative public radio station ? That was being God with a mission. It was thinking you were the first person to discover The Clash and you had to spread the word.”

“Don’t compare yourself to others. There will always be someone who writes faster, or slower, or gets a bigger advance, or better advertising. Everyone’s career and writing process is a little different. Follow your own path.”

And my favorite… Not technically a quote but I found this on the ‘About the Author’ section of Kitty’s House of Horrors.

“Carrie Vaughn had a happy and relatively uneventful childhood, which means she had to turn to science fiction and fantasy for material to write about”.

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Carrie Vaughn Giveaway

Written By: Kellie - Aug• 06•11

I hope you’ve all enjoyed Carrie Vaughn week. I know I have! Getting a whole week to blather about an author that I love… what can be wrong with that? I can really hope I’ve convinced at least one person to pick up a Carrie Vaughn book next time they’re in a book shop. If not… well, I guess I’m just going to have to give someone one of her books and hope that will get you hooked. This week there are two books to choose from…

Option 1
Kitty and the Midnight Hour
The first book in the ‘Kitty Norville’ series, and probably my favorite book that Carrie has written so far. If you haven’t checked this series out yet, I definitely recommend it. Plus, what better way is there to win a copy than to win one from ReaWrite!
The world created in these books is filled with so many types of paranormal beings that it can be hard to keep track but it’s done with a freshness and sense of humor that this now over flowing genre definitely needs.

 

Option 2
Discord’s Apple
A great book for any mythology fans out there, especially if you love new takes on Greek stories and myths. There is a little bit of everything in this stand alone. Magical artifacts from all across history are tucked away in Evie’s family cellar. She is now faced with taking over all the responsibilities that come with this, while caring for her dying father. And of course, some dark forces are trying to work their way into the cellar, willing to destroy anyone who tries to get in their way.

 

To enter for your chance to win, leave a comment on this post with the following…
This contest is open anywhere where The Book Depository ships.
It would be much appreciated if you could tweet/promote this giveaway as I have lots more coming this month and would love, love, love to get the word out.
-Your name
-Your email address
-Which option you’d like
-The name of your favorite author

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Review: Steel by Carrie Vaughn

Written By: Kellie - Aug• 05•11

steel by carrie vaughn

Publisher: HarperTeen
Publish Date: March 15th, 2011
Source: Purchased
Goodreads

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Jill has fought in dozens of fencing tournaments, but she has never held a sharpened blade. When she finds a corroded sword piece on a Caribbean beach, she is instantly intrigued and pockets it as her own personal treasure.
The broken tip holds secrets, though, and it transports Jill through time to the deck of a pirate ship. Stranded in the past and surrounded by strangers, she is forced to sign on as crew. But a pirate’s life is bloody and brief, and as Jill learns about the dark magic that brought her there, she forms a desperate scheme to get home—one that risks everything in a duel to the death with a villainous pirate captain. -Goodreads

Thoughts: Yup, you read that right. Pirates! This is a story of swashuckley goodness. While I’ve never been big into pirates, I always thought fencing was super interesting, so that pulled me in but it was surprisingly the pirates that kept me around. It was a lot of fun to read about some adventures on the high seas, and seriously… perfect! summer read.

I liked the main character Jill for a lot of the same reasons I love Kitty Norville so much. She started off the book obsessing! about a mistake she had made, and while part of me wanted to get on with the story, a much bigger part of me knew I would do the exact same thing so right from the get go, I was really invested in what happened to this modern girl stuck in the past.

There was understandably very little romance in this book. I get why Carrie did it the way she did, but I was wishing for a little more of that swoontastic love interest vibe. The characters were still pretty well done though. Perhaps a little more noble than you could really expect from pirates of any time period but if they had been more realistic I think it would have been a very different book, and a lot less fun/pleasant/endurable.

While the characters themselves weren’t all that realistic, I do think Carrie Vaughn must have done a lot of research on life and sailing in that time period. There was a lot of hard work going on, on that ship, and nothing was glamorous or too easy. Jill worked her butt off in order to earn her place on the Diana, and there were no free passes just because she was a girl. Overall, really well done.

As I mentioned before, this book focuses a lot on fencing. While I’m not usually a big fan of actions scenes (well, that’s not true… I tend to get too ‘OMG, what’s going to happen and then skim so I can see who survived) these were actually pretty interesting to read. Jill described enough about her experiences fencing that I felt I could really follow the fights and understand what was going on.

While I definitely still prefer the Kitty Norville books, I have really enjoyed the stand alone books that Carrie has been coming out with and this is no exception. It was an adventurous romp and nothing more, which was pretty fantastic.

Second Opinions
@ The Book Smugglers
@ Electrifying Reviews
@ Novel Society

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Series Discussion: Kitty Norville

Written By: Kellie - Aug• 04•11

*~*~*Spoilers*~*~*Spoilers*~*~*Spoilers*~*~*Spoilers*~*~*

I wasn’t going to write any blog posts during each authors actual week… I’m supposed to be indulging in rereads of old favorites that I wouldn’t otherwise get back too with the constant growing TBR pile as well as stocking up on a couple weeks of reviews for when I go back to school… But today, in the spirit of the week I picked up Kitty and the Midnight Hour! I read the latest edition pretty recently so it was really interesting to see how it got from there to here. So interesting I just had to sit down and start blathering about it.

For anyone who has read the latest book, Kitty’s Big Trouble, you know that one of the big questions is whether any major historical figures are in any way supernatural, specifically General T. Sherman. So I found it pretty interesting that that theory was mentioned in the very first book. Reading this first book again has put a whole new batch in my head, of questions I want to ask Carrie. Mostly about how/if she planned this series out when she first started it.

Also, rereading the first book drew a lot of attention to what made me fall in love with this series in the first place, Kitty. Specifically Kitty in the early books. She’s just so drastically different from most UF heroines. When this series starts, she’s not even in charge of her own life. She’s not someone who anyone would look up to or want to be. What all this means is that she has a long way to go. Originally the appeal was how unexpected Kitty was as a literary lead, but now it’s just so cool to see how far she’s come.

I know I had more I wanted to say while I was reading, but I was too sucked in to the book to jot anything down. Doh! Well, I can always come back to this later on. For now… I love these books, I hope the series goes on for ever and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Hurrah!

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