A Walk on the Dark Side of Fantasy

Three things you should know before getting this book. It's very dark and very mature, and if those things are okay with you, the author will take you on a wild ride through the world she created.

The darkness of the book comes from the world it's set in. Some of the characters have names we are familiar with... Saetan, Daemon, and Lucivar... however their names have nothing to do with their namesakes. This is a fantasy world that has nothing to do with ours. To be honest it could have been easier to just name them something else, yet since those names come with connotations, they impress upon us the dark/evil nature of these men... sortof. For instance, Saetan is the High Lord of Hell, yet he's an old man who walks with a cane and acts more like a grandfather. I'll admit it took me a good hour to become comfortable listening to the book because of the names and circumstances but it was worth it.

The mature content is pretty much everything under the sun, tho it could be worse. There's graphic violence and those who take pleasure at watching it, some not-so-graphic sex scenes, the bad guys of the book have a thing for young girls, and the women are uber-sexual females that use some males of their kind as pleasure slaves. However, all that said, the way the book is written, not all of it is smiled upon... it was almost as if the author was showing a world caught up in the worst part of itself. How it needs to be saved. And there's a promise of a young witch who just might.

The world is really well imagined and will definitely appeal to those who like the darker side of novels. There are some moments of revenge that you are hoping will happen, and there's even room for a bit of humor. Imagine two really tough brutal guys falling head over heels for a young girl, one becoming a father-type, the other a protector, both having no clue how to handle someone so powerful and so innocent.

If you're a fan of the dark side, it's a credit-worthy read.

107 people found this helpful

Wicked Web of Entertainment

I hesitated on Daughter of the Blood because it sounded like a fantasy romance which I really don't enjoy. A love story as one of the plot lines can be great, but I tend to get bored with books when sex/romance are major plot drivers. However, Anne Bishop has been compared to one of my favorites, Anne Rice, so I decided to check it out. I have now listened all of the Black Jewels trilogy and this review is applicable to all three books.

Happily, I found that although there are sexual components and a sort of romantic thread through the books, this trilogy is really all about POWER - the ultimate plot driver for human nature and most good fantasy novels. The comparison of Bishop to Rice works only on a superficial level, but Bishop's trilogy does have some of the flavor of Rice's fantasy work and definitely treads some of the same dark perversions with heavy sadistic tones. If you are looking for the truly lush, almost poetic style of Anne Rice, you won't find it here; Bishop is a much more prosaic writer. But like Rice, these characters are emotionally over the top, but quite engaging - you can't really identify with the characters because they are not like people you know, but then they aren't totally human and they are fascinating. Bishop is truly talented at world building (always a huge asset in fantasy) and I think she far exceeds Rice and many authors at creating an intricate, internally consistent magical system that she primarily brings the listener into by showing rather than just telling. This complex magical system, the engaging characters, and the grand world building keep the whole trilogy really entertaining in spite of some rather lame dialog and a few elementary writing flaws (constant reminders of Daemon's cold, cruel smile and Jaenelle's sapphire eyes, etc. that elicit the "yeah, yeah, I got it already" feeling as you listen).

I got used to John Sharian and he's not bad as a narrator, but he gets a bit too melodramatic in his reading than I like.

Overall, I recommend the trilogy if you are looking for a good entertainment value since these books just don't have boring sections, but they are definitely for mature audiences. There is a great deal of graphic violence, some graphic sexual content, and hardest for me, some sections that deal with child molestation so go in prepared!

44 people found this helpful

promising start to the series

I found this book so entertaining that I kept taking wrong turns while trying to listen to it while driving. I found the characters really interesting and sympathetic. The world that Bishop creates is *almost* too complicated for my liking (I can never get into books where the world-building is more prominent than the actual plot - for example, LOTR). But I was mostly able to keep track of where we were and who was who. For me, the gold standard of any book is that I care what happens to the characters, and that was definitely the case here - I haven't worked up the energy to listen to the other books set in this world, but I've listened to all of the ones about Jaenelle and company. They only get better from here.

10 people found this helpful

A must read series

You'll have to put aside any Western Judeo/Christian meanings for the names of the characters and be open to the idea that humanoids are not the only intelligent, feeling race.

This first book is very dark and sick making and ends on an unresolved note. You could skip this one and start with the second book, but I wouldn't. You'll miss some important backstory.

It is a story of love that echoes how we really go thru ups and downs weaving thru a good vs. evil fight that may keep you awake way past bedtime.

This entire series is one of the best I have. I have the physical books also. I am currenly waiting (im)patiently for Audible to get the rest of the series so I can buy them.

20 people found this helpful

Stilted narrator ruins a great series.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I cannot recommend this audiobook. The paper book, yes, but with this narrator, absolutely not the audio version. Were it not for the fact that I'd read the series several times over, prior to ever listening to them, I'd have not bothered to continue after the very first chapter.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator could have had the opportunity to develop a more natural, flowing speech pattern, one with passion and inflection in the correct places. He was, at best... Monotone isn't quite the word; flat, perhaps? All told he was a very poor narrator.

Was Daughter of the Blood worth the listening time?

Not to someone who hasn't read the story and knows it back to front and can put the passion, heck, just the general ease of a good flowing read in place, of their own accord.

Any additional comments?

The narrator was stilted, lacked passion in the correct places, it was as if he was reading blind, with no rehearsal what so ever. Not worth my money. I came to see if John was the reader for the rest of the series and as he is, I will *not* be purchasing the rest of the books in audio format.

17 people found this helpful

Awesome!

Love all of the Black Jewel trilogy books. Bought all the books before buying audio. When I first got 'Daughter of the Blood', I wanted to read/hear more. Would recommend all the Black Jewel books. Didn't love Sebastian and Belladonna as much. And I absolutely love listening to John Sharian.

7 people found this helpful

It was not what I expected

I liked this book, it wasn't what I expected though. This is defiantly NOT a romance so don't buy it thinking you will get one. It is a bit confusing, there is a lot of detail, it jumps back and forth so you must pay attention to the reader to know which scene you are entering with the new chapter.

Overall I did enjoy this book!!

10 people found this helpful

Great until all the child rape

the storyline started out really interesting then child rape was introduced. One character who was the son of basically the queen started being raped by his mother and then passed around all her friends. he then grows up to find a new game of breaking young girls before puberty...
.... um no thanks. i will be returning this.

3 people found this helpful

great story. Voice acting was done very well too.

I loved the book. It had a darker taboo feeling with certain topics, but was handled tastefully and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

3 people found this helpful

Favorite Series

I've read this book so many times I have lost count. This is my first time listening to it. I look forward to listening to the next two books that follow this and look forward to listening to these another half dozen times.

3 people found this helpful