Queen of the Darkness (Black Jewels, Bk 3)
Author:
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Book Type: Paperback
Helpful Score: 1
This concluding novel of the Black Jewels trilogy is the strongest of the bunch. Bishop manages to keep all of her male leads on screen this time, and all the character-building that went on in the previous two books means that I cared about what happened to them all from the start. The world-building is still the weakest aspect of these books (though I finally got, in this third volume, that the only access from Terreille to Kaeleer and vice versa is through portals, so there's very little communication between the two realms) but again, it's less problematic now that the work has been put in getting through books 1 & 2.
The stakes are higher in this book than the previous two; Jaenelle has now come of age and taken the reigns of power, so Hekatah and Dorothea band together to make a final attempt to wrest control of the realms from her hands. The conflict is still predominantly of the "We can't possibly trust each other enough to share information, so we're at risk from our enemies" variety, and I have never understood why Saetan sits idly by and allows Hekatah and Dorothea to ruin so many peoples' lives, but while that's frustrating it still is effective at creating tension. And while there are many ways this series is inferior to Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel novels, there is one thing the two series share that I wish there was more of in heroic fantasy: in both series there is a sense that "everything has a price." Victories are not bought cheaply; they come with blood, sweat, tears, and a lot of sacrifice. Despite the lack of trust, that makes these characters (and this world) feel more adult -- they go into situations with their eyes open, knowing that the consequences may be too much to bear, but that the decisions have to be made anyway. Daemon's sacrifice in the climax (the intended one and the unintended one) nearly broke my heart -- and that's high praise for any book.
The stakes are higher in this book than the previous two; Jaenelle has now come of age and taken the reigns of power, so Hekatah and Dorothea band together to make a final attempt to wrest control of the realms from her hands. The conflict is still predominantly of the "We can't possibly trust each other enough to share information, so we're at risk from our enemies" variety, and I have never understood why Saetan sits idly by and allows Hekatah and Dorothea to ruin so many peoples' lives, but while that's frustrating it still is effective at creating tension. And while there are many ways this series is inferior to Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel novels, there is one thing the two series share that I wish there was more of in heroic fantasy: in both series there is a sense that "everything has a price." Victories are not bought cheaply; they come with blood, sweat, tears, and a lot of sacrifice. Despite the lack of trust, that makes these characters (and this world) feel more adult -- they go into situations with their eyes open, knowing that the consequences may be too much to bear, but that the decisions have to be made anyway. Daemon's sacrifice in the climax (the intended one and the unintended one) nearly broke my heart -- and that's high praise for any book.
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