Daughter of the Blood: Book 1 of the Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop
Ah … good stuff. I don’t read a lot of fantasy anymore, but this is the real deal. It has depth and originality and it really shows Bishop’s regard for the genre.
The Blood are the aristocracy of their world, once a great power, now they’ve degraded to petty squabbling and idle pleasures.
However, one is coming who can change all that. Not just witch, according to the prophecies, but Witch. But, right now, she’s a young girl; a very small cog in a giant wheel of corruption. She has people looking out for her; not the least Saetan himself, the Lord of Hell and, in her very own household, Daemon; a seemingly tame male of a petty Queen.
It’s not the first Anne Bishop book I’ve read, but I really loved it and am really looking forward to book 2. However, it’s so … not overblown. Hmmm … intense? Yes. So I need to give myself a bit of breathing space.
But the characters are great; very memorable. Jaenelle, especially, as the scarily talented would-be Witch is well-rendered as a young girl with powers beyond her comprehension. And Daemon and Saetan are wonderfully complex and scarily dark. The evil of the book _ the Queen Dorothea and Hekatah _ weren’t as well-rendered or filled-in, but I’m sure that’s coming in the next two books as Jaenelle grows up.
Great read.
Also reviewed here:
http://readingadventures.blogspot.com/2006/07/daughter-of-blood-by-anne-bishop.html
2 comments:
When I read this I would have classified myself as a non-fantasy reader and I did struggle with some of the world building. By the time I read the third book I LOVED the whole series, have read just about everything else that Bishop has written!
I love this series. No question. Just wait till you get deeper in. I picked up Daughter of the Blood in a random trip to the bookstore and a few days later had to buy the other two... which I had read 2 days later. Enjoy!
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