The Black Jewels Trilogy - Anne Bishop

In the Three Kingdoms, a place of magic and darkness, the fight for the life of an extraordinarily gifted child, whose power could bring the end of all… or a new beginning.

Once, the Kingdom of Terreille was governed by the Queens, these witches with tremendous powers and the only ones able to control the powerful and instinctive Warlord Princes, the most deadly facet of their society, with love, trust, and honour.

Now, the High Priestess Dorothea has taken over the Kingdom, and she controls the males by using pain and humiliation. By having the most powerful witches broken during their Virgin Night, she has weakened the Blood, this aristocracy of magic. No more trust exists between males and females in Terreille, and most men are used as slaves.

But a broken witch, Tersa, has foreseen the coming of Witch, the living myth, the dreams made flesh. And when this woman, more powerful than any other Queen, will come, the corrupted Blood will face destruction.

Three men, bound by their blood and their dreams, wait for the coming of Witch. The first one is Saetan SaDiablo, High Lord of Hell, neither living nor dead, powerful beyond imagining. The second one is Lucivar Yaslana, a winged Eyrien warrior, slave of Dorothea, but with a terrible temper that makes him much more dangerous than many other Blood males. And the last, but not least, is Daemon Sadi, called “the Sadist” by those who know him the better. Pleasure slave in the court of Dorothea, he is nonetheless feared by most people – and with good reason.

But when Witch finally appears, more than seven hundred years after the prophecy of Tersa – these are long-lived people, you bet –, she is a seven-year old child with a power no one can comprehend. And though, she is more vulnerable than any other Queen before her, for those who would like to break her or control her are many. And maybe the love of Saetan, Lucivar and Daemon will not be enough to protect her until she is old enough to fulfil her destiny…

This book is an enchanting story, with fantastic and wonderfully detailed characters. Through the three books, we come to love the world Anne Bishop has created for us, this dark but glittering matriarchal society, where males are bound to serve, love and protect by their very nature, and become enraged and deadly when denied that right.

The relationships between the characters are very well described, and we really come to know them and to anticipate their reactions. Daemon is just the most classic male character I ever encountered in a book: beautiful and sensual to the extreme, but so deadly and unpredictable you never know if he will kiss you or kill you on the spot – and in a very unpleasant manner. The women are not left behind: strong and sassy, they come and go through the pages like so many little storms. Because there's one thing all Bishop's characters have in common: whatever they do or feel, it will be thorough and excessive, almost animal.

The result of that is a wonderful book, with a story you will never forget.

And if you liked it, don't wait to read The Ring, a story of the same world, but with other characters – except for one we already know, and Dreams made Flesh, short stories about Lucivar, Saetan and Daemon.

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07/06/2006

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