Rating: 
Summary: An Extraordinary Finale To An Outstanding Trology!
Review: "Queen of the Darkness" is the third and last book in Anne Bishop's extraordinary "Black Jewels Trilogy." This is a strong novel which truly enhances the material in the first two books and provides a most fitting conclusion to this epic series. I would strongly advise reading the books in order, beginning with "Daughter of the Blood" and then "Heir to the Shadows" to best appreciate the intricate story, characters and unique world that Ms. Bishop has created. I only wish the author had written a quartet!In the world where Darkness rules, an ancient prophecy comes true. Jaenelle Angelline is born Witch. She is the "dream made flesh" and the hope and light of the future. Jaenelle has matured and come into her own now. She made the Offering to the Darkness and is Queen of the Dark Court at Ebon Askavi in the Realm of Karleer and is the Heart of the land and her Kingdom. The First Circle of her Court consists of her adopted father, Prince Saetan as Steward of the Dark Court, Prince Lucivar Yaslana as First Escort and Warlord Prince of Ebon Rih, her beloved Daemon Sadi as Warlord Prince and Royal Consort, and all the Queens, Priestesses, Healers, Warlord Princes, Kindred, etc., who she befriended as a child, now also serve her in her highest court. She hopes that the Corrupt Blood will no longer slaughter and maim her people and defile the land. However, Jaenelle will need all her friends and their power to meet the evil that is coming. Dorothea, the High Priestess of Hayll, and Hekatah, the self-proclaimed Dark Priestess of Hell were created to be noble caretakers of the Realms. Both women have perverted their Craft and their purpose, infected those who serve them, and threaten to destroy the Realms to fulfill their insatiable greed for power. They plot to gain control over Witch Queen Jaenelle and rule all through her. Hekatah also plans to destroy her ally Dorothea and hold ultimate power. The Realms are in chaos and terrible war and destruction threaten. The corrupted Blood must be cleansed. To do this and save everyone and everything she cares for, Jaenelle must make a terrible and shocking decision. The book is filled with plot twists, excitement and originality. Ms. Bishop explores themes like duty, loyalty, honor and self-sacrifice. Her wry wit is ever present and the narrative is spellbinding. This series is outstanding and I cannot recommend it highly enough! An easy 5 Stars!
(...)
Rating: 
Summary: Not quite as good as the first two.
Review: I have really liked this trilogy. The first two books were wonderful and for the most part I enjoyed the last one, Queen of the Darkness. However, I have to agree with a previous reviewer concerning this book. The ending was completely rushed and as a result left me feeling slightly disappointed. Storylines the author created were sort of left hanging, especially dealing with Saetan and the other members of Jaenalle's Dark Court. I mean, what exactly happened to them and what will the future have in store for them? I was not expecting some sappy ending but I would have liked a more concrete one. But like I said, for the most part I enjoyed this book. It was good to see what was happening with your favorite characters, especially Daemon, Lucifer and Surreal. At some parts I was laughing out loud and others feeling sad, especially toward the end when some characters were sacrificed for the good of the others. It left me moved. I have come to love the characters in this series and I think Bishop did a great job. Overall, this series was great. Definitely read it.
Rating:
Summary: It's too bad the book had to end.
Review: There's not a lot I can say about this book that I haven't said about the others. This series is just beautiful. Bishop has created an exquisite world with characters to match. I'm glad Daemon came back into the story, I missed him in the second book. I also fell in love with the characters of Surreal and Karla. In the second book, Karla made quite an impression, but she became far more real in Queen of the Darkness. Surreal, I think, is wonderful. Bishop really stepped away from her usual female characters when she wrote Surreal. The way she talks, behaves around the male characters, and the way she fights are unusual and she's utterly endearing for it. I find that I disagree witht he comments that the book ended too abrupty, because to me, it didn't seem so much that Queen of the Darkness was about Jaenelle setting up the Dark Court or the actual cleansing of the Blood; but the journey the characters must take to get there. It seemed more that the preparation Jaenelle made and the things Daemon did to give her time were more important. And the scene where Saetan, Lucivar, and Daemon roll Jaenalle in the webs was just extraordinary. This series, in my mind, is one of the best I've read. The world is original and creative, the characters are vivid and painfully human, and the three books are so engrossing they're impossible to put down. Bishop has a wonderful sense of humour combined with a talent for tugging the heartstrings. I'm sad to be done with the series, but I have that wonderful fuzzy feeling one always gets after reading something truly good.
Rating:
Summary: Oh - to have a fourth book!!
Review: To put it bluntly- this book ROCKS! It is the third in a trilogy about Jaenelle Angelline and what happens to her and the people around her after she has made the Offering. She has also become Queen of Ebon Askavi to save the Kindred from being slaughtered by the corrupt Blood who try to steal the land from them. Daemon returns in this book to be the consort of the new Queen. Along with his love and loyalty to her, she is protected by the three: father Saeten, brother Lucivar, and lover Daemon.(Don'tcha just love those names?)Many characters in these three books have names and places that play off the biblical and Shakespearean. This will become very important as the book draws to a close. This triangle of four will be the only thing that can save her as she attempts to save them all from their corrupt enemies loyal to Dorothea and Heketah within the Blood realm.
The development of the relationship between Daemon and Jaenelle is heart wrenching and several facts come to light which totally surprised me. You will have to read it to find out for yourself. I was absolutely delighted with the 'edge of your seat' ending. BUT I don't want it to be the end. I want to know what happens to the characters. Yes the war is fought but what happens when they go to pick up the pieces? It is rumored that there will be a fourth book offered and I pray there will be. Queen of the Darkness had a great ending but left me wanting more. Characters are so well developed, the plot flows, and it is a real page turner. You have to get this book.
Rating:
Summary: The thrilling conclusion to The Black Jewels Trilogy
Review: With Queen of the Darkness, Anne Bishop closes out one of the best dark fantasy trilogies ever written. The depth and richness of the worlds she created in this series must be experienced to be believed, especially with "good guys" including the likes of Saetan, High Lord of Hell, and his sons Daemon Sadi and Lucivar. Of course, Jaenelle Angelline is the center of attention as always; the young girl we first met in Daughter of the Blood, struggling to find friendship, acceptance, and guidance from those who - unlike her awful family - could recognize her for what she was, has grown up and now sits upon the Dark Throne of Ebon Askavi. She is surrounded by a coven of friends from neighboring realms and their males, protected by the most powerful warlords of the Blood, yet despite her own power as Witch - the almost mythological manifestation of true Blood power, dreams made flesh - sorrow continues to number all of her days. Daemon Sadi, her chosen Consort, has yet to return from the Twisted Kingdom of madness, many Kindred lives have been lost at the hands of the evildoers ruling the kingdom of Terreille, and a cataclysmic war looms on the horizon, a war Jaenelle knows will kill everyone she cares about. I think the beginning of this novel threw me off stride a little bit, and I was never able to completely recover. As Queen of the Darkness opens, several years have passed since Daemon emerged from the Twisted Kingdom, yet he is nowhere to be found. When he is located, largely by luck or fate, and brought to the Hall alongside the likes of Wilhelmina, Jaenelle's sister, he remembers nothing of the cataclysmic events that closed out the first book in the trilogy. When Jaenelle returns, a definite rift exists between her and Daemon, and Jaenelle has little to do with a sister she once loved. The situation with Daemon becomes clear as the book nears its end (culminating in a very touching scene), yet I felt there was a strong disconnect between the characters. Later, when the evil plots of Hekatah the dark priestess and her hateful ally witch Dorothea must finally be dealt with once and for all, I didn't completely buy into the way things happened. Certainly, there were some surprises, and I could barely stand to see some of the things that took place actually happen, but things just didn't seem 100% right. The pivotal subterfuge around which Jaenelle's secret plans are put into motion seemed especially contrived - it was as if everyone just decided one morning that they should look at a central character differently, and I never saw any justification for the types of doubts that arose. Fans of the series will be thrilled to know that justice is finally done, and those who have hurt Jaenelle and the members of her Dark Court over the years get exactly what is due them. Sadly, however, some dear characters are also lost or maimed through acts of villainy and the vindictive lust for power. The Kindred, non-human creatures of the Blood whom we encountered in Heir to the Shadows, are woven into this concluding novel in a beautifully intricate fashion, making for a more complex but at the same time enriching reading experience. At the same time, secondary players in the drama, many of whom I had struggled to truly understand, also emerge in grand fashion as the trilogy approaches its climax. Even if I wasn't 100% satisfied with this third and final novel, I have nothing but the highest of praise for Anne Bishop's literary genius and for The Black Jewels Trilogy as a whole. No fictional kingdom of dark fantasy has ever seemed so vivid and original, nor have characters as complex as the main actors in this story ever been seen before - not by my eyes, anyway. The subject matter makes these books unsuited for young readers, but mature readers who appreciate originality and the word-weaving of literary magic will very likely find themselves deeply immersed in this world and come away echoing my final comment here: Anne Bishop is the Queen of Dark Fantasy.
Rating: 
Summary: Female college student from NY
Review: In my humble opinion, this is one of the most overhyped trilogies that I've ever come across. Bishop has a habit of using the same sentence structure over and over again. "Daemon said..., Daemon did...," "Jaenelle said," Jaenelle did," "XYZ character said/did/verb." There are so many other pronouns she could use, and so many other ways she could form sentences; it becomes redundant and a real pain to read. Consquently, there's just something so YA (young adult) about her writing style/technique.
And what's with the S&M fetish? It's a little kinky/interesting the first time around, but by the 3rd book, I'm screaming "Enough, already!" They get the Ring of Obedience off in one book, only to trade it up for another ring -- honor or obedience, take your pick. The male torture of the main characters was just gratuitous.
I saw hardly any character development in any of the characters, particularly Janelle. She's supposed to be a little girl in the first book, and a grown woman by the third book, but her age is sped up so quickly without any sort of lead-up or time for adjustment, that I'm still left thinking about her as a pre-teen. She acts and speaks the same way in Book 3 as she did in Book 1. I found the romantic "love" that forms between Sadi and Jaenlle totally unbelievable as a result.
Also, the ending was so abrupt. Bishop spends so much time conveying how evil and sadistic her villains are, but their demise warrants only a mini-chapter. There were 3 books written to set up Janelle's Dark Court, but the court hardly gets mentioned in the last third of the book.
I found "Queen of the Darkness" to be a highly UNsatisfying read. For a more nuanced, better written fantasy novel with S&M undertones, read "Transformation" by Carol Berg.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, Compelling & downright hilarious at times!
Review: After finishing Queen of Darkness, the last int he Black Jewels Trilogy and just -HAD- to praise it somehow for others to see. I can't tell you how overall funny the characters were...yes there were loadz of serious moments and stuff...But come on...Wilhemina drunk...Lucivar & Daemon drunk....It wuz great! I must admit....I wuz bawlin' like a baby in the end tho... Anne Bishop has a new fan =^_^=
Rating:
Summary: Love It
Review: I don't think I have the words to describe how good these books are. I think they bring about a good change in the male dominated books that many people read. I also think that the bits of dark humour add a great touch to it. And Luciver is the best. :D
Rating:
Summary: Beyond extraordinary...brilliantly heartbreaking
Review: And so ends the trilogy I have named as my top favorite novel of all time, and "Queen of the Darkness" is my favorite of the three because it brings everything together with heart-pounding, brutal force that leaves you shaking and gasping till the last page. Anne Bishop's trilogy is the only novel that has had such a hold on me. The only thing that could possibly improve this book is if Bishop extends the series, showing us the aftermath of Jaenelle's sacrifices, of the presumed wedding, of the life of the SaDiablo clan after the fall. Reading the trilogy, I knew there was just so much more that could have been said.
This book sucked me in and gripped me the way the witches and warlords were held in the abyss. It is the most unique, powerful, original, creative world I have ever read about, and I want more. It gave me the strength and inspiration to continue my own science fantasy novel. I will forever be grateful to Ms. Bishop for that.
Rating: 
Summary: I wanted to beat my head against the wall.
Review: The series started out wonderfully. What happened? Anne Bishop has lost any talent she may have had. Her characters have become boring and unbelivable, the heroine's pretentious "all-powerfulness" is distastful, and the plot fizzled and died somewhere on page 6. If you haven't started reading the series, don't. Read "The Invisable Ring" instead.
| 
