Shalador's Lady (Black Jewels)

This is one of my very favorite Anne Bishop books, not just Black Jewels, which is one of my favorite series of all time. I come back to it over and over. It is full of emotion, with one part in particular that chokes me up and brings tears to my eyes every time I read it, no matter how many times I read it. The characters are incredible, representing different personalities than the main characters of the first trilogy. Whereas those characters (Jaenelle, Damon, Lucivar, and Saetan, particularly) are rather all-powerful, with epic forces raised against them, this and The Shadow Queen, which precedes this book, are quieter stories with more representational characters. The themes are not so very good versus evil as they are about overcoming personal demons to rise to the occasion. They are about being kind and generous and learning to trust and find strength and courage both inside and outside of oneself. Many of the main characters of the first trilogy and some of the secondary favorites have important roles and make cameos in both of these books. These two are also a generations-later sequel to The Invisible Ring, and the MCs of that book are influential to these. I highly recommend reading The Shadow Queen before Shalador’s Lady so that you have a good grasp of the situation that leads to this book, as well as of the characters. It is a wonderful book in itself.

I absolutely love Shalador’s Lady. The characters are, as always in Anne Bishop books, terribly fun. She has created a world with built-in reasons for people to be high-tempered, dangerous, and larger than life, and she wields that milieu with style. I enjoy Cassidy as a character. For a brief time I felt a little frustrated with her inability to see past what happened with her last court to the loyal court she has now, but to be honest she has been sufficiently scarred by her past experiences that it makes sense for her to be blind to certain details. I also like watching Gray develop–he starts out as a broken man with a stunted emotional development, but in wanting to be good for Cassidy he starts putting the pieces of his life back together. It’s so sweet to watch. (I cried.) The hilarity in this volume (and some of the darkness as well) comes from the introduction of a bunch of Scelties (a ‘kindred’ race of dogs, who are considered to be of the Blood and who have the same range of powers as the human Blood, including the ability to speak mind-to-mind with others). An entire dozen comes to Cassidy’s relocated home and decides to settle in. They range from a small, over-excited mutt to a rather scary adult. While they’re often used for comic relief, they also instigate at least one of the darker moments of the book. (Additional tears may have been shed.) There are plenty of ups and downs, laughs and bloodshed, romances and enmities. The plot and events provide plenty of tension–I stayed up late to finish the book because I couldn’t put it down. Frankly I read so many books that this doesn’t happen often any more. I also liked that Kermilla shows how thin the line can be between a Queen who’s spoiled, selfish, and narcissistic, and a Queen who’s evil.

This is the 8th book in the Black Jewels Universe and is a sequel to The Shadow Queen. Lady Cassidy has agreed to serve in Dena Nehele as Queen for a year. She has run into opposition from Theran, and found fierce supporters from the other members of her camp. After Theran brings her enemy into his house, Cassidy and the rest of the court relocate to the Shallador camps. There she finds reluctant hope, as the people dream of a better future. I enjoyed this novel as both a sequel to The Shadow Queen and as a novel set in the Black Jewels Universe. Anne Bishop continues to deliver hit after hit. I look forward to reading the next set of books set within this universe. Overall, highly recommended.

I really enjoyed Shalador's Lady. It was great to see Cassidy come into her own by the end and actually stand up and fight for what is best for her people. While I really enjoyed the previous novel it was a bit painful to watch Cassidy lose confidence at every step even though the reader completely understands why. I really enjoyed the end and would love to see how that turns out. Could be funny!

This is my favorite book of the series. I like Anne Bishop and she is a truly unique story teller, but some of the earlier books in this series were really too depressing for me to fully enjoy or reread regularly. This book and it's predecessor are a bit lighter. It's more about hope and healing than survival and grit. I read the first book in this series several years ago and had no desire to continue the series. I read for enjoyment and to lighten my mood. The first book left me feeling more agitated than when I started. However, as I read more of her other work I kept circling back to this series wanting more Anne Bishop. I finally combed through reviews trying to figure out if they were more of the same and found Cassidy's books. I loved them enough to finally try to start reading some of the earlier books. It wasn't hard to follow along with the story even only having read the first book (even then I had forgotten most of it). Honestly you could probably read Cassidy's two books without having read any of the others. There will be things that go over your head, but enough is explained that you shouldn't have any trouble following along without feeling as though you're missing something important. I would definitely recommend this book and The Shadow Queen for anyone that enjoys Bishop's Others series, but thought the Dark Jewels trilogy was, well...too dark. I did go back and re-read most of the previous books from this series and enjoyed them more than I had before, but Shalador's Lady will remain my favorite and my most common go-to from this series.

I won't go into the plot, since other reviewers covered that in some detail. I thought this book was an improvement over its predecessor--although I loved the characters of Cassidy, Gray, and the Shalador Blood, I felt that there was too much Daemon/Jaenelle in that book, not enough Cassidy and her story. I'm a big fan of the Black Jewels books. I've read and enjoyed them all, and I am really liking this new slant. The characters aren't as all-powerful as those in the original series (good), nor are they fighting such fiendish adversaries (not so good). Therein lies my only complaint. The villainess in the story, Kermilla. Like a lot of the spoiled Queens and their hangers-on in the post-apocalyptic world of the Blood (i.e, after Jaenelle's big purge at the end of the first series), Kermilla just isn't very enthralling as an enemy. I miss all those evil Queens! Kermilla is more like a high school Mean Girl who needs a good smack. The stakes just seem rather low in these later books. Ms. Bishop needs to come up with better threats than crazy Landens who want to impress the Blood, or girls who want to sleep with Sadi, or shopaholics like Kermilla. Please! Scarier enemies! Higher stakes! I'd like to see what these weaker-jeweled characters, and the craft-less Landen, can do with sheer bravery, wits, and teamwork. Whenever Daemon or Jaenelle show up, they just overpower the story and virtually ensure a happy ending, which kind of wrecks the suspense. But overall I was just overjoyed to have another Black Jewels book to devour. And the Scelties were an awesome addition to the story. I love the kindred. Well done, a fun read.

Love all of the Black Jewel Series, I actually purchased them at this time for my sister as a Christmas gift. My sister had read the first 3 but hadn't had the opportunity to read any of the others so I purchased the entire series for her. She loved the first 3, I'm sure this one will be no different. These books are definitely not for the kindhearted and I would describe them as dark and disturbing for most of the series, they can be graphic, horrifying, fantastic, whimsical, saddening and much much more. I have found myself actually laughing out loud, and crying so hard I had to put them away for a while. I've read and reread them probably close to 10 times and can say that I feel they blow most other writers and writing styles out of the water. Everyone is all about 50 Shades of Gray for its sexual content and heat but, in my opinion, nothing beats these books in that aspect as well as many others, I find myself wishing I could step through the pages and live in their world. These books are definitely something you read with an open mind and they are by no means written for children. Shalador's Lady is a milder book in the series because the other books focus on the hardship of the society that Anne Bishop created when she wrote them. I find I enjoy this book most for how Cassidy and Gray grow in their relationship.

The next installment of the Black Jewels series continues the amazingly woven world built by Bishop. She manages to create characters reader care about and expertly insert them into a fantasy world that makes those same readers wish was real! Truly a fantasy masterpiece!