The Shadow Queen

A Black Jewels Novel

By: Anne Bishop

Narrated by: John Sharian

Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

From the national best-selling author - the new novel set in the "darkly fascinating world" (SF Site) of the Black Jewels.

Dena Nehele is a land decimated by its past. Once it was ruled by corrupt Queens who were wiped out when the land was cleansed of tainted Blood. Now, only 100 Warlord Princes stand - without a leader and without hope.

Theran Grayhaven is the last of his line, desperate to find the key that reveals a treasure great enough to restore Dena Nehele. But first he needs to find a Queen who remembers the Blood's code of honor and lives by the Old Ways. The woman chosen to rule Dena Nehele, Lady Cassidy, is not beautiful and believes she is not strong. But she may be the only one able to convince bitter men to serve once again.

©2009 Bertrice Small (P)2009 Penguin

Critic reviews

“Surges with spellcraft and engaging romance.” (Publishers Weekly)

“In this stand-alone novel set in the evocative Black Jewels world, Bishop tackles surviving various horrors head-on...It’s a difficult subject, but one that Bishop writes about sensitively, with compassion and without blinking or pulling punches.” (RT Book Reviews)

Same great story, but character voices off

Why is Jaenelle Celtic? The voices should stay consistent throughout the series. I love Sharian's Daemon, Lucivar and Saetan.

Cant wait for the next one.

What made the experience of listening to The Shadow Queen the most enjoyable?

The narrator's wry tone and inflection really brought the story to life.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Gray is my favorite character because of his growth as a person and as a prince.

Which scene was your favorite?

The planting of the honey pear trees.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Adventure, Comedy and a little Romance

still a great storyline

still crushed that Janelle sounds like Morgan now but same great narration of a strong story line

Consistent voices would help

As another reviewer pointed out, this reader has done the other books in this series, and it's incredibly jarring to hear Morghann's voice when Janelle is speaking. Particularly given that all the male characters have the same voices as they do in the other books, it's confusing that Janelle has a completely different accent.

The book is good, and gives an enjoyable glimpse into another aspect of this world; because of the reader, I preferred reading to listening.

Another Jewel from Anne Bishop

Two years after Janelle unleashed Witch on the tainted Blood, the Grayhaven family (The Invisible Ring, 4.5 stars) is desperately struggling to rebuild Dena Nahile in the image of the old Blood.

After appealing to Daemon Saudi, Theron, Grayhaven's heir, is beyond disappointed with Ebon Askavi's offering of a Queen.

Theron's an @$$. Through the whole book. But the other characters, particularly Gray, and the Saetan/Damon/Janelle subplot is superb.

But, *what* happened to the narrator??? After performing Janelle for three books, she suddenly developed a Scottish accent??? Everytime she spoke, it hurled me out of the story. Equally annoying (okay almost equally) was the way the narrator occasionally dropped out of character during dialogue from Lucivar and Daemon.

I've read and loved the entire Dark Jewel series since their original publication. I remember waiting anxiously for each new book. The Shadow Queen, while clearly the middle of a second trilogy, stands alone as an uncut gem. If only the narrator had done it justice...

Not as dark as the trilogy

I really enjoyed this story. Theran is an ass. Cassidy is the ugly duckling. The story is one of hope and growth and bullying and finding oneself as they mature.

There is a bit too much about Daemon and his Sadist urges though - I thought it was more like an add-on to bring back old characters and had little to add to the actual story of Cassidy and her Court. There is also a little substory about Saetan which was also sort of odd in the context of Cassidy's story, but I guess Bishop wanted to keep us up-to-date on the goings on with the "family".

It's not as dark or heavy as the trilogy, but is quite similar in tone to the Invisible Ring - although it was more about internal angst and in-fighting and stereotypes than fighting versus an external enemy. I'm starting the next in the series right now - it didn't really end in a cliffhanger, but you know there's more to Cassidy's story so you'll want to read the next book in the series to find out what happens.

This is the only book in the series I've listened to in audio and, for the most part, the narration was good - he mispronounces a few words and Jaenelle is read with an "Eastern Canadian?" accent in this book which didn't really fit what I expected. But otherwise, you can tell who's talking from tone/accent and whether or not they are speaking or using psychic communications.

wonderful story

I throughly enjoyed this book which seems but a chapter of a great tale may it never end!

Scale of 1 - 5 .... 12!

You can read this story first!
I love the first trilogy , BUT...
Bravo Anne, just Bravo!

Awesome

Great story to enjoy while you take long road trip.
Got a lot characters to love. Oh yeah, kindred to the rescue.

excellent follow up book

truly a solid read and takes us one step further down the Shadow Queens life with focus on prior books as key historical reference.