Twilight's Dawn: Black Jewels, Book 9

I, like many others, anticipated this book for so long. Wanting to find out how Ms. Bishop would wrap up the saga of 'Witch'. She certainly pulled some stuff out of her literary hat. As there was a bit of a sneak preview to how the story ended, many readers went a bit ballistic and quite a few blogs indicated there would be many that refused to read it because of the twists and unexpected climax. I for one am too curious and was not let down by the anthology. I really enjoyed hearing all of the familiar characters and as usual, Mr. Sharian narrated the tales beautifully. We all would like to see happy endings for everyone in Askavi, but life and death happens and I can't really find fault with the way it finished. I will miss the characters gone, and if Anne decides to give us more Jewels, I'll be happy to continue listening as long as I'm entertained.

Audio read by same narrator throughout series. Narration and production values for this audio are good and you shouldn't be surprised or upset if you've listened to the other books in this series.

There was a lot of furor over this anthology when the story blurbs were released on Ms. Bishop's site and then some additional spoilers hit. I think that if a reader never wants to go where the short The High Lord’s Daughter takes us, there are still 3 shorts in the collection that are worth getting this for IMHO.

Winsol Gifts (2 Hours, 48 Minutes) - The Black Jewels 5.5 - 3.75 * ; Shades of Honor (6 Hours, 51 minutes) - The Black Jewels 5.6 - 4.5* ; Family (2 Hours, 33 Minutes) - The Black Jewels - 4* ; The High Lord’s Daughter (4 Hours, 14 Minutes) - The Black Jewels 9.9 - ?*

I was a bit concerned when I finished the first of the four stories in this book... it didn't have any angst or darkness or threat or suspense... it was just a glimpse into the (somewhat mundane) lives of the Black Jewels' characters. Not saying it was bad, it was just quietly understated.

The darkness and stress (i.e. will everything work out okay?) picked up in the following three stories. It seems that many people were disappointed in how some of the characters were "resolved" at the end, but I thought it was very fitting, believable, and had just the right level of heart-broken-ness.

It was as well written as the rest of the books in this series. Even the characters felt like they really were the "same" people as in the earlier books, without being repetitive about how/why they behaved the ways they did. You really should read the other books in the series before this one - I'm pretty sure it wouldn't make much sense if you weren't already familiar with the world(s) and the characters.

The narration was seamless (much of the time I even forgot it was being narrated because the characters were consistent and distinct).

I'm happy and content with the way Anne Bishop concluded the saga. I don't think I have cried this much listening to a book before. First story takes place after the spooky house. Second one takes place ten years after that. The last one (and the best one) spans a whole lot of years. Thank you John Sharian for such an outstanding performance!

this set of stories was a great wrap up. I wish there were more to be had after this one!! going to miss these characters. I'll need to find more books by the reader also.

The book was great and best of all the voice actor, John Sharian, did not do his terrible Irish / Scottish Jenelle accent (seriously when he does it every inflection is like Scotty complaining that he can't give the Enterprise more power!) I had to skip some of the books he narrated and cringe every time I heard that accent when listening to other books like Shaldores Lady. it would have been terrible to not get to enjoy this final story so I thank whoever made the decision to go back to the normal accent. Honestly his performance as Jenelle is much better and fit her well.

I did not know what to expect, but this was by far the best end of series I have experienced!

This is the first book in the series that I wish I had skipped. The stories were sad and frustrating. If you like a nice conclusion to the black jewels books don't go past Tangled Webs.

This story has so many highs and low that you are feeling like your riding a roller coaster. Set back and relax and ride the Twilight dawn wind

Nice, but not too exciting in the beginning. The last story makes up for it though. Anne Bishop takes us through the end of the saga which is very satisfying.