The Queen's Bargain

Black Jewels, Book 10

By: Anne Bishop

Narrated by: Gary Littman

Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's Summary

POWER HAS A PRICE. SO DOES LOVE.

Return to the dark, sensual, and powerful world of the Black Jewels in this long-awaited new story in the New York Times best-selling fantasy saga.

After a youthful mistake, Lord Dillon's reputation is in tatters, leaving him vulnerable to aristo girls looking for a bit of fun. To restore his reputation and honor, he needs a handfast - a one-year contract of marriage. He sets his sights on Jillian, a young Eyrien witch from Ebon Rih, who he believes has only a flimsy connection to the noble society that spurned him. Unfortunately for Dillon, he is unaware of Jillian's true connections until he finds himself facing Lucivar Yaslana, the volatile Warlord Prince of Ebon Rih.

Meanwhile, Surreal SaDiablo's marriage is crumbling. Daemon Sadi, the Warlord Prince of Dhemlan, recognizes there is something wrong between him and Surreal, but he doesn't realize that his attempt to suppress his own nature in order to spare his wife is causing his mind to splinter. To save Daemon, and the Realm of Kaeleer if he breaks, help must be sought from someone who no longer exists in any of the Realms - the only Queen powerful enough to control Daemon Sadi. The Queen known as Witch.

As Jillian rides the winds of first love with Dillon, Daemon and Surreal struggle to survive the wounds of a marriage turned stormy - and Lucivar has to find a way to keep everyone in his family safe...even from each other.

©2020 Anne Bishop (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Ugh - Narrator changes are hard

I agree with the previous reviews - after 9 books switching Narrators is jarring . These Characters have become comfortable “ friends” and part of the experience of listening to a series is the relationship listeners have formed with the narrator.

I’m having a very hard time continuing on with it but ..... I have been looking forward to the story for a long time.

Narrator Change UGH

I can't get past the narrator change. I'm so disappointed since I have been looking forward to this book. The narration is like nails on a chalk board for me.

I will never listen to this audio book

Anne Bishop is still a masterful storyteller but new narrator is awful. Where's John Sharian?

Confused by this one

Allow me to start by noting I absolutely LOVE Anne Bishop. I have all of her books in either physical or audible form. When I saw a new book was coming out that returned us to the world of jewels I was so excited!
However I was honestly so confused at the characters in this one... their personalities seemed so different! I am unsure why these characters all seemed to take such a huge step back from how things were in Twilights Dawn. Sadly I was disappointed by this one, it seemed like a something that should have easily been resolved within the first couple chapters but instead was dragged out for 14 hours.
The inconsistency of them making points to say “we deal with things together as a unit!” Yet NO ONE would freaking communicate anything to anyone else which lead up to all the drama scratched me the wrong way.
What happened to this beloved family :(

Eagerly Anticipated

I have waited so long for this book. I thoroughly enjoyed, but i will say, I was disappointed John Sherrian did not narrate it. I am not saying Gary Littman was bad, his narration is just different (not what I am used to for the Black Jewel Series). So while it was still enjoyable, there were times that I would cringe slightly in response to how something was said, or the timbre of his voice. I am sure it is just a matter of time, and this will become 'normal' in terms of how the book sounds.

I am sure it did not help I had been listening to the previous books, so had John's voice in my head... and not Gary's.

Overall, soooo worth it.

Good story bad narrator

I had to switch back to the written version of the book. This is not the same narrator as previous books, and it suffers from the change. Voices don't match their character's description.

Great Story but....

(Spoilers)
The whole relationship with her Daemon and Surreal was off putting to me. Surreal seemed OOC and she was treated unfairly throughout the book by Daemon and the others in a way. Why give Dillion a second chance and not give Surreal one? She literally became Satan's Cassandra to Daemon. I get there was a misunderstanding between Surreal and Daemon but if I am not mistaken the last time Daemon showed Surreal the Sadist in the bedroom she was being taught a lesson for calling Daemon Hayll's whore. It was that event that made her fear that side of him.
Yes she went in his room knowing that that was a warlord prince's domain and reminded herself of Jaenelle's advice but she was caught off guard. She reacted to the next phase of Daemon not knowing like himself what was happening besides the fact she misinterpreted his unwitting actions as punishment.
Yet she is ganged up on by all the characters including Witch when Daemon had damaged himself.
I was glad to see Witch again but why does she have to be the ghost that will forever linger between Daemon and Surreal. I mean yes Daemon was made for Witch. The queen that a warlord prince served will always come first to him but in this instance Surreal is left as a second thought to Daemon.
Like I stated before my rant I loved the book. I loved seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Mariam and Lucivar's relationship was precious. My only complaint is how Daemon and Surreal's relationship was handled.

Disappointed

I pre-ordered this book and started the entire series over in anticipation of it. Had I not listened to the others already, I wouldn't finish it. I'm on chapter 6 and if I hadn't listened to all the others I'd stop and return it. The narrator is awful. I feel like I'm watching a unsolved murder show on tv. Extremely Disappointed

Sexual Heat , way overused

Let me say that I love this series and pre-ordered this book.
The phrase"Sexual Heat" must have been used in almost every other sentence.
It got to the point where I was starting to roll my eyes every time I heard it.
The story was alright. F
or some reason the author decided to change some of the rules that we've known about the blood, but that wouldn't have been a big deal, except for the overwhelming and ridiculous overuse of "sexual Heat".
We get it! Damon is beautiful, but it was like she couldn't think of anything else that would be a conflict.
I didn't care for the narrator either. I much prefered the earlier renditions of the characters voices.
Overall I feel very disappointed.

Sorry much as I love The Black Jewels Series

The change of narrator is so jarring for me that I can't continue. I have managed an hour and twenty minutes hoping I could get wrapped in the story, didn't happen. I am returning the book.

Enjoyed revisiting this world

This is a book it makes no sense to listen to unless you are already familiar with the Black Jewels saga as it is a continuation a little while after the events in book 9 Twilight's Dawn

I love the primary characters in this series and I found it easy to drop back into the world of Daemon Lucivar Surreal and the others

The plot is interesting but frustrating in places -It interweaves two main strands
One revolving around Dillon and Jillian I loved, and it was great to see Jillian having a fairly prominent role as she matures.
The other one around Daemon and Surreal was a bit more frustrating as they have always been 2 of my favourite characters and you would think given their years of experience they would have behaved with a bit more maturity, Their story is the reason the story only gets 4 rather than 5 stars

Its a shame there is a narrator change - having listened to John Sharian for the previous 9 books in the series a narrator change is always annoying. Gary Littman doesnt do a bad job but its just not the same as John was perfect and impossible to follow. If thats a problem you may be better reading the book rather than listening but I found I could cope.

Looks like we need to wait another year to find out what happens next ....

Lovely book

Loved this book! Although I found some of the characters development bit disappointing it was like visiting family.