The Queen's Weapons

Black Jewels, Book 11

By: Anne Bishop

Narrated by: Gary Littman

Length: 19 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

Enter the dark and sensual realms of the Black Jewels, a world where power always has a price, in this sweeping story in the New York Times best-selling fantasy saga.

They are Warlord Princes, men born to serve and protect. They are the Queen's Weapons, men born to destroy the Queen's enemies - no matter what face that enemy wears. 

Daemonar Yaslana knows how to be bossy yet supportive - traits he shares with his father, the Demon Prince, and his uncle, the High Lord of Hell. Within his generation of the family, he assumes the role of protector, supporting his sister Titian's artistic efforts and curbing his cousin Jaenelle Saetien's more adventurous ideas. But when a young Eyrien Queen, someone Titian thought was a friend, inflicts an emotional wound, Daemonar's counterattack brings him under the tutelage of Witch, the Queen whose continued existence is known only to a select few. 

As Daemonar is confronted by troubling changes within and around the family, he sees warnings that a taint in the Blood might be reappearing. Daemonar, along with his father and uncle, must uncover the source of a familiar evil - and Daemon Sadi, the High Lord of Hell, may be forced into making a terrible choice.

©2021 Anne Bishop (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"The latest Black Jewels novel (after The Queen's Bargain) continues to deliver dark fantasy with lush worldbuilding, strong characters, and high-stakes action." (Library Journal)

poor fan fiction

I love this series. I have every book Anne Bishop has written, read and listened to them multiple times. this book did not seem at all as though it was written by her. The premise behind the story was fine but there were just so many details and plot holes that just took it away from the series I loved.
You want me to believe that Lucivar who always took the safety of the females around him so seriously would let his daughter almost reach adulthood without being able to * spoiler * or have the most basic ability to * spoiler * he definitely made his wife be able to do. I understand parents have blind spots about their kids but Sadi is now completely incapable of understanding females? There have always been alot of references to sex in these books, how could there not be. While some scenes yes a crasser approach can drive home a feeling or set a scene every single reference to sex in this book was vulgar with none of the acceptance or class that all the other books exhibited which separates porn for art.
So many skills resources behaviors that have carried through all of the previous books just casually forgotten in an effort to drive the plot without regard to the previous books and yet bluntly hit over the head by bits from the trilogy as if to say " see it's from the same story" for seemingly no purpose other then to connect the stories.
I'm terribly disappointed this book felt more like poor fan fiction or an unsupervised ghost writer then as if it came from Anne Bishop.

2nd review High Lord's daughter is still the bad g

I have given this review before I am thoroughly upset with the way this story goes it ruined the high Lord's daughter I can never read any of the previous books that have either Deamon Sadi or his duaghter as part if the plot again
This story broke my heart

Everything has a price, teenage angst, hope

Narrated by Gary Litman. Like 'The Queen's Bargain, Litman does a nice job but John Sharian, who narrated most of the books in this series left an indelible mark and he is missed. Litman brings a lot more grit and roughness to Daemon and Lucivar but I'm learning to get used it.

Daemon and Surreal's daughter Jaenelle Satien is changing and becoming a stranger to them. She hates her name and wants nothing to do with her namesake, she wants to create her own path, one that her namesake never walked. When she requests to go to a private school, everyone hopes she will grow out of the waspish changes. At the same time Lucivar's daughter Titian over comes her shyness to seek out further art training at the same school and makes friends with a young Queen Zoey. Daemonar can't help being the overprotective brother and warlord prince. When he senses a threat to his sister, he also ends up at the school to protect his family.

Saetan Daemon SaDiablo aka Daemon is the High Lord of Hell

I love the Black Jewels world and how most of the Queens and their warlords strive to protect their people. When Dorothea's taint resurfaces amongst their children, the Sadist awakens, as well as his Queen Jaenelle's ire.

I have so many mixed feelings about this one. Their are characters I love and can not get enough of and then their was Daemon's daughter Jaenelle. Watching Daemonar grow into his power as a Warlord Prince and Titian coming into her own made for wonderful reading. I loved that Daemonar is stepping into the third side of the Queen's triangle.

Unfortunately I hated reading about Jaenelle. For most of the book she is a self-absorbed, entitled, whiney bitch. She may be centuries old but think raging teenager and you get the idea. Attaching herself to a group of aristos that are also entitled and classic mean girls, known as the 'Coven of Malice' by those outside of their group. It was hard to believe a daughter of Daemon and Surreal was so insecure and weak, that she could be taken in by this nasty group and used for so long. There was more than one point that I no longer wanted to read anything about her.

Characters change and grow and some things stay the same. I don't think I'll ever get enough of Daemon and Lucivar but watching Daemonar, Titian and Zoey come into their own, I have new characters to love and I can't wait for more of their story. I'm not sure I can forgive Jaenelle Saetien, but I'll wait and see.

The Queen's Weapons are diverse and multi pronged. They will serve her and not allow Dorothea's taint to return to the land after their Queen gave so much to eliminate it. For those who forgot Daemon, Lucivar and Daemonar have no problem unleashing their claws to remind them.

The running theme of the Black Jewels series is that everything has a price, no one goes unscathed in this installment. Anne Bishop will gut you as well as charm you as she brings you into the Black Jewels world.

love it!!!

I miss John Sharian who used to narrate this series, but I do like the new narrator. I love this series and this book is ko exception!!!

Wish this would never end!

I’m sad this book is done! I had read the entire series before this and this is the first one I’ve listened to. The performance was brilliant! I loved every minute of it and I’m hopeful the author continues with this family and series. Loved it!

Wonderful

I have every book to this series and re read and listen to them every year. what a delight to have this new book. A must read. I loved revisiting the character 's and places. As good a read as all her books. I hope there will be another book soon.

Great as always

Anne Bishop is always a great choice & this is a wonderful installation in this series and I am very glad I bought it.

Beautiful Story, Poor Voice Choices

This is another of the audio books where the narration has brought down the quality of the story. In this case, unlike some recent others, I didn't have to force myself to listen, but I also found some character's voice choices grating. Especially the female characters.

First, let me say this is one of my favorite series by one of my favorite authors. It's the first pre-ordered book this year whose context hasn't let me down. I look forward to seeing where Ms. Bishop takes the series. Assuming it will continue. I don't dig for such details, so it might be wishful thinking on my part. It will be on my list as soon as it's announced if so.

I would still encourage people to read the book instead of listening because the intonation of most of the characters were nothing like how I have imagined them when I've read the rest of the series. This is the first I've went with the audio version, and thank goodness for that because I'd have never made it beyond a sample had I started the series with audio. I suppose I should count myself lucky that Audible didn't exist decades ago.

The choice of voice for most females, the majority of children, and The Sadist was atrocious. I get that they're supposed to be aristocrats, but this was like a very strange caricature of aristocrats. Not to mention the voice choice for Witch was just... disturbing. The lines would have been so much richer if read in a different tone. Where I haven't really cared for the story of other books whose narration I've complained about, this book's story was worth a much better narration for some of the characters. If the same narrator is used for future books, I hope he will reconsider how he reads for female voices and some of the aristocratic males. It really took away from the story.

With that said, I still found myself crying in the end. That's a win in my book. Would there have been more tears had I read it instead of listening? I'm not sure. It's possible, because there was very powerful occurences whose emotional impact was lost due to those strange innotations. Not only that, but if passion/anger/fear/etc was to be enunciated during some phrases, others should have been spoken with equal spirit and energy.

Overall, this is another book where the narration choices left me wondering what the production and/or editing team was thinking. The book, on the other hand is worth taking the time to read. I hope people do not leave spoilers in their reviews. Wishful thinking, I'm sure. This is one book where if you've read the rest of the series, you definetly want to go in unaware and let the words take you where they may. If you haven't read the series, please start at the beginning. This is NOT a stand alone book by any stretch of the imagination. If you haven't read other books in the series, this one will be lost to you. If you have read them, enjoy this latest ride across the winds.

Good story, but wrong narrator

I really enjoyed the story, but I didn't enjoy the narrator as much. I felt he didn't have quite the right tone for most of the voices in the story.

if you love the first three books do not read this

the actors were good, the story sucked. destroyed everything thing I love about the series

I like parts of the story very much but...

What I loved about the Black Jewels universe was that there was such a variety of characters and colourful places but by desperately trying to preserve the old actors the story is starting to contradict itself and becomes a little stale.

Fairly enjoyable but not one of Anne Bishops best

This book follows on from The Queens Bargain and the growing up of Janelle Saetien, Daemonar and Titian
It follows the fairly tried and tested formula of bad Aristos trying to get control and bring back the bad old ways. A lot of it is fairly predicable but it does have a twist or two.

The original Black Jewels trilogy is one of the very best fantasy stories ever written, this continuation whilst a good read is just not at the same level.

I cant say I was thrilled at the way one of the main characters developed and also it wasn't that plausible. No way would anyone brought up by those parents be unaware of the consequences of their actions.

It starts well enough but then gets a bit bogged down in the middle and had me quite annoyed at both character and plot development before a fairly decent goodies v baddies battle and ending.

Gary Littman does a decent job as narrator but as someone who has been brought up John Sharian reading the series its always a bit harder when the narrator is changed - I guess the 10 year gap between Twilight's Dawn and The Queens Bargain is the reason for this.

The ending definitely leaves scope for another book in the series and I am sure I will listen to it, but I am not sure it will ever capture the original magic again

Perfect as usual

As always, Anne Bishop has written another stunning addition to the Black Jewels Saga. Beautifully complex relationships and a firm grounding in a now familiar social and magic system that helps build a heart breaking and uplifting story. I recommend this series to everyone who has a spark of love for fantasy