Anne Bishop never fails to write a story that grabs me right way and does not let me go until the very last page. The Black Jewels series is definitely my favorite of all her books. All of the books set in this world have intriguing story lines and characters who fascinate me. Even the characters I loathe are still well written. Any book by Anne Bishop is a must read and this series is no exception. ( )

reread 2/1/2017 ( )

88 points/100 (4.5 stars/5).

Dreams Made Flesh is made of four novellas titled Weaver of Dreams, The Prince of Ebon Rih, Zuulaman, and Kaeleer's Heart. If you're looking for more after the events of the trilogy, you should read The Prince of Ebon Rih, which takes place between books two and three (filling in that huge gap in the narrative), and Kaeleer's Heart, which takes place immediately after Queen of the Darkness. However, I suspect you'll read the entire book. Weaver of Dreams is tiny (more like a short story), it only took me about 10 minutes to read, and Zuulaman is something you'll want to read after reading The Prince of Ebon Rih.

Weaver of Dreams

60 points/100 (3.25 stars/5).

A spider looks to figure out what she can pass her powers of dream weaving on to.

This was weird. I was very confused at first. Hell, I'm still confused! Set in the very, very distant past, long before even Saetan was born. It was very, very short. Despite all that, I actually liked it. It doesn’t add much to the world, but it was super interesting to see. It was weird.

The Prince of Ebon Rih

86 points/100 (4.5 stars/5).

Set between books two and three of the trilogy, this novella fills in some of the (noticeably missing) gaps in the trilogy. This is the story of how Lucivar and Marian get together.

This was an amazingly cute novella. I loved it. It is during a downtime in the story, where nothing is important. Everyone is just figuring out their lives, or at least what their lives are going to be like now that Jaenelle is Queen. We get to see sides of Lucivar and Jaenelle that we never really got to see before because everything was so serious. And we got to see Marian at all since she wasn’t really much of a character in the trilogy.

I always like in novellas for author to focus on the daily life of the characters. I can probably count the number of novellas on one hand that actually do this. They tend to try and make a mini novel with the same format as a real one. This is the daily life of the characters novella, and I love Bishop dearly for writing it. I always love to just sit down and relax with the characters I know and love.

Zuulaman

88 points/100 (4.5 stars/5).

Millenia ago, Saetan was starting a family with Hekatah. Read how it all went wrong.

The spiritual successor to The Prince of Ebon Rih, but technically takes place way, way before that novella. The events in this novella are brought up in The Prince of Ebon Rih but weren’t detailed. Well, okay we already know it all goes wrong. We know how much of a Hekatah is. It was still horrifying to see all over again. What a bitch.

I enjoyed this novella, but it felt a bit light. Overall, it was worth the read though. I really enjoyed Saetan playing the politics game. I also really enjoyed seeing him before time has worn him down and all he wants is to be able to serve his Queen. Good novella.

Kaeleer’s Heart

92 points/100 (4.75/5).

After the events in Queen of the Darkness, Jaenelle is left damaged, Daemon is taking care of her, and the process is driving them apart instead of pushing them together. To top it all off, someone is trying to get between them.

I really liked this novella. Just like The Prince of Ebon Rih, it is more slice-of-life than anything big that is happening. I love slice-of-life novellas so much, like I said before. Like Heir to the Shadows, this is a story of healing. Jaenelle is healing from her injuries and from her own flagging self confidence. Daemon is healing from almost losing his reason for living. The rest of her family is healing from nearly losing Jaenelle.

I dislike that Bishop added the jealous other woman trying to but in between them, but I suppose I understand it. I figure she thought most people wouldn't want to read the story without that part because it wouldn't have been interesting? However, I find the opposite to be the case, the jealous woman parts were boring and unnecessary and I wish they hadn't been included. I really just loved the slice-of-life parts.

The best part of this novella was Bishop's playing on the "Dreams Made Flesh" aspect of the story. From the trilogy, we know Jaenelle is the culmination of millions of dreams made into flesh. Bishop plays on this idea in this novella and I.Fucking.Love.It. Holy shit.

(If you're looking for more after this, The Price contained in [b:Powers of Detection: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy|659855|Powers of Detection Stories of Mystery & Fantasy|Dana Stabenow|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1310319894s/659855.jpg|645930] follows shortly after the events in Kaeleer's Heart and follows the character Surreal.) ( )

An outgrowth from the Dark Jewels trilogy. More dark and melodramatic high fantasy. The villains were on the ineffectual and annoying side - everything's a little flat, but the colors sure are pretty. I devoured much of it at the laundromat. (September 15, 2005) ( )

This was unsatisfying. I loved the trilogy but it wasn't very deep, I could easily tell it was for younger audience. But this sequel was probably for those who were demanding some kind of happy ending,
it was shallow-like a fanfic-and not a good one ( )