Shalador's lady is a direct sequel to The shadow queen, continuing the story of Cassidy and her court (as well as Jaenelle, Saetan and Daemon of course). I once more really liked this book. Again, it's not the most brilliant story in the world (as I've mentioned for Dark Jewels 4-7 as well), but it is one of the more brilliant worlds inhabited by several of the more brilliant characters. ( )

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 1/28/2017 ( )

74 points/100 (3.75 points/100).

Dena Nehele is on the edge of disaster or healing. What is Cassidy going to do to tip the balance one way or the other?

Overall, I liked the Dena Nehele arc. I enjoyed seeing the aftermath of what happened after Jaenelle cleansed the blood. However, I was left.. disappointed in the end. The entire book, and frankly the last book, Bishop was building up to something. I was expecting something to happen at the end. However, it ended so.. blandly. All that build up went nowhere. Well, that isn't true. It went into paperwork.

I think The Shadow Queen and Shalador's Lady could have been combined into one book had Bishop been a bit more selective. There was a lot of wasted time, things that didn't have to be shown, plot lines that were started up but weren't really explored. Between the two books, so much of the story was spent on Cassidy's looks and her previous court and on the selfish, horrible woman that is trying to take Cassidy's territory again. I refuse to believe the rest of the Queens in Kaeleer couldn't have taken care of Kermilla in their own way. That she wasn't punished for her actions in Kaeleer, not even connected to Cassidy or Dena Nehele at all, is ridiculous. There are so many "second chances" it is more like "hundredth chance".

One thing I really liked was with these two books, and this one in particular, we see what the difference between Dark Jeweled users and Light Jeweled users. It really shows how differently they solve their problems and how differently they rule. It also shows how much work the Dark Jeweled users have to take on because the Light Jeweled users rely on them so much. I also really liked how we saw how a good man could be twisted by a bad queen. That drive by the men to follow the one they are meant to follow is overwhelming and makes them blind to the truths. I felt sorry for Grayhaven, but mostly I feel sorry for everyone in history that has had something similar happen to them.

In The Shadow Queen I said that I thought the original crew was around too much and had too much of their story, and I hoped it would fall back in this book. Unfortunately, the author added even more plot points on top of it. And then Bishop abandoned those threads midway through without really finishing any of them. I suspect that the novella collection, Twilight's Dawn, is going to finish up all these threads. However, I am just left feeling really annoyed that this happened at all. I would have liked those plots even if they only were in Twilight's Dawn. Instead, I felt left wanting for more of what she introduced here. Also, this will mean I can't just recommend to skip this arc if you want only more of the original crew because the beginning is in these books. Overall, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Overall, a solid end to the Dena Nehele arc, even though I was disappointed in the hows of how it ended. This arc showed something that was easily in need of being shown (though only because Bishop decided to continue the story after the third book). ( )

Honey Pear Trees

I loved this as usual. Anything Anne Bishop writes is pure gold. I love that Cassie was given a second chance to be a queen after her other court was stolen from her. It was hard to put up with the stupidity of Prince Greyhaven even after Cassie was able to unlock the spells that hid his family’s treasure. His oblivion towards Kermella was almost intolerable. I loved the honey pears and how they were found and am really looking forward to reading the next story. ( )