Review: Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
Title: Daughter of the Blood
Author: Anne Bishop
Genre: Fantasy
Grade: B
Reason for Reading: Someone on a Yahoo group I'm on wanted a reading buddy for this one so I figured that, given that this is yet another fantasy series I haven't read, I might as well.
Synopsis: Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch saw an ancient prophecy come to life
in her web of dreams and visions. Now the Dark Kingdom readies itself for the arrival
of its Queen, a Witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself.
But she is still young, still open to influence-and corruption. Whoever controls
the Queen controls the darkness. Three men-sworn enemies-know this. And they know
the power that hides behind the blue eyes of an innocent young girl. And so begins
a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, magic and betrayal, where the weapons are
hate and love-and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining...
My Thoughts: I think that, if there had been a few different stylistic choices made, this book would have been a keeper for me. As it is, I like it well enough that I'll probably continue the series, but there were definitely some issues that I had.
What works for me is that the setting is appropriately grand and epic--a complex world that has obviously been created with diligence and thoughtfulness. And I like political intrigue, of which there was a lot. And I even liked the depths shown by our PoV characters. And there was something in the storytelling that was compelling and kept me reading even when I realized afterwords that I was reading the bastard love child of Laurell K. Hamilton, Christine Feehan and George R. R. Martin.
The setting is very dark, which was an aspect I liked, overall. The people in power are essentially terrified that they're not strong enough to hold it, so they abuse those weaker than themselves. And I have to admit that the concept of a Ring of Obedience brings a smirk to my face.
Unfortunately, though I did enjoy this book, there were flaws. First of all, though our three male protagonists were nicely fleshed out, the female character who is the center of all the drama never quite worked for me. She really is, essentially, a Mary Sue, looked upon by people who generally adore her. That kept me pretty distant from hjer, and so I pretty much failed to see what was so compelling about her.
As for the other secondary characters, most of the women seem to be either evil or brainless, and the men either bow before the awesomeness that is Jaenelle, queen Sue of the Universe or they rape little girls for fun. (No, I'm really not exagerating about that.)
That also being said, I found the struggle of Jaenelle's eventual love interest over his feelings for her a bit squicky, especially at the end, given that Jaenelle is twelve.
So would I recommend it? Maybe. I think I'd have loved it had I not read George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, which is a lot darker and actually contains a whole cast of multifaceted characters. But it's a nice enough read if you simply want to be taken to a fascinating, original world.
Author: Anne Bishop
Genre: Fantasy
Grade: B
Reason for Reading: Someone on a Yahoo group I'm on wanted a reading buddy for this one so I figured that, given that this is yet another fantasy series I haven't read, I might as well.
Synopsis: Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch saw an ancient prophecy come to life
in her web of dreams and visions. Now the Dark Kingdom readies itself for the arrival
of its Queen, a Witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself.
But she is still young, still open to influence-and corruption. Whoever controls
the Queen controls the darkness. Three men-sworn enemies-know this. And they know
the power that hides behind the blue eyes of an innocent young girl. And so begins
a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, magic and betrayal, where the weapons are
hate and love-and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining...
My Thoughts: I think that, if there had been a few different stylistic choices made, this book would have been a keeper for me. As it is, I like it well enough that I'll probably continue the series, but there were definitely some issues that I had.
What works for me is that the setting is appropriately grand and epic--a complex world that has obviously been created with diligence and thoughtfulness. And I like political intrigue, of which there was a lot. And I even liked the depths shown by our PoV characters. And there was something in the storytelling that was compelling and kept me reading even when I realized afterwords that I was reading the bastard love child of Laurell K. Hamilton, Christine Feehan and George R. R. Martin.
The setting is very dark, which was an aspect I liked, overall. The people in power are essentially terrified that they're not strong enough to hold it, so they abuse those weaker than themselves. And I have to admit that the concept of a Ring of Obedience brings a smirk to my face.
Unfortunately, though I did enjoy this book, there were flaws. First of all, though our three male protagonists were nicely fleshed out, the female character who is the center of all the drama never quite worked for me. She really is, essentially, a Mary Sue, looked upon by people who generally adore her. That kept me pretty distant from hjer, and so I pretty much failed to see what was so compelling about her.
As for the other secondary characters, most of the women seem to be either evil or brainless, and the men either bow before the awesomeness that is Jaenelle, queen Sue of the Universe or they rape little girls for fun. (No, I'm really not exagerating about that.)
That also being said, I found the struggle of Jaenelle's eventual love interest over his feelings for her a bit squicky, especially at the end, given that Jaenelle is twelve.
So would I recommend it? Maybe. I think I'd have loved it had I not read George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, which is a lot darker and actually contains a whole cast of multifaceted characters. But it's a nice enough read if you simply want to be taken to a fascinating, original world.