Daughter of the Blood
Anne Bishop
"Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch, saw an ancient prophecy come to life in her dazzling web of dreams and visions.
Now the Dark Realm 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 that. 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."—Back Cover.Genre: High Fantasy/Romance
Reader’s Notes: Each copy of each book comes with a listing of the Jewels. A person’s jewel dictates the potential level of power they possess. Most members of the Blood (those born with Craft) possess two sets of Jewels—birthright jewels (which they receive at a ceremony during childhood) and jewels received from the Offering. When a member of the Blood is old enough they make the offering to the Darkness (in this world the Darkness is the source of all power, life, etc.) and have the potential to walk away with darker jewels. The strongest known Jewel is the Black at the time of the story’s beginning and the second strongest is the Ebon-Grey.
There is also a Caste system set into place within the Blood. Black Widow’s are essentially seers who can also deal with poisons and illusions, very powerful. Queen’s are members of the blood who are tied to the land. A queen can sit on a throne, but a Queen has a natural allure that draws allies to her, usually. A Priestess is a member of the Blood who cares for Dark Altars. It is possibly for a woman to be more than one rank of the Caste but it’s exceedingly rare. A set of rules and behaviors known as Protocol has been handed down to the Blood since it’s founding. It is Protocol that determines what rights the Blood do and do not have over one another.
Okay, enough pre-game talk out of the way-- onto…
The Rundown: In a world where a patriarchal society is taboo and your lot in life is decided at the moment of your birth, those born with the ability to use Craft are known as the Blood. It is their duty to protect and preserve the land. A caste system has been in place since Craft first came to the Blood and Protocol insures that a society is just, peaceful and well-cared for. A Queen is born to protect and heal the land.
However, as is the case with most things, things have changed over time. A Priestess, Dorothea, denies Protocol and seeks to bend the world to her whim. She has committed atrocities and vile acts to insure that none will dare defy her. Taken measures to ensure that hers is the only path worth following, for the price for straying is one few can afford. Although not a Queen, she possesses a stranglehold over the entire realm of Terreille.
Within her court are two brothers: Lucivar Yaslana, an Ebon-Grey Jewelled Slave, and Daemon Sadi, a Black Jewelled Pleasure Slave. Both men are held hostage within Dorothea’s court by an item known as the Ring of Obedience. The Ring combined with each man’s desire to spare his brother a death sentence, insures their servitude—albeit unwillingly. At a gathering a Black Widow spins a web for the pleasure of the crowd and shocks the brothers by revealing the truth that Witch, the embodiment of the Darkness, would be born.
Clinging to the hope that they will finally have a Queen worth serving the two men resolve to survive the horrors of the world as long as they can, in the hope that they will one day become a member of Her court.
The High Lord of Hell, Saetan, has been around for more than 50,000 years. He reigns over Hell, having no interest in the Realms beyond. The twisted nature of the Blood is no longer his concern and as a Black Jeweled male, he feels that his power would only cause more trouble should he attempt to intervene and that a Queen worthy of his attention will never come again.
Before long, each of the men soon have a chance meeting with a young girl—Witch. With the Queen of their dreams walking amongst them each man has vowed to protect her from the horrors of the world and, if necessary, each other. But, protecting the child will prove to be a far more difficult task than any of them had ever dreamed.
For, while she is Witch, the Queen of Darkness, and the most powerful being to have walked the Realms. She is still a child…and even the most powerful child in the world has something she fears…
Pros: The story is very original and filled with some very nice twists. You’ll find yourself liking some characters, even though you may not want to. I really can’t highlight Bishop’s storytelling abilities, enough. She’s not the greatest writer (I’ll touch on this in flaws) you’ll ever read, but regardless of that you could easily find yourself fighting back tears; because, despite the flaws, this is still a very enjoyable story. The characters responses and actions to their situations are reasonably believable, and for the most part the dialogue isn’t too hard to swallow. I take most of the flaws with a grain of salt as the story is primarily a High Fantasy Romance, so a little cliché is to be expected. All in all, it’s not the best of her books, but it’s not a bad first novel—by any means.
Cons: Most of the book serves to introduce the reader to the characters that will be present through most of the series…so, at times, I found myself going ‘Okay, I get it…he’s cool.’ In fact, that’s probably the biggest flaw I can note: most of the main characters, save one, have a shit ton of power and money at their disposal that allow them to live leisurely, even when they’re in dire straits. Despite this, you’ll still end up liking these characters, even if you roll your eyes at them every now and again. I understand this is a fantasy series and I am thus willing to stress my suspension of disbelief to it’s limit for certain things. However, you might sick back a few times in this book and re-read some of the dialogue, because it just seems…too cookie cutter. Not always, but enough that it’s worth mentioning.
Bishop does a good job of painting a picture for you, but it’s also evident that in her fantasy world pretty people are better…just cause. All of the main male characters are too handsome for words and are every single woman’s dream man.
Gentlemen, don’t be surprised to find yourself shaking your head occasionally.
The truth of the matter is Bishop’s target audience is fairly clear and I am in no way being sexist. It’s just that there are some descriptions in the books, regarding how utterly, ruggedly, underneaththecoverdly sexy, some of the guys are (to be fair, she also has a female character she does this with as well). It should be noted that despite it's high fantasy setting the story is still a romance, which may explain away some of the dream dude complex. Bishop seems to pat her male reader’s on the shoulder, however, and tosses us a shit ton of violence and characters you will fucking looooove to hate.
The final flaw, that just irked me to no end, is some of Bishops word choices. To be clear, I really do like her writing style (not my forever favorite, but I’ll sit back and admit she keeps me reading) , however she has this habit of using some sayings over and over and over and over again. I didn’t really catch it until I was on the second book and I went “what the…this many people keep talking ‘too softly’ and nobody is going to be able to hear anything.”
Final Words (tl;dr version): If you’re waiting for the next book in your favorite author’s series to come out, you could definitely find worse books to spend your time on. While, there are some flaws, it’s a really enjoyable read and the world and the story really do serve to draw you in. In all honesty, the thing that made the first book so hard for me to finish was the slow start, but it’s a Bishop’s first novel of her first series, so it’s to be expected that it’s not the greatest fantasy novel you’ve ever read. The series, however, is another matter. I thoroughly enjoy the series and that alone makes the first book sincerely worth trying. Overall, Bishop is a talented writer, it shines through. She won’t please everyone every second of the story, but the violence, the sex, the intrigue, the twists, really keep you enthralled.
