erika_nightingale

I meant to update this awhile ago but I went through a dry spell reading and right now I'm going through 2-3 books a week all in the same week. I'm afraid this list isn't very interesting. They are almost all from the same series because that's what I'm into right now. I'm currently 2 books ahead of my reading goal but since I'll be reading the first trilogy of the Kushiel's Legacy series as well as the 3rd Wheel of Time Book, I'll slow down. Then I'll read manga to fluff up my list ;)

One Piece Manga Vol. 2- We get a proper introduction of Nami and our villain Buggy the Clown. This is probably my least favorite island adventure in the series. I find the villains tedious, Buggy doesn't appeal to me until much later. We do get some nice interactions between Luffy, Nami, and Zoro though and its fun to revisit the initial interactions between the first 3 members of the Straw Hats. The fights were fun although I'm not as fond of them now since I'm used to what the characters can do now. It's nice to see that the characters have grown so much.

Heir of Darkness by Anne Bishop- The second book in the trilogy. This books picks up where the last one left and details how Jaenelle heals and forms her court. Lucivar is very important in this one and it focuses a lot on Jaenelle and Lucivar's relationship and how it develops. There's a bit more lightheartedness in this book while Jaenelle is healing but the darker aspects of the series are still present. Daemon, Jaenelle's love interest has his mind shattered so he is MIA most of the story because of that. The writing is overall much better. The caste system that Anne Bishop made as well as how magic works in this book are explained much better. It feels more cohesive than the previous book. I also think Anne' Bishop's dialogue improves a lot in this book. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot.

Queen of Darkness by Anne Bishop- The third book in the trilogy. This is actually the best book of the three, no joke. It's actually really two stories wrapped into one. While the other books had that too I would say that Part 1 and Part 2 here do feel like separate stories within the same story. The first one deals with Daemon, whose regained sanity, trying to join Jaenelle's court and him and Surreal navigating the new family (Jaenelle's court) and adjusting to their new lives. The second half is all about how Jaenelle gets rid of the villains of the series. It can be quite brutal at times but it has a very good ending that leaves room for more but is satisfying on its own. Anne Bishop's writing here is about the same as the second book which is fine because it's pretty good. It was hard to put down. I read part 1 in one sitting and part 2 in another. While Anne Bishop's writing isn't the most glamorous or most beautiful it can suck you in with the wonderful characters.

The Invisible Ring by Anne Bishop- This fourth book is actually a prequel to the Black Jewels Trilogy. The cast is completely different and only Daemon makes a couple brief appearances. The story is told from Jared POV as well as the villains POV. I highly enjoyed this book. It's actually one of my favorites. The plot is super tight in this book and Jared is different enough from the main male characters of the trilogy to feel like a completely different person. His romance with Lia is bumbling and kind of sweet. This book also has best girl Thera who is amazing. I didn't notice much difference in the writing in this book either but I read the entire thing in one sitting so perhaps too fast to really notice the prose.

Dreams Made Flesh by Anne Bishop- The fifth book in the series this one is a collection of short stories. The first one is I think an experimental short story by Anne. It's incredibly short and is from the viewpoint of a spider as she slowly becomes more sentient and gains knowledge to weave the Tangled webs from a dead dragon. It's interesting but I think too short to be memorable. The second story deals with how Lucivar met his wife Marian. It's super cute and Marian is adorable and fun to read about since she isn't super powerful. It's probably the best of the bunch and is super long, almost novella length. The third story deals with Saetan and how he became so feared. It's good but very dark. I'll not say much more than that. The final story is Daemon and Jaenelle figuring out their relationship and getting married, there is a subplot where a woman tries break them up which while fun reminds me too much of the Lucivar/Marian short story. Overall, the stories were a lot of fun. Many parts felt kind of like official fanfiction written by the author but I found that I didn't care all that much.

Tangled Webs by Anne Bishop: The sixth book is from Surreal's POV and has the silly plot. Basically Surreal and her friend Rainier (as well as a group of kids) get stuck in a haunted house that's trapped them in a game where they must find the exit without using craft(magic) otherwise they'll be stuck forever. The highlight of this book is actually before the action happens with the haunted house or spooky house as they call it in the books. There were actually a few scenes that made me laugh out loud. That being said it was probably my least favorite of the Black Jewels series so far. The spooky house part wasn't as interesting as it could be until Lucivar showed up. There are some things that happened that I think will have lasting effects of Surreal and Rainier so I know the story isn't completely pointless.

So yeah, my reading list this time is fairly boring. There are 9 books in the series and I'm on the 7th one right now, about 30% of the way through. I have Magi 2-8 to read and more One Piece manga to read as well. I plan to read Kushiel's Dart after I finish the Black Jewels Trilogy. I'm a third of the way through The Secret History of Wonder Woman which I'll make a separate post about when I finish as well as mention it in the next Goodreads Challenge Update.

So at this moment I've read 13 of 30 books.