Shadow Queen, The [Hardcover]

Like most of the other reviewers, I really liked Cassidy and Gray--and I didn't find Theran that bad, since there's room for a lot of later character development there. I also found the Jaenelle/Daemon interludes distracting and mostly irrelevant--they reminded me of Tangled Webs, which was a major disappointment. They were especially annoying as the story drew ot a close, I found myself looking at the centimeter or so of unread text and wondering when she was going to get back to the real story. Saetan's rampage against the extortionist/adulteress was really stupid, I thought, and added nothing to the story. I know how hard it is to let one's favorite characters go and move on, but Bishop needs to do that with Jaenelle and, especially, Daemon. I was never one of those who was completely enamored of him, anyway. He's really too powerful, and that gets boring. And all the sex seems, well, kind of adolescent. I thought that Tangled Webs was kind of a metaphor for Bishop's problems with the Black Jewels world--it was like she was trapped in a world she had created, but couldn't think of any imaginative way to expand it--like Surreal etc., trapped in that silly house.
The Shadow Queen, on the other had, had real flashes of brilliance, and I read it in one day. (Tangled Webs was put back on the shelf before I finished it.) I want to see more of the new characters, and less of the old ones--I loved them in the trilogy, but it's time to move on. I'd like to hear more about the Landen, like to see more of Cassidy and Gray, hopefully doing more than gardening (but not necessarily just having sex, either)--and more, much more, of the whole wonderful world Bishop created. This book was a start, but it felt unfinished.

I love Anne Bishop's "Black Jewels" triologies, and really enjoyed "The Invisible Ring". This book, not so much. The story about Cassidy was very good. The inserts about Janelle et al were distractions.

Part of the charm of the "Black Jewels" was that the characters were larger than life. In the follow-on books, they get more ordinary all the time. Maybe Anne Bishop wants to humanize them all. To me they come across as whiny and irritating.

Glad to see that there will be more written about Cassidy, but overall it was kind of disappointing. It would have been better written strictly as a book about Cassidy, with Janelle, Daemon, Saetan, and Lucivar making small cameo appearances in the style we saw of Daemon in "The Invisible Ring". And yes, we get it. Janelle and Daemon have sex like bunnies. It's getting boring, and comes across as filler.

I'm afraid to say that Anne Bishop's books have reached the point that I'll be checking them out of the library to see if they're worth buying, rather than preordering every thing she does.

This imaginative world consists of 3 parallel realms. There are 2 kinds of people, the ruling aristocrats with paranormal powers called the Blood, and everyone else, the Landen. The Blood have a central power structure of one Queen surrounded and balanced by a court of 12 Warlords. Around this central structure are their relatives, friends, spouses, etc. Over centuries, the Blood became twisted and tainted by aristocrats who used their powers cruelly. At the end of the Black Jewel Trilogy books, a wave of power swept all three realms, killing all those of the Blood who were tainted.

2 years later, the territory of Dena Nehele in the realm of Tereille is in trouble. During the power wave, so many tainted Queens were killed that there remained no Queens left able to hold a court. As a result, there are 100 Warlords with no one to balance them. Even worse, these Warlords are the ones victimized by the evil Queens before the storm. They appeal to the shadow realm of Kaeler for a Queen who can come to Dena Nehele, a Queen who knows the Old Ways.

Cassidy is the Queen who goes to Dena Nehele to teach these traumatized people how the Blood should rule.

Cassidy was a delight. Wise, smart, and knowledgeable about the Old Ways, she soon has the people in Dena Nehele supporting her. I loved reading about her and how she taught these people what the Blood should be, living in honour and protecting the Landen.

However, Theran, the man sent to bring her, was an utter jerk. Everytime Cassidy did something wonderful, he thought she was being selfish, stupid, careless or dumb. He was prejudiced, tactless and really idiotic. For example, he sees that she's plain and he dislikes her because she won't impress the other men. He sees she's in danger and doesn't protect her. She protects a Landen child and he thinks she's jeopardizing everything.

There is a lot of Jaenelle, Lucivar, Daemon and Saetan from the Black Jewel Trilogy. We see how they deal with their past trauma in their current situations. As much as I loved these characters, I found it very jarring to continually change to their stories from the story involving Cassidy.

So basically I loved Cassidy's story. Unfortunately, it was regularly interrupted by side stories about Jaenelle and Daemon. Even worse, Theran had too much time in this book. Almost everything Cassidy did was followed up by some stupid bitter viewpoint from Theran.

The story ended too soon. I wanted to see Cassidy reach out to the Shalador Queens and see her get together with Gray. Instead, it ended with Theran realizing he should be a better person and maybe not be so critical of her (well, duh!).

Hm, after writing this review, I just read an interview with the author, who said she'd be writing 2 more Black Jewel books, the second part of Cassidy's story (hurray!) and another book of short stories. Well, I hope there will be less Theran in the next book, or that at least he grows up.

For those who have read the Invisible Ring, this is the story of the Grey Lady's home centuries later, after the tainted Queens are removed and the land has to heal itself.

So only 4 stars from me.