Book 2 of The Black Jewels Trilogy: Heir to the Shadows by Anne Bishop, continues the story of Jaenelle, Daemon, Lucivar, Saetan, and Surreal as they struggle against Dorothea, Heketah, and Kartane as they prepare for domination over the Shadow Realm (Kaeleer). The Blood have waited centuries for the coming of Witch, the living embodiment of magic. But Jaenelle Angelline, the young girl singled out by prophecy, is haunted by the cruel battles fought over her--for not all of the Blood await her as their savior. Some dismiss her as a myth. Some refuse to believe. And still others look forward to using her, making her a pawn in their shadowy devices. Only time and the love of her guardians have healed Jaenelle's physical wounds. But her mind is still fragile, barely able to protect her from the terrible memories of her childhood. Nothing, however, can keep her from her destiny--and the day of reckoning looms near. When her memories return...when her magic matures...when she is forced to accept her fate. On that day, the dark Realms will know what is means to be ruled by Witch.
HotS picks up where Daughter of the Blood left off: Saetan becomes Jaenelle's guardian via the Dark Council, though not all are happy about it. The book then divides itself into five acts, each one chronicling a part of Jaenelle's life. Though never once does Anne cross into Jaenelle's POV, she does show us the young heroine's journey through her guardians and friends. Lucivar is summoned before Zuultah and Dorothea; they demand to know where Daemon has gone. He refuses to answer and, cruelly, tell him Daemon is wanted for the murder of Jaenelle Angelline. Lucivar vows to kill his half-brother when and if he next sees him. In the Keep, Saetan tells Heketah's agent, Greer, that Jaenelle walks among the dead children, hiding the fact that she survived. Somewhere in Terreille, Surreal and Daemon land. Daemon leaves her behind to get Lucivar and find away across the barriers of the Realms. Lucivar threatens Daemon, who still hasn't fully healed from his mind being shattered, and believes that he killed Jaenelle. In anger and sorrow, Daemon's mind shatters completely and he flees into the unknown. Back in Hell, Saetan longs and hopes that Jaenelle will come back, even telling her that its safe to come home. Saetan is greeted by Surreal's mother, Titian, who promises to keep "trying" to kill him to further deceive Heketah (Harpies, especially Dea al Mon, children of the woods, never miss). Back at Briarwood, Surreal learns from the ghosts that Jaenelle wove a trap for the men: "Briarwood is the pretty poison. There is no cure for Briarwood." and "To each will come what he gave."
Act II: In Kaeleer, a Glacian witch named Karla and her cousin Morton hope Jaenelle will come back. Karla doesn't feel fully safe living with her uncle since he tried to come on to her. Morton takes a letter to Saetan and the High Lord tells Morton that Jaenelle still lives, but not to tell anyone except Karla and that if her uncle should make another forceful pass, they have his protection in Kaeleer and Hell and can use the SaDiablo Hall should they need to. Daemon descends further into the Twisted Kingdom, the inner mind. Heketah demands that Char bring Jaenelle forth. Char summons Saetan, but before Saetan can do anything, a violent storm rages across Hell and kills Heketah's guards. Saetan recognizes the power as being Jaenelle and falls into the psychic mind and brings her forth and back into her body. Her powers are coming back fast, but her mind shields itself from the last few years; Saetan notes that she's forgotten his son. After a terse conversation with Draca, Saetan refurbishes the Hall in Kaeleer and he and Jaenelle go to live there. Saetan hears whispers of dark deeds being done in the nearby town, Halaway. He finds the source and kills him. Saetan takes Jaenelle to Lucivar's mother for training in Basic Craft and she learns that Jaenelle is Saetan's daughter of the soul and that she can't perform basic magic without looping it through an entire room before summoning something as simple as shoes. Greer, on Heketah's orders, tries to find out why Saetan came back to Kaeleer. A wolf attacks him. Greer escapes and tells Heketah that Jaenelle lives. The wolf reveals himself to be a Prince and able to use magic. Jaenelle promises that these humans are good and before long, they move his den near the Hall so Jaenelle can have friends and protection, even after hunters kill a few and harvest them. Another friend, this time a unicorn, arrives and wants to see Jaenelle while Titian kills Greer. Several invitations are sent out across Kaeleer and all of Jaenelle's friends show up. They stay the summer and Saetan watches them grow up. The Dark Council wants to take Jaenelle away, so she stops time. After several "days" the Dark Council backs off and time resumes, but she has to do social things in Little Terreille.
Act III: Lucivar breaks free and tells Daemon that the death he's been waiting for won't come. Lucivar leaves and tries to kill himself. Prothvar rescues him and for the next several months, Lucivar lives with Jaenelle in her cabin. He finds out that some boys want her for pleasure and she's starving herself to near-death. He also learns, from Jaenelle talking in her sleep, that Daemon saved her. Lucivar tearfully and silently vows to protect her for Daemon's sake, because he feels guilty over what he said to his half-brother. Daemon meets up with Surreal and agrees to stay, since she's the only one he trusts. Geoffrey, the Keep's librarian, informs Lucivar the Saetan formally registered him and Daemon in the Keep they day they were born and that they weren't bastards. Lucivar meets his mother and doesn't get along well with her. Jaenelle takes him to meet his father. Privately, Lucivar tells Saetan that Daemon is in the Twisted Kingdom and that he pushed his half-brother in. Lucivar tells Saetan that it was Greer who raped Jaenelle and Saetan nearly loses his calm. Saetan tries to reach Daemon in the Twisted Kingdome believing he can reach his son. Daemon mind-yells at him and all attempts are withdrawn, leaving Saetan broken-hearted. Jaenelle returns with an orphan Arcerian cat named Kaelas and a Scelt (Sc pronounced Sh) puppy named Ladvarian. Tersa notes that everything is in place and wants to find Daemo. Jaenelle finds out and becomes angry with Saetan for abandoning him all those years ago. Saetan protests that he hadn't known where Daemon was till Lucivar arrived but Jaenelle, despite Lucivar telling her the truth, doesn't hold his half-brother accountable as anything would've set him down that path. Jaenelle, after talking to Lorn, agrees to stay in Kaeleer and use a Shadow to search for Daemon. Her Shadow meets up with Surreal and learns that, a few months ago, Kartane showed up and she and Daemon fled, but when she came off the Webs, he'd vanished. She's been living in secret since Kartane now knows Surreal is his daughter. She promises to help look for Daemon.
Act IV: A few years later, Lucivar feels something wrong with Jaenelle through his Ring of Honor. He rushes to her aid and finds that the man who, using a drug and compulsion spell, she married has been torn to shreds during their consummation. Lucivar notes she's been drugged with safframite, a powerful addictive. He takes her blood-letting in the forests with a few of the kindred. Saetan, in anger, purges Hell of Heketah's minions. Lucivar and Jaenelle feel a fight happening beyond Ebon Rih. They race there and find the small city under attack by the Jhinka. After several days of fighting, Jaenelle saves all but one person and unleashes her anger on the Jhinka, wiping this group out. A few days later, Jaenelle hears from Surreal that she's been able to find Daemon. Jaenelle want to get to him and heal him before they lose him again. Lucivar, concerned for her health, refuses to allow her to do anything until she's recovered. Lucivar offers to go and get him but Jaenelle demands to know why Daemon would trust him. Ladvarian and Kaelas demand to know why she isn't doing as she promised and Saetan informs them that her promise to Daemon was made before her promise to them. She finds Surreal and Daemon and kills his doubts and shows him the path back. Because her body is weak, she marks the trail and leaves him. Daemon ascends slowly. Kartane is on the war path, but Jaenelle fogs the area while Surreal gets Daemon to safety.
Act V: Heketah convinces Jorval, a councilor, to grant land to Queens from Little Terreille that belong to the kindred. These people begin slaughtering the unicorns of their land. Meanwhile, Jaenelle, having turned 18, is presented with her own house. The following day, she flees for the unicorn's territory while everyone else struggles to chase after her. The unicorns greet them all with hostility. Lucivar learns from a dying man that they were given permission to settle here and that the "beasts" should clear off. After several hours, Saetan finds Jaenelle while Lucivar finds Moonshadow, the Queen of the unicorns. Jaenelle sings the dead kindred to the Darkness and demands that the Dark Council recognize the kindred as Blood. They refuse and Jaenelle makes the Offering to the Darkness and comes out with one Ebony jewel (make from five of her 13 Black jewels). She calls all her friends together, each of whom is either a Queen and ruling over a territory or a warlord prince married or serving them, and asks them if they will serve her. Saetan notes that that can't happen but all of the Queens and Warlord Princes who watch over a territory yield their lands (Glacia, Dea al Mon, Scelt, Nharkhava, Dharo, Tigrelan, Centauran, Sceval, Arceria, The Fyreborn Islands, Dhemlan, Askavi, and Arachna) to Jaenelle, to Ebon Askavi: the Black Mountain and Keep. She goes back to the Dark Council and presents her ultimatum as well as a map with her recently established lands marked on it. Everything BUT Little Terreille belongs to Jaenelle. The novel ends with Daemon stepping out of the Twisted Kingdom.
All in all, a decent, lengthy novel that vividly captures the imagination and wonder of a pure fantasy realm. Props to Anne Bishop.
HotS picks up where Daughter of the Blood left off: Saetan becomes Jaenelle's guardian via the Dark Council, though not all are happy about it. The book then divides itself into five acts, each one chronicling a part of Jaenelle's life. Though never once does Anne cross into Jaenelle's POV, she does show us the young heroine's journey through her guardians and friends. Lucivar is summoned before Zuultah and Dorothea; they demand to know where Daemon has gone. He refuses to answer and, cruelly, tell him Daemon is wanted for the murder of Jaenelle Angelline. Lucivar vows to kill his half-brother when and if he next sees him. In the Keep, Saetan tells Heketah's agent, Greer, that Jaenelle walks among the dead children, hiding the fact that she survived. Somewhere in Terreille, Surreal and Daemon land. Daemon leaves her behind to get Lucivar and find away across the barriers of the Realms. Lucivar threatens Daemon, who still hasn't fully healed from his mind being shattered, and believes that he killed Jaenelle. In anger and sorrow, Daemon's mind shatters completely and he flees into the unknown. Back in Hell, Saetan longs and hopes that Jaenelle will come back, even telling her that its safe to come home. Saetan is greeted by Surreal's mother, Titian, who promises to keep "trying" to kill him to further deceive Heketah (Harpies, especially Dea al Mon, children of the woods, never miss). Back at Briarwood, Surreal learns from the ghosts that Jaenelle wove a trap for the men: "Briarwood is the pretty poison. There is no cure for Briarwood." and "To each will come what he gave."
Act II: In Kaeleer, a Glacian witch named Karla and her cousin Morton hope Jaenelle will come back. Karla doesn't feel fully safe living with her uncle since he tried to come on to her. Morton takes a letter to Saetan and the High Lord tells Morton that Jaenelle still lives, but not to tell anyone except Karla and that if her uncle should make another forceful pass, they have his protection in Kaeleer and Hell and can use the SaDiablo Hall should they need to. Daemon descends further into the Twisted Kingdom, the inner mind. Heketah demands that Char bring Jaenelle forth. Char summons Saetan, but before Saetan can do anything, a violent storm rages across Hell and kills Heketah's guards. Saetan recognizes the power as being Jaenelle and falls into the psychic mind and brings her forth and back into her body. Her powers are coming back fast, but her mind shields itself from the last few years; Saetan notes that she's forgotten his son. After a terse conversation with Draca, Saetan refurbishes the Hall in Kaeleer and he and Jaenelle go to live there. Saetan hears whispers of dark deeds being done in the nearby town, Halaway. He finds the source and kills him. Saetan takes Jaenelle to Lucivar's mother for training in Basic Craft and she learns that Jaenelle is Saetan's daughter of the soul and that she can't perform basic magic without looping it through an entire room before summoning something as simple as shoes. Greer, on Heketah's orders, tries to find out why Saetan came back to Kaeleer. A wolf attacks him. Greer escapes and tells Heketah that Jaenelle lives. The wolf reveals himself to be a Prince and able to use magic. Jaenelle promises that these humans are good and before long, they move his den near the Hall so Jaenelle can have friends and protection, even after hunters kill a few and harvest them. Another friend, this time a unicorn, arrives and wants to see Jaenelle while Titian kills Greer. Several invitations are sent out across Kaeleer and all of Jaenelle's friends show up. They stay the summer and Saetan watches them grow up. The Dark Council wants to take Jaenelle away, so she stops time. After several "days" the Dark Council backs off and time resumes, but she has to do social things in Little Terreille.
Act III: Lucivar breaks free and tells Daemon that the death he's been waiting for won't come. Lucivar leaves and tries to kill himself. Prothvar rescues him and for the next several months, Lucivar lives with Jaenelle in her cabin. He finds out that some boys want her for pleasure and she's starving herself to near-death. He also learns, from Jaenelle talking in her sleep, that Daemon saved her. Lucivar tearfully and silently vows to protect her for Daemon's sake, because he feels guilty over what he said to his half-brother. Daemon meets up with Surreal and agrees to stay, since she's the only one he trusts. Geoffrey, the Keep's librarian, informs Lucivar the Saetan formally registered him and Daemon in the Keep they day they were born and that they weren't bastards. Lucivar meets his mother and doesn't get along well with her. Jaenelle takes him to meet his father. Privately, Lucivar tells Saetan that Daemon is in the Twisted Kingdom and that he pushed his half-brother in. Lucivar tells Saetan that it was Greer who raped Jaenelle and Saetan nearly loses his calm. Saetan tries to reach Daemon in the Twisted Kingdome believing he can reach his son. Daemon mind-yells at him and all attempts are withdrawn, leaving Saetan broken-hearted. Jaenelle returns with an orphan Arcerian cat named Kaelas and a Scelt (Sc pronounced Sh) puppy named Ladvarian. Tersa notes that everything is in place and wants to find Daemo. Jaenelle finds out and becomes angry with Saetan for abandoning him all those years ago. Saetan protests that he hadn't known where Daemon was till Lucivar arrived but Jaenelle, despite Lucivar telling her the truth, doesn't hold his half-brother accountable as anything would've set him down that path. Jaenelle, after talking to Lorn, agrees to stay in Kaeleer and use a Shadow to search for Daemon. Her Shadow meets up with Surreal and learns that, a few months ago, Kartane showed up and she and Daemon fled, but when she came off the Webs, he'd vanished. She's been living in secret since Kartane now knows Surreal is his daughter. She promises to help look for Daemon.
Act IV: A few years later, Lucivar feels something wrong with Jaenelle through his Ring of Honor. He rushes to her aid and finds that the man who, using a drug and compulsion spell, she married has been torn to shreds during their consummation. Lucivar notes she's been drugged with safframite, a powerful addictive. He takes her blood-letting in the forests with a few of the kindred. Saetan, in anger, purges Hell of Heketah's minions. Lucivar and Jaenelle feel a fight happening beyond Ebon Rih. They race there and find the small city under attack by the Jhinka. After several days of fighting, Jaenelle saves all but one person and unleashes her anger on the Jhinka, wiping this group out. A few days later, Jaenelle hears from Surreal that she's been able to find Daemon. Jaenelle want to get to him and heal him before they lose him again. Lucivar, concerned for her health, refuses to allow her to do anything until she's recovered. Lucivar offers to go and get him but Jaenelle demands to know why Daemon would trust him. Ladvarian and Kaelas demand to know why she isn't doing as she promised and Saetan informs them that her promise to Daemon was made before her promise to them. She finds Surreal and Daemon and kills his doubts and shows him the path back. Because her body is weak, she marks the trail and leaves him. Daemon ascends slowly. Kartane is on the war path, but Jaenelle fogs the area while Surreal gets Daemon to safety.
Act V: Heketah convinces Jorval, a councilor, to grant land to Queens from Little Terreille that belong to the kindred. These people begin slaughtering the unicorns of their land. Meanwhile, Jaenelle, having turned 18, is presented with her own house. The following day, she flees for the unicorn's territory while everyone else struggles to chase after her. The unicorns greet them all with hostility. Lucivar learns from a dying man that they were given permission to settle here and that the "beasts" should clear off. After several hours, Saetan finds Jaenelle while Lucivar finds Moonshadow, the Queen of the unicorns. Jaenelle sings the dead kindred to the Darkness and demands that the Dark Council recognize the kindred as Blood. They refuse and Jaenelle makes the Offering to the Darkness and comes out with one Ebony jewel (make from five of her 13 Black jewels). She calls all her friends together, each of whom is either a Queen and ruling over a territory or a warlord prince married or serving them, and asks them if they will serve her. Saetan notes that that can't happen but all of the Queens and Warlord Princes who watch over a territory yield their lands (Glacia, Dea al Mon, Scelt, Nharkhava, Dharo, Tigrelan, Centauran, Sceval, Arceria, The Fyreborn Islands, Dhemlan, Askavi, and Arachna) to Jaenelle, to Ebon Askavi: the Black Mountain and Keep. She goes back to the Dark Council and presents her ultimatum as well as a map with her recently established lands marked on it. Everything BUT Little Terreille belongs to Jaenelle. The novel ends with Daemon stepping out of the Twisted Kingdom.
All in all, a decent, lengthy novel that vividly captures the imagination and wonder of a pure fantasy realm. Props to Anne Bishop.
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