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whimsicalmeerkat's review against another edition
5.0
Poignant and bittersweet, this book almost has a gentleness its predecessors could not.
delle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
candelibri's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.0
rvmama's review against another edition
5.0
Another really great book in this series. An interesting prequel to the first four books. I expected to not like it as much, but great characters built around this world made it a really good read.
jgintrovertedreader's review against another edition
3.0
Jared is one of the more powerful members of the Blood, the vaguely aristocratic magic-wielding rulers of the lands he lives in. After a life-alteringly bad choice in his teens, Jared has become a pleasure slave for the Queens and Witches of Hayll. After nine years of bowing to sadistic whims, he does something that has him headed for a short, brutal life in the salt mines unless some fool decides to buy him at the semi-annual slave market.
Enter The Gray Lady. She is one of the few Queens that has refused to bow to the demands of affiliation from Hayll's Queen. The Gray Lady sees that the balance of power has shifted dangerously in Hayll. The Queens who are meant to care for their people and their land are instead abusing both. The males who are meant to protect the female Blood are instead breaking the stronger of them in order to eliminate competition for the leaders. Hayll's Queen wants The Gray Lady assassinated.
The Gray Lady buys Jared and a handful of other cast-off slaves at the slave market. She then makes some puzzling choices. Instead of putting everyone in a coach and riding the Winds home, a trip of hours, she buys a cart and heads over land, a journey of days, if not weeks. On the journey, the group faces many dangers together and starts to feel a confusing loyalty to their new owner. Jared is the most torn of all. As a pleasure slave, he has had more than his fill of women, so why is he attracted to this Lady who is old enough to be his grandmother?
I might be finished with this series. I loved the first one and liked the next two, but now that new characters are taking center stage, I'm starting to feel like everyone is too much alike. Some characters overlap between books, but even the new ones fit a mold. The evil women are insanely manipulative and creatively violent. The evil men are terrified of the evil women and so carry out their most vile schemes. The good guys are gorgeous and exquisitely skilled in bed. They're also overly attentive to their ladies' every mood. The good ladies have no concept of self-preservation, snap and snarl at the least provocation, and are fabulous leaders. So now that I've actually noticed that, I think the charm of the books has worn off.
This story was kind of more of the same. Jared is no Lucivar and certainly no Daemon (although Daemon does make an appearance, these are his pre-Jaenelle days and he is very much the Sadist). He's a bit of an idiot. It took him forever to realize some stuff that's pretty obvious from the beginning. Don't get me wrong, there were some surprises, but I wasn't as consistently surprised as Jared was.
The plot just felt like it was wandering around. They nearly miss an ambush, there's some soul searching and some romantic tension, some traveling, another ambush, another near-miss, some more soul searching... You get the idea.
I did finally get caught up in the story toward the very end, when the final confrontation actually happens. I wasn't sure how things were going to work out. I also have to say that I liked that Jared wasn't perfect. Daemon and Lucivar are damaged in their own ways in the earlier books in the series, but they seem to get over it pretty quickly. Jared has to face his demons and either get over them or live a haunted life.
I don't know what happened to me this time around to bring the faults to my attention. Other fans of the series will probably like this book more than I did.
Enter The Gray Lady. She is one of the few Queens that has refused to bow to the demands of affiliation from Hayll's Queen. The Gray Lady sees that the balance of power has shifted dangerously in Hayll. The Queens who are meant to care for their people and their land are instead abusing both. The males who are meant to protect the female Blood are instead breaking the stronger of them in order to eliminate competition for the leaders. Hayll's Queen wants The Gray Lady assassinated.
The Gray Lady buys Jared and a handful of other cast-off slaves at the slave market. She then makes some puzzling choices. Instead of putting everyone in a coach and riding the Winds home, a trip of hours, she buys a cart and heads over land, a journey of days, if not weeks. On the journey, the group faces many dangers together and starts to feel a confusing loyalty to their new owner. Jared is the most torn of all. As a pleasure slave, he has had more than his fill of women, so why is he attracted to this Lady who is old enough to be his grandmother?
I might be finished with this series. I loved the first one and liked the next two, but now that new characters are taking center stage, I'm starting to feel like everyone is too much alike. Some characters overlap between books, but even the new ones fit a mold. The evil women are insanely manipulative and creatively violent. The evil men are terrified of the evil women and so carry out their most vile schemes. The good guys are gorgeous and exquisitely skilled in bed. They're also overly attentive to their ladies' every mood. The good ladies have no concept of self-preservation, snap and snarl at the least provocation, and are fabulous leaders. So now that I've actually noticed that, I think the charm of the books has worn off.
This story was kind of more of the same. Jared is no Lucivar and certainly no Daemon (although Daemon does make an appearance, these are his pre-Jaenelle days and he is very much the Sadist). He's a bit of an idiot. It took him forever to realize some stuff that's pretty obvious from the beginning. Don't get me wrong, there were some surprises, but I wasn't as consistently surprised as Jared was.
The plot just felt like it was wandering around. They nearly miss an ambush, there's some soul searching and some romantic tension, some traveling, another ambush, another near-miss, some more soul searching... You get the idea.
I did finally get caught up in the story toward the very end, when the final confrontation actually happens. I wasn't sure how things were going to work out. I also have to say that I liked that Jared wasn't perfect. Daemon and Lucivar are damaged in their own ways in the earlier books in the series, but they seem to get over it pretty quickly. Jared has to face his demons and either get over them or live a haunted life.
I don't know what happened to me this time around to bring the faults to my attention. Other fans of the series will probably like this book more than I did.
titannineteen's review against another edition
4.0
This book's storyline is a lot more predictable than the original trilogy. This may be partly because we know the outcome of the ending because it was referred to in the Queen of Darkness. Despite this it was still an enjoyable read.
sjb86's review against another edition
5.0
The Invisible Ring by Anne Bishop
This book is labelled at book four in Black Jewels series but actually is a prequel to the arrival of Jaenelle.
This book is based on a Red Jewelled Prince Jared who at a young age was forced to wear the Ring of Obedience and sold as a pleasure slave. On his journey he meet Daemon in a court and he shows him everything he needs to know about being a pleasure slave.
Jared is put into the slave auction after killing the Queen that owned him but also mistreated him.
No one want a Queen killing pleasure slave so just before the bell ring for end of trading a powerful Grey Jewelled Queen buys him and now he has to figure out how to escape and make it back home in one piece.
I absolutely loved this story that easily could be a standalone but I feel you appreciate it more knowing that Daemon kept fighting well before Jaenelle was born and became Witch.
Great twists in book that keeps you guessing and really love that the ending isn’t as straight forward as you like.
This book is labelled at book four in Black Jewels series but actually is a prequel to the arrival of Jaenelle.
This book is based on a Red Jewelled Prince Jared who at a young age was forced to wear the Ring of Obedience and sold as a pleasure slave. On his journey he meet Daemon in a court and he shows him everything he needs to know about being a pleasure slave.
Jared is put into the slave auction after killing the Queen that owned him but also mistreated him.
No one want a Queen killing pleasure slave so just before the bell ring for end of trading a powerful Grey Jewelled Queen buys him and now he has to figure out how to escape and make it back home in one piece.
I absolutely loved this story that easily could be a standalone but I feel you appreciate it more knowing that Daemon kept fighting well before Jaenelle was born and became Witch.
Great twists in book that keeps you guessing and really love that the ending isn’t as straight forward as you like.
nattyg's review against another edition
4.0
Very good. Different characters to know and love. I enjoyed the look at the lands and the misery/fight other characters had before Janelle arrived. Makes me appreciate her more.
mxsallybend's review against another edition
4.0
It’s been 20 years since I last ventured into the realm of Black Jewels. Two decades during which I aged (reluctantly) and matured (gracefully) into the kind of man who holds a whole new fascination with and appreciation for the world that Anne Bishop has created. Were there not 6 books waiting for me, with a new book – The Queen’s Bargain – coming next March, I would love to go back and revisit that opening trilogy, but if I have any hope of catching up before Spring, I must continue forward.
On the surface, The Invisible Ring is an old-fashioned fantasy that tells the tale of an epic journey, complete with a frustrated romance at its heart, and it does that very well. It is a dangerous journey through dense forests and tiny villages, with the travelers facing dangers at every turn as well as betrayal from within. While the pace is measured, filled more with confrontations than frantic chases, the tension is largely unrelenting, until it finally reaches a climax where everything is on the line.
Beneath that surface . . . well, there’s a lot going on. This mainstream, mass-market epic fantasy novel has more to say about the BDSM power exchange (particularly submission versus slavery), female-led and female-dominant relationships (including how they differ and where they overlap), and the many nuances of sexuality (from virgin trepidation to rutting lust) than most erotica, and I dare say it does so more smartly and with greater significance. There is so more story and emotion wrapped up in Jared/Lia and Blaed/Thera in this single volume than many epic fantasies can handle in a trilogy.
Perhaps the best thing about waiting two decades to descend once again into the jewels is that I was able to enjoy this as a standalone story, without being under the shadow of the original trilogy, and without the weight of expectations attached to being a prequel. The Invisible Ring was the perfect means of reacquainting myself with the world, and the Dreams Made Flesh collection now calls even louder from the shelf.
https://femledfantasy.home.blog/2019/08/29/book-review-the-invisible-ring-by-anne-bishop/
On the surface, The Invisible Ring is an old-fashioned fantasy that tells the tale of an epic journey, complete with a frustrated romance at its heart, and it does that very well. It is a dangerous journey through dense forests and tiny villages, with the travelers facing dangers at every turn as well as betrayal from within. While the pace is measured, filled more with confrontations than frantic chases, the tension is largely unrelenting, until it finally reaches a climax where everything is on the line.
Beneath that surface . . . well, there’s a lot going on. This mainstream, mass-market epic fantasy novel has more to say about the BDSM power exchange (particularly submission versus slavery), female-led and female-dominant relationships (including how they differ and where they overlap), and the many nuances of sexuality (from virgin trepidation to rutting lust) than most erotica, and I dare say it does so more smartly and with greater significance. There is so more story and emotion wrapped up in Jared/Lia and Blaed/Thera in this single volume than many epic fantasies can handle in a trilogy.
Perhaps the best thing about waiting two decades to descend once again into the jewels is that I was able to enjoy this as a standalone story, without being under the shadow of the original trilogy, and without the weight of expectations attached to being a prequel. The Invisible Ring was the perfect means of reacquainting myself with the world, and the Dreams Made Flesh collection now calls even louder from the shelf.
https://femledfantasy.home.blog/2019/08/29/book-review-the-invisible-ring-by-anne-bishop/
xavia's review against another edition
5.0
The thing I love about these off shoot books, is that we get to see more about how other types of people in this world live.
I think we can all agree that the SaDiablo-Yaslana family is the exception, not the rule, and while I love reading about them I never feel like we get an accurate read on how normal people in this world live.
And that is why I adore the Shalador books.
Jared is a Red-Jeweled Warlord, and a Pleasure Slave. Strong in terms of rank, but not in caste, and while he is at the top of the "slave hierarchy" he is also considered untouchable for being a Queen killer. I love his story, because we haven't actually read anything for someone like him before. A slave and a warlord and from the short lived races.
I find Jared fascinating because we get to see the toll nine years of slavery have done to him, and his struggle to shed that skin. His desire to protect Lia warring with his bitterness about how he has been forced to live and the fact that she has a receipt for his life. We get to see how this happened to him, and the aftermath of what that did to his family. We also get to see just HOW FAST Hyall can "soften up" a territory. In only nine years, his home went from peaceful and proud to ruins.
The other character I find super interesting is Kerlis. Oh he's terrible, there is no doubt about that, but at the beginning of the book, he's almost good for a Hyllian. He just wants to be in a position of safety, someday get himself a nice wife, and have some children. But as the story goes on, as he is tormented by Dorothea (and make no mistake that is exactly what's happening) he becomes more and more twisted and tainted as he becomes more desperate.
I just love seeing both of these characters evolve.
Also, just a small note, but no matter how many times I read this book I ALWAYS have a hard time remembering who the traitor is. Because she writes all these characters so well, and hides the trail so well, that even though I know who the traitor is I find myself second guessing myself because surely it's someone else that is sketchier?
Anyway, I just love these books. I always read The Invisible Ring, The Shadow Queen, and Shalador's Lady as a trilogy, even though I don't think that's how they were intended.
I think we can all agree that the SaDiablo-Yaslana family is the exception, not the rule, and while I love reading about them I never feel like we get an accurate read on how normal people in this world live.
And that is why I adore the Shalador books.
Jared is a Red-Jeweled Warlord, and a Pleasure Slave. Strong in terms of rank, but not in caste, and while he is at the top of the "slave hierarchy" he is also considered untouchable for being a Queen killer. I love his story, because we haven't actually read anything for someone like him before. A slave and a warlord and from the short lived races.
I find Jared fascinating because we get to see the toll nine years of slavery have done to him, and his struggle to shed that skin. His desire to protect Lia warring with his bitterness about how he has been forced to live and the fact that she has a receipt for his life. We get to see how this happened to him, and the aftermath of what that did to his family. We also get to see just HOW FAST Hyall can "soften up" a territory. In only nine years, his home went from peaceful and proud to ruins.
The other character I find super interesting is Kerlis. Oh he's terrible, there is no doubt about that, but at the beginning of the book, he's almost good for a Hyllian. He just wants to be in a position of safety, someday get himself a nice wife, and have some children. But as the story goes on, as he is tormented by Dorothea (and make no mistake that is exactly what's happening) he becomes more and more twisted and tainted as he becomes more desperate.
I just love seeing both of these characters evolve.
Also, just a small note, but no matter how many times I read this book I ALWAYS have a hard time remembering who the traitor is. Because she writes all these characters so well, and hides the trail so well, that even though I know who the traitor is I find myself second guessing myself because surely it's someone else that is sketchier?
Anyway, I just love these books. I always read The Invisible Ring, The Shadow Queen, and Shalador's Lady as a trilogy, even though I don't think that's how they were intended.