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callmeren 's review for:

The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop
4.0

I bought this book thinking it was a huge epic fantasy series I could munch through happily for a week. Boy, was I in for a surprise when I found the dark and mature subjects present in it. The magic system was as fascinating as I expected it to be, and the world just as interesting. Unfortunately, Jaenelle reaches Mary Sue status without any difficulty, which means this series gets a 4/5. For those who don't understand the MS criteria, it's this: 1) overpowered without any personal effort [ex. overpowered because she's The Chosen One or because of rituals and not because of long term training] 2) male protagonists love her without much development or reason [ex. I'm pretty sure one of them fell in love with her through a single dream] 3) no noticeable character development on her part.

Still, I enjoyed reading the book, even with its flaws.