Twilight's Dawn, By Anne Bishop

Rating: 3/5
435 pages
2011
Publisher: Roc
Source: Library book

Description: Anne Bishop's "darkly fascinating" (SF Site) Black Jewel novels have enthralled readers and critics alike with their mixture of fantasy, intrigue, and romance. Now in Twilight's Dawn, Bishop returns to the Blood realm with four all-new captivating novellas. (From Goodreads)

Review: While this is a collection of four short works, so hard to rate as a whole, it was rather disappointing.

Two of the stories, Winsol Gifts and Shades of Honor, weren't bad, but I had issues with both. Winsol Gifts just felt like filler to me. Nothing really happens in the story and we don't learn anything new about the characters. Shades of Honor, while a more interesting story, just didn't seem to feel like it meshed well with what had already been established about this world and the events of this story.

The next story, Family, I really enjoyed. Things happened and it moved character story arcs along. Its the only reason I might buy a copy of this book someday, other than to complete the series.

Finally, there's the story The High Lord's Daughter. I hated this story. It starts off okay, covering a topic that anyone who's read the Black Jewels series has probably wondered about, What happens when Jaenelle grows old and dies? Unfortunately, the answer involves manipulation from beyond the grave, that leads to a bouncing baby Mary Sue who the reader is probably not suppose to hate with the strength of a thousand suns, but probably will.

This is, as far as I can tell, the last book in the Black Jewels series, and it goes out with a bang, at least if you give in to temptation and throw the book against the wall.