Ok, maybe not HEART, but I have been completely swept away. I must say, these books are even more engaging than Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar novels, and for me that’s saying something. Seriously.
If you have any ANY interest in fantasy novels I highly recommend Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels series. Definitely not for children, this adult fantasy (and by adult I don’t mean porn). Brutal is the best word I have for her work, in the sense that you simply cannot put them down once you’ve been hooked, and that hook gets you in the first chapter. Dark but not overly gothic, violent but not overly bloody, and sexy but not generally explicit…I bought the Black Jewels trilogy a few years ago in a single book and somehow lost it during one of our moves. I picked them up again at hte library a few weeks ago and have completely given up on TV while the series is in my house (now 6 books: the original trilogy, a stand alone novel set a few centuries earlier, a book of novellas in various time periods, and a follow-up novel). The main characters? Sataen, Lucivar, and Daemon SaDiablo. That’s right peeps, they’re the heroes. It’s awesome. What a pathetic word to use in a review, especially by someone who supposedly has some affinity for writing, but I honestly can’t come up with anything better. Most Excellent, as Roberto would say. Most Excellent.
I will own every one of her novels by this time next year. I guarantee it.
No Pithy Phrase 