The Black Jewels is a series of fantasy novels by Anne Bishop

Anne Bishop

Anne Bishop is an American fantasy writer. Her most noted work is The Black Jewels trilogy. She lives in upstate New York. She won the Crawford Award in 2000 for the first three novels in her The Black Jewels series: Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, and Queen of the Darkness.-The Black...

. Originally conceived as a trilogy and published in that form, until the prequel The Invisible Ring was published in 2000.

Series

In publication order the titles are:

• Daughter of the Blood, March 1998
• Heir to the Shadows, April 1999
• Queen of the Darkness, January 2000
• The Invisible Ring, October 2000 (Prequel)
• Dreams Made Flesh, January 2005
• Tangled Webs, March 2008
• The Shadow Queen, March 2009.
• Shalador's Lady, March 2010.
• Twilight's Dawn, March 2011.

Plot overview

The Invisible Ring:
A powerful warlord named Jared, who has been a pleasure slave for nine years, goes up for sale at a slave auction. He expects to end up working in the salt mines, but instead is purchased by a mysterious, powerful and feared witch, the Gray Lady.

Dorothea SaDiablo, High Priestess of Hayll, is a member of a long-lived race who is working to rule or control the entirety of the world of Terreille. The Gray Lady has been fighting her and so Dorothea decides to have her assassinated as she travels to her home territory from the slave auction.

The Gray Lady receives a mysterious warning about the attempt to kill her so she buys a wagon and horses and sets off cross-country with her new slaves, hoping to elude her killers. During the trip, Jared discovers that they are traveling not with the Grey Lady but rather her granddaughter, Lady Arabella Ardelia. He also discovers that he is in love with her.

The chase leads them to Jared's boyhood home where he discovers that Dorothea's forces have already killed all of the witches in the area and most of his family, including his parents. With the help of the few who remain, they defeat Dorothea's army and escape into the Gray Lady's territory. Jared is encouraged by Daemon Sadi to follow his heart and to help Lady Ardelia in her fight against Dorothea to preserve as much as possible that is good for the eventual coming of a prophesied Witch will have the power defeat Dorothea.

Daughter of the Blood:
Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch saw an ancient prophecy come to life in her web of dreams and visions. Now the Dark Realm readies itself for the arrival of its Queen, a Witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself. But she is still young, still open to influence - and corruption.

Whoever controls the Queen controls the darkness. Three men—sworn enemies—know this. And they know the power that hides behind the blue eyes of an innocent young girl. And so begins a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, magic and betrayal, where the weapons are hate and love—and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining...

Jaenelle, is destined to rule the Blood, if she can reach adulthood. Saetan, High Lord of Hell and most powerful of the Blood males, becomes Jaenelle's surrogate father and teacher. He cannot protect her outside Hell, where he rules. She refuses to leave Terreille, risking herself to protect or heal other victims of violence. Can Daemon, Saetan's estranged son, keep her safe from the machinations of the evil High Priestess?

Heir to the Shadows:
Jaenelle's adoptive father, Saetan, and her foster-family of demons shelter her. To restore her memory and emotional balance, they move to Kaeleer, where Jaenelle gathers a circle of young Queens. She also heals Lucivar, Daemon's half-brother, who offers a brother's love and a warrior's fealty. As she recovers strength and memory, Jaenelle resolves to restore Daemon and cleanse Terreille. She claims her place as Queen of Ebon Askavi and secures Kaeleer from the growing threat of Tereille and the corruption that exists there.
Queen of the Darkness:
Jaenelle Angelline now reigns as Queen-protector of the Shadow Realm. No longer will the corrupt Blood slaughter her people and defile her lands. But where one chapter ends, a final, unseen battle remains to be written, and Jaenelle must unleash the terrible power that is Witch to destroy her enemies once and for all.

Even so, she cannot stand alone. Somewhere, long lost in madness, is Daemon, her promised Consort. Only his unyielding love can complete her Court and secure her reign. Yet, even together, their strength may not be enough to hold back the most malevolent of forces.
Dreams Made Flesh:
Dreams Made Flesh consists of 4 stories.

The first tells the story of how the Arachnids became the first race to possess Craft after the Dragons.
The second story tells of how Lucivar Yaslana meets, courts, and marries his wife. It takes place after the events in Heir to the Shadows and before Queen of the Darkness.
The third story tells some of the backstory of Saetan Daemon SaDiablo, and how his then-wife Hekatah tried to manipulate him, including sacrificing his unborn son. It concludes with the terrible retribution he exacted.
The fourth story tells of Daemon Sadi and Jaenelle and how they began to rebuild their lives after the conclusion of Queen of the Darkness.

Protagonists

• Jaenelle Angelline is the main character, (though the story is never told from her point of view) the young witch destined to become Queen of the Darkness, aka "Witch". (Witch is Dreams made flesh—the incarnation of dreams heard and then woven into tangled webs by the Weaver of Dreams, or the Queen Weaver, a small spider found on Arachnia) She has 12 uncut Jewels, plus one of every color, for her Birthright, along with the 13 uncut Black Jewels. After her offering, that she offered only 6 of her black jewels, she came away with the Ebony Jewels. She lost most of her power after the war, but was granted another new Jewel: Twilight's Dawn. With Twilight's Dawn, she is able to do the simple craft that she was not able to do before like call in her own shoes.
• Daemon Sadi (SaDiablo) is the son of Saetan and the broken Black Widow, Tersa, and fiercely loves Jaenelle/Witch To whom he proclaims being destined to be Witch's lover. He, like his father and brother, is a Warlord Prince with Birthright Red Jewels. He later descended to Black Jewels after his offering to the Darkness. He is also known as "the Sadist" for enjoyment and use of pain in the bedroom during his years as a pleasure slave in the courts of queens tainted by Dorothea and Dorothea herself. He is the strongest male in the history of the Blood.
• Saetan Daemon SaDiablo is the High Lord of Hell, High Priest of the Hourglass, and Warlord Prince of Dhemlan. He is Jaenelle's spiritual and adopted father. He received an uncut Birthright Red Jewel, and received an uncut Black Jewel after his Offering to the Darkness. He is the second strongest Male in all the realms, after his son, Daemon.
• Lucivar Yaslana (SaDiablo) is the son of Saetan and the Eyrien Luthvian. Lucivar, a half-Eyrien, has batlike wings, and has a strong brotherly love for Jaenelle. His Jewels are the birthright Red, then later descended to Ebon Gray. Like his brother, Daemon, he was enslaved as an adolescent and forced to serve in the courts of Dorothea and her followers. His explosive temper sent him to the salt mines of Pruul. He is the third strongest male in the Realms, after Sadi and Saetan.
• Surreal SaDiablo is a prostitute and assassin
  Assassination
  To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
  
  . Her Jewels are birthright Green, and later descended to Gray. She is the daughter of Titian, the result of her mother's rape by Kartane SaDiablo, making Surreal a Hayllian and Dea al Mon half-breed.

Kindred

The Kindred are animals who have been granted their own Jewels and are fully Blood. Jaenelle reestablishes the connection between Kindred and human Blood, which was broken in the war between Terreille and Kaeleer started by Hekatah.

Most humans discount Kindred's power and intelligence as myth, and need personal experience with one to accept them.

Antagonists

• Dorothea SaDiablo is the incestuous High Priestess of Hayll. She is a member of the Hourglass Black Widow coven. Birthright jewel Blood Opal/later descended to Red.
• Kartane SaDiablo is the son of Dorothea SaDiablo. He was also once a close friend of Daemon Sadi. He is also Surreal's father, having raped Titian. He was also one of Briarwood's "uncles." Birthright Blood Opal/descended to Red.
• Hekatah is the demon dead, self-proclaimed High Priestess of Hell, and the former wife of Saetan SaDiablo. She instigated the wars between Kaeleer and Terreille. Birthright jewel Blood Opal/descended to Red. Hayllian born, and died in the great war between Terreille and Kaeleer. She is also the mother of Mephis, Peyton and another son which she killed in order to manipulate Saetan SaDiablo. Hekatah also gave birth to Andulvar Yaslana's child, Ravenar. She is behind many of Dorothea's plots in an ultimate attempt to make herself ruler of all the Realms.
• Robert Benedict claims to be the father of Jaenelle Angeline. He runs the hospital known as Briarwood, where Blood males subject underage Blood females to perverse tortures, including rape. He is also an influential member of the male council in Chaillot, the goals of which undermine the power of the matriarchal system and thus his mother-in-law, the Queen of Chaillot. Birthright unknown descended to Yellow.
• Jarvis Jenkell is a newly discovered Blood male who attempts, in the novel Tangled Webs, to disclose his nature through his writing. When his semi-autobiographical "Landry Langston" novels are mocked by the Blood, he and three Black Widows create a haunted house intended to punish and ultimately kill members of the SaDiablo family and Blood who made a mockery of his book.

First Circle

• Daemon Sadi (Consort)Red Birthright Jewel/Black descended Jewel
• Lucivar Yaslana (First Escort)Red Birthright Jewel/Ebon-Gray descended Jewel
• Saetan SaDiablo (Steward)Red Birthright Jewel/Black descended Jewel
• Andulvar Yaslana (Master of the Guard)Red Birthright Jewel/Ebon-Gray descended Jewel
• Chaosti- Green Birthright Jewel/Gray descended Jewel
• KINDRED:Kaelas - Opal Birthright Jewel/Red descended Jewel
• Mephis- Red Birthright Jewel/Gray descended Jewel
• Prothvar Yaslana- Opal Birthright Jewel/Red descended Jewel
• Aaron-Green Birthright Jewel/Red descended Jewel
• Khardeen-Purple Dusk Birthright Jewel/Sapphire descended Jewel
• Sceron-Blood Opal Birthright Jewel/Red descended Jewel
• Jonah-Summer Sky Birthright Jewel/Green descended Jewel
• Morton-Rose Birhtright Jewel/Opal descended Jewel
• Elan-Blood Opal Birthright Jewel/Red descended Jewel
• KINDRED:Ladvarian-Blood Opal Birthright Jewel/Red descended Jewel
• KINDRED:Mistral-Rose Birthright Jewel/Blood Opal descended Jewel
• KINDRED:Smoke-Tigers Eye Birthright Jewel/Purple Dusk descended Jewel
• KINDRED:Sundancer-
• Karla-Sapphire Birthright Jewel/Gray descended Jewel
• KINDRED:Moonshadow-Rose Birthright Jewel/Blood Opal descended Jewel
• Gabrielle- Opal Birthright Jewel/Red descended Jewel
• Morghann-Purple Dusk Birthright Jewel/Green descended Jewel
• Kalush-
• Grezande-
• Sabrina- Green descended Jewel
• Zylona-
• Katrine-
• Astar-

Second Circle

• Rainier-Rose Birthright Jewel/Opal Descended Jewel
• Jared Blaed Grayhaven-Purple Dusk Birthright/slightly darker Purple Dusk Descended Jewel
• Ranon-Rose Birthright Jewel/Opal Descended Jewel

Ranon and Jared Blaed Grayhaven had the potential for second circle, but were not in the second circle or same realm.

External links

• Official Anne Bishop Website