Twilight's Dawn - Book Review

Twilight's Dawn (The Black Jewels #9)
by Anne Bishop

What is it about:
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.

Includes:
Winsol Gifts
Shades of Honor
Family
The High Lord's Daughter

What did I think of it:
It took me some time to gather the courage to pick up this book as so many people seemed to hate the last novella.

And I must confess I wasn't impressed with this book.

To be clear: Bishop's writing is beautiful as ever, no doubt about that. It's the four stories that just didn't capture me as the other Black Jewels books did. Something seemed to be missing.

I liked Shades of Honor best.
This is because my favorite character Lucivar got a lot of screentime, I will confess.

Winsol Gifts and Family were both nice, but didn't really grip me.

And there was the dreaded The High Lord's Daughter...
I didn't like this one for two reasons:
- The narrative was kind of wobbly, with lots of time skips.
- For many books I have invested in the relationship of two characters: Daemon and Jaenelle.
To have one of them torn away and see the other form a relationship with someone else wasn't my cup of tea.
It didn't help that I never liked the new love interest (who's a returning character in the series) anyway.

All in all this book was nice, but I probably won't be rereading it. I'd rather pick up one of the other Black Jewel books.

Why should you read it:
It's a beautifully written return to the much loved characters from the Black Jewel series