Daughter of the Blood
Ratings53
Average rating3.8
I was so disappointed by this book, and it truly made me sad because I was hoping for another kink-friendly fantasy series to bring into my life. While the writing was decent, I found the character development to be astoundingly mediocre, and while the general concept of the fantasy universe was interesting, it was poorly done IMO. Actually, it kind of felt like a bunch of fanfic tropes thrown into a blender, but instead of resulting in a delicious smoothie, it came out as tasteless syrup with lumps of interesting magic and occasional innovative ideas. But I did read all of it, so I guess I can't complain too much. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I can.
I'll start this review by saying I was mistakenly under the impression that this was a romance novel. It is not. In fact, it's quite dark and unapologetically fantasy. Once I got over the fact this wasn't the fantasy romance I expected, I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would.
This is a book that desperately needed a map. And maybe some family trees complete with who is alive, dead, and demon dead (because of course these people become quasi-vampires). I eventually made peace with the fact I would have to be vaguely confused by this story if I was going to enjoy it.
I found the first half quite slow as a veritable horde of different characters and povs were introduced. It starts getting good when Daemon is sent to Chaillot and he finally meets Jaenelle. Since we do not get Jaenelle's pov at all during this book, we get to learn more about what she's like through Daemon's interactions with her.
I really don't quite understand how most of the magic mechanics in this world work. Whatever Daemon does at the end to get Jaenelle back is definitely lost on me. However, I do understand that Daemon and Jaenelle are separated and I'm eager to experience that delicious angst in the next book.
In general, I'm interested in seeing how Jaenelle comes into her power and how she creates her court in the future books. It would also be interesting to see how all of the trauma these characters experience will affect them.
I was content with the book, but I would not read it again.
My opinion of this book depends solely upon my life experience and frame of mind while reading it.
Other reviews here quite thoroughly cover the failings of the story, the prose, the characters.
Most tragic of all the failings are the repetitive and poorly executed ideas.
What held my attention were the snippets of my own life's truths scattered through the book.
To borrow from the Vorkosigan saga regarding total surrender: “When you give each other everything, it becomes an even trade. Each wins all.”
The subject matter of this book was appalling, the magic system confusing and the plot skippy at best. Having read Bishop's Others series I thought I would enjoy this one, I hated it.
I love these books. Those words are inadequate. They are dark fantasy, a bit TOO dark for my usual taste but so rich and the world is so well developed. I just love them.
Yup, I'm done. That was squicky. I could have gone without any of that.
I was right when I reviewed at the half way point. The oversexualization didn't improve. The disturbing relationship between the main guy and the 12 year old girl didn't improve. The violence against children got worse and the Mary Sue ness of the young girl was sustained. Will not continue the series.
I cried. Poor Jeanelle.
I just have to say that this book was the most wonderful book I've ever read. Anne Bishop deserves the love of her fans. Seriously, she has the skills to make someone like me to read the book in two days...
I fell in love with Deamon and I loved the way Anne developed his character to something “good” but at the same time angry about the fact that someone could hurt Jeanelle.
I really recommend this trilogy. I hope the next books to be excited as this first.
Giving up on this one. World is confusing. Characters are lifeless. I can't bring myself to pick it up again.
It starts out slow. I didn't really become invested in the story until about 100 pages into the book. You're given a lot of characters in the beginning which is hard to keep track of and their past stories which seems heavy at first but all characters mentioned in the book has a purpose. Be warned this twisted, violent world has many physical, psychological torture with abusive, and forced sexuality that every person in this world has undergone. Other than that this is a very well written and thought out book. If you like dark fantasy then you will most likely like this.