Anne Bishop is a master at all things fantasy. I love getting lost in her worlds. Her characters are crafted so beautifully. They're unique and relatable and the twists and turns are true magic. I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.

This book is another great read in the Black Jewels Universe in which we see some old favorite characters and meet the next generation of their families. Mystery and conflict abound but are tempered by the bonds of family and the book will grip you from page one until the end!

This book picks up right after The Highlord's Daughter in Twilight's Dawn. Jillian, the adoptive daughter of Lucivar, gets drawn into shady game some of the Blood Aristos are playing. Jaenelle Saetien is struggling to understand where her place is with a powerful namesake and a special jewel. Daemon's power is growing and if he can't contain it, there will be consequences.

I am going to be super honest in this review. There will be spoilers for this series and possibly this book. Overall I was not as unhappy as I thought I would be. I enjoyed most of the book and it was interesting to see most of the characters that I care about, plus a couple really really fantastic surprises.

First Daemonar is lovely and it was great to see how he has grown up and his relationship with his Auntie J. I really liked all the interactions between Lucivar, his children (including Jillian) and Marian. Jillain is a prominent character in this book and she grows up a lot.

I have mixed feelings about Jaenelle Saetien. Receiving Twilight's Dawn seems to have changed her and not exactly for the better. She makes some choices that have consequences but didn't really seem to understand what effects could happen.

I struggled with the events in The Highlord's Daughter. Surreal and Daemon never worked for me. They were good friends, allies in hell that was Terreille and an awesome ruling prince and second. This book is the turning point in their relationship and I was so thrilled when I felt that I was proven right in what Surreal can and cannot handle.

I will wait to see where this goes.

I truly love this series, and was not disappointed with this installment, although it seems to be a bit watered down from the original trilogy. Still, I prefer this series, and would love to see more from it.

I loved Bishop’s Black Jewels books but couldn’t finish this one. It felt like reading fanfic and I couldn’t really get into it. DNF halfway.

Anne Bishop is, as always, a powerhouse fantasy writer. Returning to this world of this series was exciting, though I recommend re-reading the original series first as there was a lot I did not remember clearly enough.

After trying multiple times, I'm officially giving up with this novel.

I love the author's The Other series, actually have read it a couple times already, and will read it more times in the future. But I could not get into this book.

It hurts to admit this, and I see it as a failure on my side, but I'm finally putting it aside as a DNF and moving on. But nothing will stop me from looking forward to her next book.

Review posted on Instagram. As always and. Bishop doesn’t disappoint and it was such a treat to him some of my favorite characters again. https://www.instagram.com/p/CAyCEPcAjfJ/

This was a very good story. Its book 10 in the series and I devoured it! If you are a fan of this series then just jump right in and start reading. If you are new to this series start with book one and get ready for the time of your life!! This is unlike any fantasy that I have ever read and I could not put this one down!!

Excellent and long awaited addition to the Black Jewels series. I was happy to reenter this world and catch up with my favorite characters.

Queen's Bargain brings back familiar characters, but life has moved on. Set about 12 years later, many of the children are now teenagers ,,, and act like it. Even the adults do stupid things. Enjoyable addition to the series, but you do need to read previous books.

Anne Bishop has done it again, she came back to The Black Jewels world and gave us another great tale! I can’t tell you how excited I was to see the new adventures play out and to rejoin this world for a little while.

In The Queen’s Bargain, Bishop continues with her multiple points of view narrations. It gives you a chance to see everyone’s perspective and here is the but; But, I really had a hard time with Surreal. And, maybe, even a little bit of problems with Surreal and Daemon. You know when you get to the point when you want to scream at a book’s character for being dumb, yeah, I got to that point with Daemon but especially Surreal.

That being said, there is so much potential to where this might go next. Bishop leaves you contemplating all the what-ifs to come. That in itself tells you The Queen’s Bargain was a really great read.

If you love a great fantasy read, check out The Black Jewels series. You won't be disappointed!

I received this ARC copy of The Queen's Bargain from Berkley Publishing Group - ACE. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Great author. The only thing was... This book was too dark for me. I finished it, but I felt it was not a storyline for me. I am sorry...

It was nice to return to the world of the Black Jewels. This was not as dark as some of the books in the series. For me it was almost light reading - great for this time. There were problems and there were solutions. In some ways it was left open ended as each character had future choices to make.

I was given a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

The Queen's Bargain
by Anne Bishop
Berkeley Publishing Group
Ace

This book was received from the Author, and Publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

Seasoned veterans and new found readers will enjoy stepping into Anne Bishops dark world with bloody politics, demon-dead queens, along with talking unicorns

The Book happens to be decades after Jaenelle Angelline’s turbulent ascent to power. With cleansing of the Blood, marriage and death to Daemon Sadi, the author adds some notable past characters and creatively introduces to new ones

The characters were engaging and dynamics are worth noting.
I can see why Bishop has a dedicated following of fans to the dark, and sensual world of the Black Jewels series. The characters were engaging and dynamics are worth noting. A dark fantasy novel that was a mesmerizing read.

3 Stars

Anne Bishop's The Queen's Bargain takes readers back into her tempestuous Black Jewels world. Opening around 5 years or so after Twilight Light's Dawn, we see growth from the adults and the children though not in ways that will please everyone. Comfortable dialogue coupled with familiar characters and interesting story lines; most fans will enjoy this journey back into the SaDiablo's lives. I enjoyed seeing the children grow up and exerting their independence-playing a larger role in the own stories, We watch Jillian experience her first romance only to learn that one must love themselves before they can love anyone else while Janelle Sateen finds herself on the outs with friends and family when she abuses her position one to many times. Lessons are learned and feelings hurt but as always, we are left knowing this world has once again triumphed over those who attempted to destroy it.

I did find my temper pricked by Bishop bringing back a beloved character at the expense of another. It felt like a cheap slight of hand- an attempt to placate some of her fandom who cried bloody murder over the events in Twilight's Dawn. Now Bishop is stuck having to play this hand by breaking rules we were told were unbreakable.

Will I read the next one? Probably. It takes a lot for me to quit a series. My only hope is Bishop doesn't box herself in so tight, the only way she has to get out is by destroying it all.

I was excited to revisit the world of the Black Jewels series, but this installment was not for me. The storyline was not very interesting. Surreal, one of my favorite original characters, did not seem like the same Surreal from the trilogy. Regardless, I will continue to pick up new novels or stories set within this world.

Fantasy lovers have a big reason to rejoice! I was very excited and almost surprised when Anne Bishop announced that she would be returning to the world of the Black Jewels and would be writing a new book. However, I was excited to see how this return would pan out.

Much like the other books in the series, there are multiple points of views in this novel. I really love this because it gives the readers something always to look forward to. It never stalls and you’re bound to find your favorite character amongst the cast.

This is one of the series I find that are sometimes out of my limit. There are times when I really enjoy the storyline and the characters but since this is a Fantasy series, there are also a lot of twists and turns and I find that I don’t always like them. However, I am able to get out over and still enjoy the story as a whole. It’s just that sometimes straight-up Fantasy can be a lot to handle sometimes.

Nevertheless, I love the attention to detail and all the different storylines in this book. You can tell that Bishop spent a lot of time working out the small stuff so that it creates a smooth storyline. I hope to read more in the series!

Well that was wild, emotional, heart wrenching and beautiful. I went into this book blind and had not read any books in this series before. I never felt lost not knowing any of these characters before, maybe a bit disconnected at first. The relationships, were hard, sweet, horrendous and sometimes hard to watch. I'd love to read the backstory on Daemon and Surreal's relationship, there has got to be a good story.
There was a lot going on, from before this book and, beginning here. At about halfway I found myself attached to the story's and can't wait for more. I will go read the series from the beginning I really enjoyed this. My friends have been trying to get me to read this series for years, I should have listened.
Thank you to the publishers for a copy of this book for an honest review

Review:
The Queen's Bargain was written for one reason and one reason only: to make me sob uncontrollably for 6 hours straight.

I'm not kidding, I started crying at 4% into the book, and I just didn't stop. I had to set the book down a few times because it felt like my head was going to explode under the pressure of crying without much more water to give for the situation.

Let me explain: The previous book, Twilight's Dawn, broke me. Specifically the final novella. Completely and utterly broke me. For an entire year after I read it, I would randomly pause whatever I was doing and just sit there, trying not to cry my eyes out. So it was almost a foregone conclusion that The Queen's Bargain was going to make me cry, despite having read Twilight's Dawn nearly two entire years ago. I just didn't expect it to go on the whole book. I wasn't even certain I was going to read this because I knew how much it would hurt me.

Boy did The Queen's Bargain not disappoint.

This book opens up maybe about 30 years after the end of Twilight's Dawn. I'm not exactly certain because long lived races. Which means that it's probably closer to 3 years if they were human. So a lot has changed but not a lot has changed at the same time.

If I'm being honest, this would be a throwaway book in the series. If this series didn't have enough of those already. I have had a rocky relationship with The Black Jewels series, with books that add nothing to the story at best, and are holiday specials at worst. However The Queen's Bargain was good and I recommend reading it if you loved the series.

The Queens Bargain was a setup for more. I definitely expect more out of this series in the years to come, and I'm actually looking forward to it. And I knew the possibility of that before reading this and I didn't think positively of continuing the series. I didn't see the point in starting this back up again. Now I do. Now I just want more.

There is a lot of drama in this book, and it doesn't really become clear what the purpose of it all is until quite later on. Daemon and Surreal are going through marital problems, and Daemon is experiencing some personal problems. Their daughter, Jaenelle, knows she is "special" and is acting spoilt and Daemon has to keep her in check. And other forces are working on Daemon so that he isn't good, mentally. In fact, most of the book is everyone trying to juggle keeping Daemon together without him knowing about it, and Daemon trying to deal with the problem on his own.

There is also some more. A teenage love that unearths a problem. The darkness is encroaching again, like the one Witch fought previously. And things have to be taken care of. And potentially more is coming in the future.

This is a bit of a rambling review. The jist is that I loved this a lot more than I thought I was, and I'm looking forward to more. Also I sobbed the entire time, but not really for reasons in the book but because of the implications for before and after.

ARC received from Berkley Publishing Group on Netgalley. This did not affect my review.