Dreams Made Flesh (edition 2005)

This books is comprised by four short stories. Two of which happen before the trilogy, one in the middle of it, and the last one after it.
I agree with some of the previous reviewers- it wasn't "as good" as the original trilogy, but it was just as good in another sense. It's a slightly less dark and more romantic book, more fill-in between the blanks on things the main trilogy left hanging in the air, and I loved the more lighthearted tone of a couple of the stories, even if they all had dark moments.

It's still understandable having skipped reading Book 4, but I'm not so sure you would care much for it if you haven't read the trilogy first.

I must say I've fallen in love with most characters on the trilogy, so I've been looking forward to all reads related to that. I will be definitely doing my best to find books 4 and 7. :) ( )

Dreams Made Flesh is a collection of four short stories/novellas centered around Jaenelle and her court. One of the events takes place immediately after the third in the Black Jewels series, so anyone reading this should keep that in mind. It definitely has spoilers for the previous books.

My favorite story by far, was "The Prince of Ebon Rih." How I grinned as I read it! I've always liked Lucivar, but he really is cast as the older brother in the series. There is definitely more to him than that, so it was great to see him as a powerful ruler in his own right and a sexy-as-hell man. Watching him deal with that bitch Roxie was a pleasure. Seeing his insecurity in dealing with Marian was delightful. He didn't know what hit him. Absolutely loved it.

My sister, who shoved this book into my hands saying only, "Read. This. Now." loves "Zuulaman." This is an event from Saetan's younger years that made him a legend. I liked it, but somehow couldn't help comparing it to Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana. You probably have to be inside my head to see how that happened. I loved Tigana and this story suffered for the comparison. And probably from my sister's buildup. Still, it was a very cool showcase of Saetan's raw power.

"Kaeleer's Heart" would have been good, but it was a little too much like "The Prince of Ebon Rih." It was nice to see Daemon and Jaenelle together, but I felt like I had pretty much read the story already, just a few pages earlier. It is sexy to see the lengths that Daemon is willing to go to in order to protect Jaenelle though.

"Weaver of Dreams" was just a confusing little legend and that's all I have to say about that.

If you enjoy the Black Jewels books, read this one. It was mostly a very cool addition. ( )

I've got the feeling I shouldn't like this book so much. It's just a collection of stories in the Black Jewels universe, and they are not that original. They seem to be aimed at showing of some familiar characters, but what characters! I just love Jaenelle, Daemon, Lucivar, and Saetan. It's quite satisfactory to get some more background on Saetan, and to learn what happens after the conclusion of book 3. ( )

It feels like these short stories were, at one point, intended to be components of the main trilogy storyline but, because they are self-contained and somewhat independent of the novels' stories, they could easily be pulled out and put into their own book, rather than cluttering up a very nice 3-book storyline.

My only complaint is that when you read the 3rd book of the series, it would have made more sense to have read the 2nd story in this book first. But, of course, you can't read the 3rd story in this book before reading the 3rd book in the trilogy first.... but, other than story number 2, the other 3 flow nicely together...oh, the wild webs Bishop wove!

It's background info anyway, which is interesting enough, if not as timely as I would have preferred, but then, I'm a big believer in reading stories in the order in which they occur, not the order in which they were written.

If you care about any of the main characters, you should probably read this book too, especially if you want to find out what happened to Jaenelle after the end of the trilogy. ( )

Short stories! Which tricked me into thinking I could skip this installment and move straight on to the 6th in the series. A definite mistake.

The first few stories explain where the Weavers originated, and tell the story of lost Zuulaman and a father's rage. The next two introduce Marian and unite Sadi and Janelle. This is definitely not to be missed if you're interested in getting the whole Blood Jewels picture. ( )