The eleventh book in the Black Jewels series concentrates mainly on the younger generation - Daemonar, Titian, and Jaenelle Saetien - in a story which shows that the evil their parents battled wasn't completely destroyed. It will be necessary to battle it again or all will be lost.

Jaenelle Saetien has had a charmed childhood free from the turmoil and dangers her parents faced which makes her vulnerable when evil in the person of someone she admires and wants to be accepted by tries to slither in.

Daemonar is also facing another face of the evil in a young woman who is a queen but does not understand that along with the privileges come responsibilities. When she hurts Titian's feelings, Daemonar rushed in to protect his sister and makes an enemy for himself. It does serve to let his elders know that evil has been stamped out.

I enjoyed this story which had a lot to do with the vigilance needed to keep evil away and the costs that had to be paid for careless mistakes. It was filled with many favorite characters from the series and added some new and interesting characters too. ( )

Loved the world, loved the writing, but I absolutely hated what Daemon and Surreal's relationship had turned into and was upset that their parenting was unable to prevent Jaenelle Saetan from crashing and burning from bad influences.

Ignoring the plot decisions that I really disliked, I think the book would have been better if it had been developed into a full multi-book series instead of one giant fat book. The Orian/Dorian mini-plot cut off pretty abruptly, and I would have enjoyed reading more about the kindred and their roles in properly teaching the next generation. ( )

I usually read this authors books the week the come out and this one has taken me 12 months to get through. Not the best that this series has to offer.

The continual repetition of what happened in earlier books and the need to reexplain the world building was annoying. At this point in the story most readers would be aware of the backstory. I also question parts in the middle of the book where it mentions that Luciver hadn't been back to Terreille since the events that occurred in the Queen of Darkness books since he makes multiple trips in the Shadow Queen and Shalador''s Lady. I found this to be a really bad oversight that actually made me question if the author had actually written the entirety of this book or if part of it was written by a ghostwriter. Lets hope the next one is better. ( )

I confess: as much as I enjoyed this installment in the Black Jewels series, I have a lot of disappointment too. I loved Twilight's Dawn unlike many other fans. When I heard about The Queen's Bargain and then this book, I was super excited to read about Daemon and Surreal's life together. To me, they made sense owing to their long history together. Last book, I was concerned about how out-of-character both Daemon and Surreal were, but I shrugged it off and chose to enjoy the ride regardless. I pinned my hopes on this book that things between them would be resolved.

I guess, in a way, they were- just not in a manner I anticipated. Some fans will undoubtedly be pleased, but I feel let-down. I have some other gripes that I have to reconcile with too, but I don't want to get more spoilery.

Will I reread this book? Yeah, eventually (especially since I bought a copy.) It was still enjoyable: I love spending time in this universe with (most of) these characters.

Will it be one of my favorites when I do a Black Jewels re-read? Probably not. Like I said, I really enjoyed Twilight's Dawn. If Anne Bishop chooses to continue this series, and I hope she does, I would be content if she chooses to write some more short story anthologies instead. If this is how it ends though? So be it... It's been a great run up to this point, and I hate to see more recycled storylines. ( )

This book gave more meat to the plot line surrounding Daemon and Surreal's marriage and gave more empathy to Surreal's state of mind. I found the absolutism of the Blood's protocol with regard to Jaenelle Saetian's behavior and ignorance troubling, especially because if how sheltered from her parents' past she was. I'm still unsure how ok I am with how this plot line shook out. ( )