Dreams Made Flesh by A. Bishop

After reading Anne Bishops Black Jewels trilogy, and loving it, I went looking for more. The next novel in the series is Dreams Made Flesh and it’s actually made up of four different stories. This novel could stand on its own, but it does make references to the first two novels, Daughter of the Blood and Heir to the Shadows, but you can read the three novels before this one.

The first story is called Weaver of Dreams and gives us the background story on a new jewel that will make its appearance in Queen of the Darkness. The story itself doesn’t give anything away that’s in the third novel, and it’s relatively small, but I didn’t find it that impressive. I actually skimmed through most of it. It was okay, but not necessarily in my mind.

The second story is The Prince of Ebon Rih and it tells the story of Lucivar and Marian. At this point, I’m going to assume you have at least read the first two novels, so if you haven’t this might be a little spoilish. We’re introduced to Marian, who is a simple hearth witch who only wears the Purple Dusk jewel. Her family doesn’t believe her skills are important and they pretty much make her their own personal servant without having to pay her. When her father sends her on an errand, she doesn’t realize that it’s going to alter her life significantly. At this time, Lucivar has only been in Kaeleer for about three years and he’s still trying to adjust to his new life. He’s moved into his new eyrie and he’s come to the realization that he needs help.

I actually really enjoyed this story. When I read Queen of the Darkness, and Lucivar showed up married, I felt like I had missed something. Especially considering his mother does not approve of Marian. Not only that, but we get to see how Lucivar really settled into his new role as Warlord Prince of Ebon Rih. Even though we saw a lot of him in Heir to the Shadows, this story revolved completely around him and we were able to learn so much more about him. The story telling was still magnificent and it kept me completely enthralled. I was actually glad to get stuck in construction today since I had it sitting on the seat next to me.

The third story is Zuulaman and involves Saetan when Mephis and Peyton were younger, merely children. It’s the story about what happens when you truly incite rage in Saetan. The story itself is kind of interesting considering we see a side of both Saetan and Hekatah that we haven’t seen before. The story was actually good and it was interesting to see something told by Saetan’s point of view.

The fourth and final story is Kaeleer’s Heart and takes up soon after Queen of the Darkness. Janelle is just getting to the point where she’s healthy, but she and Daemon are still walking on eggshells around each other. This story is kind of interesting to read because it addresses several different events that happened in Queen of the Darkness that we knew had repercussions, mainly for Daemon. You know, I could go on and say a bunch of stuff about this story, but if you haven’t read the series, I would end up giving some things away. It’s better for you to read it. The story is good and we get to see more of Janelle and Daemon, as well as the Sadist.

Overall, this novel was really good. Each of the stories could have stood on their own, but if you’ve read the series first, then it answers a lot of questions that you could have. We’re given the story on how Luicvar and Marian met, why Saetan didn’t fight hard for the boys, and what happened after Janelle saved Kaeleer (and everyone else). The stories were amazingly written and we were given more insight to each of the main characters. This novel is a must read for anyone who is a fan of Bishop’s Black Jewels trilogy.

Read Order:
Daughter of the Blood
Heir to the Shadows
Queen of the Darkness
Dreams Made Flesh
Tangled Webs

The Shadow Queen (March 2009)
**The Invisible Ring is another novel apart of this world, but does not involved the characters from the trilogy.

Also reviewed by:
Things Mean Alot

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

3 Comments

  1. I really enjoyed this and am looking forward to Tangled Webs next month. It doesn’t look as good as the earlier ones, but I don’t care!

  2. I love this entire series and loved the opportunity to read about Lucivar and Marian and to find out “what happened next” with Jaenelle and Daemon.

    I think both those stories should be required reading for many romance authors as in the first one Bishop shows just how an alpha male should be written with his strength being about protection rather than being overbearing and stupid. In the second she shows how beautifully a story can be told when the characters actually (gasp!) talk to each other and sort out their misconceptions and there is still a good story to tell.

    I loved Tangled Webs too. It doesn’t have anything of the dark, complicated-ness and depth of the Black Jewels books, but it was a wonderfully fun chance to catch up with old friends.

    I’m really looking forward to The Shadow Queen though as the plot sounds like it is deep, dark and twistily complicated like the Black Jewels books.

  3. I thought that this was a really good addition to this trilogy when I read it! I am intending to read Tangled Webs soon. I’ve had it for a while now, but haven’t gotten to it yet.

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