Dreams Made Flesh (Black Jewels Book 5)

Overall Rating 4 Stars ★ ☆✰⭐Dreams Made Flesh is a compilation of stories told in the world of the Black Jewels. It is four stories of various lengths and I can’t say that I usually enjoy that since you don’t get the same depth in a short story but since we have a lot of world building and knowledge of this world it works.★ ☆✰ Weaver of Dreams is a pretty short story of how the Black Widows and Weavers were gifted their magic from one of Draka’s daughters. It is a cute story shown from the perspective of a spider and that isn’t something you read every day. Because it is so short it wasn’t my favorite of the compilation.★ ☆✰⭐✩The Prince of Ebon Rih is my favorite story in this book and the main reason I’d recommend reading it. It is set before Queen of Darkness, which is great since I was so confused with Lucivar was already married in it and we’d never read anything about his wife prior to that.Marian comes from a family that didn’t value her because she was a hearth witch and not powerfully jeweled. After her father makes an unforgivable bargain, Marian is saved from a horrible fate and ends up in Lucivar’s household.“Marian sank down on one of the kitchen chairs and braced her head in her hands. He got mad at her for sweeping up spilled sugar but dragged her outside to throw a skillet at bales of hay. She threw a pot at him and missed, so he was going to teach her how to clobber him with a skillet. Even taking into account that he was an Eyrien male, there was only one explanation for his behavior. The man was insane.”I loved the story of how Lucivar and Marian became friendly and then more than friendly. They had plenty of things to overcome due to his power being so much greater than hers, his mother’s interference and Roxy who is a spiteful little twit. But the patience that Lucivar shows to Marian to make her his wife eventually was incredibly tender and sweet.So happy for his HEA love story.★ ☆✰⭐ Zuulaman explains why even though it might have been easier to kill Lucivar or Daemon, Heckatah wouldn’t dare. Saetan has been the mentor in these books. He is the quiet patient man with crazy kids and kindred running around everywhere. But once he walked in the land of the living and married the wrong woman, once she tried to play him and an entire people paid for her vicious game. This story shows that even when you thought you hated Heckatah as much as possible, you are wrong and could hate her more. Saetan is a powerful man and no one remembers Zuulaman now because of the part they played in Heckatah’s schemes.I liked how this story shows how vicious Saetan could be if pushed. It also showed how he was with his boys when they were young and what a good father he could have been to Daemon and Lucivar, had they not been stolen from him. The take away from Zuulaman…Don’t mess with Saetan.★ ☆✰⭐ Kaeleer’s Heart is in the aftermath of Queen of Darkness. Jaenelle has paid a price to save the blood and the land and the price was high. Only the kindred believed enough to save her. She is weak and healing and Daemon would never press her for anything, he will stand by her through it all, so why does it feel like she is pushing him away.I really liked how this explored how sometimes when someone has been ill, they are put in a little protective box and it is so hard to see when they are ready to be better. Jaenelle is healing and while weak she is better but the boys of the family aren’t ready to see it. With a little push from Surreal and Marrian they will try to help Jaenelle out and get her back into fighting and loving form.

This anthology contains four stories set in the Black Jewels universe.Weaver of Dreams tells how spiders learned from a dying dragon how to weave webs that can hold or create lives.The Prince of Ebon Rih takes place after the events of Heir to the Shadows and tells the story of Lucivar's courtship of Marian.Zuulaman tells a story from Saetan's past when he was married to Hekatah and the Warlord Prince of Dhemlan. A country called Zuulaman tries to get the best of his country, aided by the 100 families of Hyall and Hekatah, and Saetan shows them just what a black-jeweled warlord prince can do.Kaeleer's Heart tells what happens after the events of Queen of the Darkness when Jaenelle heals quite changed and Daemon wonders if she doesn't love him anymore. Their relationship is complicated by someone who wants to ruin Daemon's reputation and wreck his relationship with Jaenelle so that he will turn to her. He shows everyone why he was nicknamed the Sadist while he was a pleasure slave in Terreille.All of these stories were great at providing more about the fascinating Black Jewels world. The Prince of Ebon Rih and Kaeleer's Heart were also wonderful romances.

Love all of the Black Jewel Series, I actually purchased them at this time for my sister as a Christmas gift. My sister had read the first 3 but hadn't had the opportunity to read any of the others so I purchased the entire series for her. She loved the first 3, I'm sure this one will be no different. These books are definitely not for the kindhearted and I would describe them as dark and disturbing for most of the series, they can be graphic, horrifying, fantastic, whimsical, saddening and much much more. I have found myself actually laughing out loud, and crying so hard I had to put them away for a while. I've read and reread them probably close to 10 times and can say that I feel they blow most other writers and writing styles out of the water. Everyone is all about 50 Shades of Gray for its sexual content and heat but, in my opinion, nothing beats these books in that aspect as well as many others, I find myself wishing I could step through the pages and live in their world. These books are definitely something you read with an open mind and they are by no means written for children.

This book is made up of four stories that happened during or before the Black Jewels trilogy.The first story is about the dragons and the golden spiders before the Blood received their jewels (10 pages).The second story is about how Lucivar and Marian met, fell in love, and eventually married (218 pages).The third story is about Saetan's past and the beginning of the first war (44 pages).The fourth story is after "Queen of the Darkness" and focuses on Daemon and Jaenelle (166 pages).With all four stories you get a nice sized book.Personally, I could do without the first story. It has little relevance to the trilogy and is not long enough for you to care what happens to the characters.The second and the fourth stories are by far the best. You are reading about developed characters and you tend to have a vested interest in what happens in the stories.The third story about Saetan is referenced in both in the second and fourth stories. As a stand alone story it is ok. It is a short memory that explains certain aspects of Saetan's behavior. Being referenced by the other two stories, makes this a more valuable story.Overall, I would say that three out of the four stories are good, two of those three are spectacular. It is a must buy if you want to know what happens after the trilogy.

I'm afraid that unlike the other reviewers here I'm not a great fan of this book. I understand the temptation of Bishop to revisit her enthralling creation but actually I think she should have left the trilogy alone as the stories here, especially the last one, Kaeleer's Heart, presses it out of shape.In this last (long) short story she picks up the relationship between Daemon and Jaenelle directly after the end of the trilogy but twists it into something far tamer and more akin to standard romance than it deserves. Daemon becomes domesticated and while he is allowed a few moments of return to being the Sadist, the dark heart of him that makes him such a fascinating character becomes eroded.Like many other Bishop fans, I had to buy this book when it came out but in lots of ways I wish I hadn't. So if you love the trilogy and can resist the temptation, I wouldn't read this.

"Dreams Made Flesh" comprises of 4 short stories focusing on the main characters featured within the Black Jewels trilogy, namely Jaenelle, Daemon, Lucivar and Saetan, although other familiar faces from all the realms feature.Weaver of DreamsThe first and shortest story within this collection centres on the nameless daughter of Draca. At the brink of death the dragon passes on her gift of dream weaving to a small golden spider.The Prince of Ebon RihThis story catalogues the meeting of Lucivar and Marian, the purple dusk Eyrian hearth witch he marries. We learn how Marian came to meet Jaenelle, her uncomfortable relationship with Luthvian (Lucivar's mother) and how she won the heart of an ebon-grey jewelled Eyrian Warlord Prince.ZuulamanSet during his marriage period to Heketah, Saetan is blackmailed into signing unfair trade agreements in Zuulaman's favour after receiving news that the kingdom holds his heavily pregnant wife hostage. Drawing on the full power of his black jewels, Saetan's response is formidable, wiping Zuulaman, its people and history from existence.Kaeleer's HeartThis beautiful tale is set just after Jaenelle returns from the healing web and details how her radical reduction in power affects those around her. This story also follows up her relationship with Daemon and his battle with a jealous and manipulative witch intent on having Daemon as her own. When Jaenelle's life is threatened the streets of Amdarh face the icy rage of the Sadist.What can I say but Wow - I've been left breathless after having all my expectations reached and possibly even surpassed. Not only did this book include a fantastic conclusion to the truly memorable Black Jewels trilogy, it also contained personal stories centring on my most favourite characters. I cannot imagine a fan of Anne Bishop's mind-blowing Black Jewels trilogy being left disappointed with this book. - if you love her previous works you'll love this!

Anne Bishop rarely disappoints and has not in these short stories.I actually have this as a book and bought this version for the kindle, too many books filling the house so gradually taking books I can read again and again onto Kindle.This comes into the repeat reading category.

Another fantastic book by Anne Bishop! I don't want to give too much away, but it goes into detail about a couple of things you wonder about in the Black Jewels trilogy, such as how Lucivar met Marian etc.I love Anne Bishop's books and this was another case of me totally ignoring my boyfriend whilst I had to find out what happens next on each page.Would recommend this to everyone who's already read the Black Jewels trilogy, but for goodness sake don't read it before or you will have massive spoilers!

I bought this book as a fan of Ms Bishop. It is a book for those who have read her previous series of the Black Jewels Trilogy. Thi collection answers some of the questions about this trilogy, while also providing some new tales. As a fan I can honestly say I have a bias but I loved the nature of this collection.