I'm a bit disappointed. As much as I like the characters of the black jewel universe, in this book that just wasn't enough. In all honesty, the story was sort of lame. We have the three most powerful people in the realm, and they almost get defeated by a weasel. Really, the bad guy is a coward who is only just Blood. And the whole of it gets done in a spooky house. Which was not really interesting, it is a stupid setting to begin with, and after the first few deaths and surprises, it gets boring. We get the idea: they're wandering around the house and are getting attacked by creepy stuff. After a while it gets clear that they are not going to find the exit by themselves. And then it's waiting for the outside help.
Also, it's starting to irk me that apparently Jaenelle really is not as strong as Daemon. She's supposed to have power over the whole range of jewels, so that should include the black. I get that she didn't want to be as powerful as she was before, but why does she have to be weaker? It seems like a cop-out to me... ( )

A "Spooky House" set up to lure some high-ranking jewels to prove a point about who is and isn't a power.

Dark themes, but in the end it all turns out ok - Or does it? ( )

Anne Bishop never fails to write a story that grabs me right way and does not let me go until the very last page. The Black Jewels series is definitely my favorite of all her books. All of the books set in this world have intriguing story lines and characters who fascinate me. Even the characters I loathe are still well written. Any book by Anne Bishop is a must read and this series is no exception. ( )

66 points/100 (3.5 stars/5).

Jaenelle and Marian are building a "Spooky House" to play with some children, and are trying to rope others into helping them. There is also a book author out there with the same idea, but less nobel goals.

You know those episodes in tv series that are completely out of place within the story, but only seem to be there to celebrate some holiday like Halloween or Christmas? Well, imagine if they managed to stretch that episode out the entire season. That would be the equivalent of this book.

I really enjoyed the first quarter of the book. It was really cute. We see everyone during just normal times. Everyone is happy and healthy. However, holy shit that murder spooky house bit went on way, way too long. I really think this book could have been halved and literally nothing of value would have been lost. You just would have cut out the redundancy.

I'm just so disappointed in this book. I'm not certain what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. This is 100% skippable, in my opinion. The cute factor of seeing everyone being happy and together isn't even there to make it worth the read. I seriously suggest not reading this if you want a book anything like the trilogy. ( )

Creating a Spooky House to kill the SaDiablo family is a HUGE mistake.
( )