Dreams Made Flesh returns to the worlds of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy (Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, Queen of the Darkness) with a collection of four novellas. Two of the stories are set prior to the events of the trilogy, while one takes place during and one directly after.

"Weaver of Dreams" travels to the prehistory of the Realms to tell the story of how the great dragons left the world, how the Blood were created and how the golden spiders came to weave their tangled webs. The story related in "The Prince of Ebon Rih" takes place between Heir and Queen, telling how Prince Lucivar Yaslana met and married the Eyrien witch Marian. "Zuulaman" again travels into history to the time when Saetan SaDiablo was stll married to Hekatah. The country of Zuulaman and Hekatah both learn why Saetan is the High Lord of Hell and why it is not wise to cross him. The last story in the collection, "The Heart of Kaeleer," takes place after the events of Queen, when Jaenelle is recovering from the terrible wounds she received in preempting the war between Terreille and Kaeleer. An unabashed romance, it shows how Jaenelle and Daemon rebuild their life together, despite terrible slurs on Daemon's reputation.

Fans of the original trilogy will no doubt welcome this addition to Bishop's Realms, especially the second and fourth stories. Those who have not read the original trilogy may find it confusing. My recommendation is to read the trilogy first -- but it's a brilliant, compelling series, so that shouldn't be a hardship -- and then revel some more in the stories of the Blood with Dreams Made Flesh.

[ visit the author's website ]