Dois De N De N itibaren Rasulpur Abad., Uttar Pradesh, Indija
Not my favorite Alan Gregory book (I like some of the "departures", where Gregory is just a peripheral character), but interesting for it's seemingly multiple plots, and involvement of characters from early novels. Also, the non-violent revenge theme was interesting. Be prepared for an extremely sad surprise near the end. By the way, Alan Gregory continues to be interesting, but not always likeable!
re-reading this for a class after having read it and written a unit on it for an ESL class in the spring. should be a quick read to just refresh it in my mind :)
Spoilers exist in this review. There are four short novellas in this novel, and I found them all to be excellent and well in keeping with the other tales from the Black Jewels world. The first story, "Winsol Gifts," is an absolutely delightful story of Jaenelle and Daemon's first winter holiday together, and I was actually laughing out loud at some of the parts. Next up is "Shades of Honor" which follows Lucivar as he deals with a situation in his realm that has been too long in the making. Third is "Family," which is just as dark as the earliest parts of Jaenelle's life, but ends with a few bright spots. Finally, the last story entitled "The High Lord's Daughter" is the story of what happens with Daemon, Surreal, and Saetan after Jaenelle's death. This last story seems to be causing lots of people to be upset, but I found it very good and definitely keeping with the known character of the people written with in it. We all knew Jaenelle was from a more human lifespan race, not one of the milennia-lifespan races, and we all knew that Daemon would outlive her. This is the story of part of what he does after she is gone, and it is both heartwrenching and heartwarming as he moves on with his life. If you're a fan of the Black Jewels universe, this is definitely worth the read. The stories will be entertaining if you're not familiar with the backstory, but a lot of the detail and subtleties will escape you.