Twisted Kingdom

Enough time has passed for the young girl Jaenelle, heir to the magical Darkness. Her physical wounds have healed, while amnesia keeps her frightening memories at bay. But with Saetan--a Black-Jewelled Warlord Prince and Jaenelle's foster-father--to protect her, she will continue to grow. Her magic will mature. Her memories will return. And Jaenelle will face her destiny when she remembers Daemon, Saetan's son, who made the ultimate sacrifice for her love.

I finally read this book! I read the first book in the trilogy last year, and it is has taken me all this time to get to book two. Since this book has been reviewed on blogland many many times, I thought that I would make this at bit more interesting and buddy review it with Aarti from the blog Booklust. Aarti is in the reddish colour and I am typing in black. If all goes well we will also be reviewing the other books in the series together.

Yes, I read the first book in the series last year as well. It was difficult to get a grip on the story and the characters at first, but then I caught on and it was pretty smooth sailing from there!

I have to say that this was, for me, much better than book one. I liked book one, but this one attracted me more than the previous one. I am more interested in reading book three now because I am hoping that it will be even better than this one.

I also really enjoyed this book, though I think I liked book one just as much. Book one really set the scene for me, and while I struggled with getting through the beginning parts- not for lack of interest, but for lack of understanding- I really liked the atmosphere created. I think Bishop continues that here, and into book three as well.

I have been considering over and over again which one is my favourite character in this trilogy. I think in this book my favourite would have to be Saetan. There is lots of humour presented between him, Janelle, and Lucivar that makes you laugh aloud. In the first book he did not really interest me, but he becomes more of a controlled character in this book. I find him interesting, and not at all what I would imagine him to be as the leader of hell. He really adds to the story, I think, so I was glad to read his parts. There really are a lot of funny parts in this book because Janelle and Lucivar are reunited, and Lucivar learns that Saetan is both his father and Janelle's foster father, so suddenly they are siblings. They fight like siblings, too, and Saetan gets in there and fathers them. It was great.

I really liked the family dynamics, too! My favorite character was also Saetan, as he was really an upstanding man, with so much integrity. You could tell how much he cared for the people around him. I think his scenes with Jaenelle, especially, and some with Lucivar, are either very poignant or very funny. And the dynamics between the three of these characters is fun to watch.

I am not sure what I think of Lucivar. In the previous book he had been held captive by the self-declared queen of hell and the priestess that works for her in the human world, so he was not a major character beforehand. He has a lot of potential, though. I think he was the right addition to the cast of characters. With Daemon lost in the Twisted Kingdom, there had to be a young, interesting male to balance out the characters. I might add that young here is a relative term.

That's an interesting point. Lucivar does balance out the book, with Daemon gone for most of it (which saddened me, as I really like him). I think Lucivar is much more fun than Daemon is; Daemon seems to be intense for so much of the time. However, Lucivar did declare himself to be Jaenelle's older brother, and in some parts of the book, he was so brother-like that he really started grating on me! He just has such a bracing personality- I don't know if I could spend time with him for very long without getting a headache!

Then, there is Janelle. She was relatively young in the first book, so I liked her a lot better in this one because she is older and easier to relate to... in a sense. She has a lot of crazy powers, though, and often acts like she is years older than she is. She seriously gives Saetan a lot to deal with, and Lucivar is always trying to get her to slow down. She has a kind heart, and will run herself into the ground to save others. That is clearly shown throughout this book, and the sad thing is that the scenes that she helps out in, you cannot help as the reader feeling very bad for both her and the characters involved. Janelle annoys me sometimes, but overall, I think she is a good character and strong. That's one thing about this trilogy, all the women are strong.

Yes, all the women are strong! Some of them still annoy me, though :-) I actually don't know what I feel about Jaenelle. Yes, sometimes she is wise beyond her years. But sometimes, she also seems very childish. Also, it kind of weirds me out that she snarls so much. Really, though, the depth of her care and loyalty for the people around her is pretty great- she is a wonderful leader. I also really liked the greater introduction of the Kindred in this book- it added a whole set of new characters to the story. We don't get into their heads that often, but it is always a lesson when we do. I thought Bishop added in the animal insights very well.

Overall, this is a good book, and awesome for a book two. Book twos are generally slow in trilogies because there is not a lot of action. Bishop really works with the lack of action, though, and gives us some interesting scenes that will have you eagerly turning the pages. I have started the next book in the trilogy (I know that Aarti has already read it), so expect a review of it in March.

Agreed- a very strong book overall, and I look forward to reviewing the next one as well! And to reading the other Bishop books I have on my shelf- I also have Sebastian.