Tangled Webs

Anne Bishop 2008 Buy from Amazon.com

This was a book that didn’t feel to me as though it fit into the mold of the first three Black Jewels novels. Of course the first three had their own story arc, which is now complete, but it was different in other ways too. Set after the events of the first three, it focuses on Surreal SaDiablo and her friend Rainier.

The story begins with Surreal mocking the writing of a landen author named Jarvis Jenkell, who writes mysteries based on a Blood character. His Blood characters are nothing like Surreal and her relatives, and the murders are inept and obvious. Apparently his work is popular with the Blood purely as a means of entertaining themselves with his ignorance.

Jaenelle has decided that she wants to set up a house with harmless horrors, based on the stories that landen children tell each other about the Blood and how they live. She has some help, but is surprised by the opposition from her friends for various reasons, not least of which is their pride.

Unfortunately, Jenkell has discovered that he is Blood and he wants recognition and respect from them. He sets up his own house full of tricks and horrors, inviting Surreal, Lucivar and Daemon Sadi to the opening night by pretending it is Jaenelle’s. The tricks in this house aren’t playful though, they are deadly. Only Surreal and Rainier arrive in time for the tour, and several children enter with them. They are trapped in the house with only a few exits, with a limit to the number of times they can use their craft before all the exits vanish.

I enjoyed the cleverness of this novel, particularly that Anne Bishop is mocking a mystery author’s desperate attempts to find new material in a story that is really a mystery novel itself. Surreal and Rainier must try to find ways out of their situation, and discover who has set the trap, without using the power that is ingrained into their everyday life and movements.