Customer Reviews
Recommended for Fans of the Black Jewels Series - By: Lesley70, 11 May 2008 
I love the Black Jewels series, I love the world & the mythology. I'm familiar with the trilogy, & the anthology, & I've read the previous standalone novel. I don't think I could recommend this book to anyone unless they had at least read the trilogy. You need the background, I think, to get the most out of the story. (If you haven't read the trilogy & like dark fantasy I heartily recommend it. :)
I think the Dear Reader at the beginning of the book is important, it says what this story is, a tale set after the epic battle has been fought. It's a what happened next. It's a catching up with old friends, who now deal with family problems instead of major catastrophes. This is very much a character driven story rather than plot centred.
Tangled Webs follows the Sa Diablo family in the aftermath of the events of the trilogy & takes place after the short story in the Dreams Made Flesh anthology. The story is told from multiple points of view. We catch up with Lucivar & Marian, Daemon & Jaenelle, Saetan, Surreal & Rainier. Jaenelle has decided she's going to 'build' a spooky house to scare the Landen families as they don't understand what being Blood reallly means. At the same time an author is looking for a new story to tell, & in Jaenelle's spooky house he sees a way to manipulate events to spark his own creative drive.
The beginning of the story is more a series of vignettes about the various family members. How they're coping (or not coping) with normal family life. For me this took a little getting into & the spooky house doesn't reallly come into play until you're well into the book.
The second half of the book follows Surreal & Rainier as they & several landen children try to escape from the Spooky house trap that has been set for them. As Surreal says :-
"Someone has cast us as the lead characters in a mystery about a house that's trying to kill us. Does that about sum it up?"
Yep, that's about it.
At the same time we see what Daemon, Lucivar & Jaenelle are doing to rescue them. Anne Bishop doesn't pull her punches. This is still a world where terrible things can & do happen.
I think, if you aren't a fan of the books you're going to come away thinking nothing much happened. But I guess it depends on why you're reading. There's something about the Black Jewels books that always leaves me wanting more. Just something about that world that fascinates & I look forward to the books to come.
Entertaining but not what expected! - By: J. Kirk, 27 Apr 2008 I love the Black Jewels Trilogy & Dreams Made Flesh & when I heard there was to be a book with Surreal as more of a main character I couldn't wait! The book is entertaining (although rather short) & is written with Anne's usual humour but it wasn't as good as I expected. I was looking forward to a reallly good Surreal story but I think her potential was wasted - & if I read the word 'boyos' one more time I was going to scream!!
On saying that though, I did enjoy the story & I love Anne's writing but it could have been far more than what it was.
Well worthy of a dark jewel status! - By: Cowgirl Sally, 18 Apr 2008 Another addictive addition to the Black Jewels 'triology'! Contains alll the humour of the previous books, though I was slightly disappointed to find that this book focused more on Surreal, & less on the Daemon-Jaenelle & Lucivar-Marian relationships!
A novice to the ways of The Blood has created a scary house in order to trap most of the SaDiablo family, but only Surreal & Rainer turn up & get trapped in a house with a group of Landen children. The catch is that every time they use Craft to try to escape or fight off beings that have become part of the house, one of the few exits to the house is sealed.
thoroughly enjoyable although rather short - By: Ms. A. English, 21 Mar 2008 
Personallly I enjoyed this very much & was glad I ordered it, although it did only take me a half day to read through as it is rather short. I think its a worthy addition to the black jewels books. There are some interesting tidbits about the family that make it worth reading for, & the house itself is somewhat disturbing, although as I dont read horror books generallly I cant judge whether or not this has been well done from that point of view. The villain is suitably loathsome, & the main characters as likeable as ever. All in alll, I enjoyed this - although I think I would only give it 4.5 stars due to the length.
A fabulous addition to AB's twisted world - By: A Reader, 06 Mar 2008 In "Tangled Webs" Jaenelle & Marian are immersed in the creation of a "spooky house", a project intended to educate the local Landens & amuse those of the Blood. Yet someone else is rather aggravated by this idea, & in fact concocts their own haunted house with the plan to snare & kill the powerful SaDiablo family. When Surreal & Prince Rainier find themselves trapped in this house trying to protect a group of children from demon dead attacks & booby traps they are unable to use their Craft, as each time they calll upon the power of their jewels they reduce their avenues of escape.
It's pretty clear from the beginning who the bad guy is in this book, & unfortunately raised away from the Blood, he has no idea who he is dealing with. Disappointed only Rainier & Surreal responded to his invitation, he is in total ignorance of the depths of power & ruthlessness Surreal's family & friends will act with to ensure her safety. Whilst Jaenelle weaves her own spells & Sadi begins his own dance of retribution, Lucivar enters the house close to the killing edge. The nasty beasties inside the house don't stand a chance.
AB's "Tangled Webs" is as flawlessly written as her wonderful "Black Jewels" trilogy, & again contains the exquisite savagery, loving fussiness & subtle humour expected in lead characters Jaenelle, Daemon Sadi, Saetan & Lucivar. There are (as always in AB's books) some intensely poignant moments, yet these are never at odds with the almost breathtaking viciousness the protagonists display at times. It's a wonder AB manages to keep these characters likeable considering some of their more brutal methods of ensuring a debt is fully paid.
I'm so pleased this author has written another full length book to feature the Realms of the Blood; showing that although the final battle was won in "Queen of the Darkness", the main characters still face a variety of challlenges. Lastly this book also contains an extremely short story "By the Time the Witchblood Blooms". Set during Surreal's time as an assassin; her victim leaves her unaware that his imminent death is certainly fitting for his crime.
