Sebastian & Belladonna – Reviews

Ephemera Series by Anne Bishop

Since I really love Anne Bishop’s wonderful characterization, as well as her amazing creations of different fantasy worlds, I started reading her Ephemera series.  The first book was Sebastian, with Belladonna the second book.  The third book of this series “Bridges of Dreams” was just released last week.

Sebastian – Book 1

Sebastian started a bit slow for me, but mostly because this was a completely different world, though most of what Bishop does is different; and this was way different then the previous series.  I did like some of the characters she was introducing, but was not crazy about the villain, Eater of the World.  Maybe because the villain represents many vicious types of bugs or whatever, and I hate bugs. Lol  so this creeped me out a bit. 

The world of Ephemera is divided into many different landscapes, mostly small and disconnected from each other. There are bridges that connect some of the places, all by the discretion of the Landscaper who builds them.  The landscapes in Ephemera are driven by the hearts of the people who live there.  Needless to say, some are the good side..light, and others are dark.  The Eater of the World, had been locked in one landscape for centuries, and now has escaped to begin his dark deeds to capture and destroy all of Ephemera.

Sebastian is the hero of this book, but the main heroine is Glorianna Belladonna, who is a rogue landscaper, but the most powerful of her kind.  She is the only one who could possibly beat the dark, as she is pure good and truly the heart of Ephemera.  The wizards are portrayed as bad, since they want to destroy Glorianna, as they are afraid of her powers.   Sebastian is her cousin, and he is an incubus, who lives in a demon landscape made by Glorianna for him and those like him.  They are not bad, just demons who need a place for themselves.  But Sebastian, finds his true love…Lynnea and begins to change, and realize his own powers.

Though the story was slow a bit early on, with all the confusing landscapes, and meeting all the characters, as well as seeing how bad this monster was.  The last half of the book was so much better.  I really enjoyed Sebastian’s romance with Lynnea, loved his relationships with his family (Nadia, Lee and Glorianna), his friendships (Teaser, Philo) in his landscape (Den of Iniquity), who they became dependent on him as their leader.   It was a good story with an exciting ending. I really did enjoy this great ending. 

I look forward to reading Belladonna, because Glorianna is a great character, which Bishop does so well in all her books.

Belladonna – Book 2

I really enjoyed reading this book.  There were a lot of great parts, fun parts, and the bad stuff was more distant then in the first book.  Belladonna kept my interest throughout the book and the last half I had a hard time putting it down. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the interactions between the main characters (family & friends), such as Nadia, Sebastian, Lynnea, Yoshani, Teaser, Caitlan, Bridget.  The main characters in this book were Glorianna and Michael, and though I really liked them, I felt there could have been a little more emphasis on their romance.  I really liked Glorianna, she was the ultimate heroine, who had the world on her shoulders; the one to help everyone, be there for everyone, her strong love for her family, and be willing to sacrifice her life to save them all.  She didn’t have time to fall in love, and though she did love with Michael; they teased a bit, and at no time did they really let us enjoy their budding romance.  Michael was more descriptive of his love even before he met her, and you see that throughout.  But she is hesitant knowing what she must do, and her brother and cousin were totally against Michael. I just feel there could have been more for their romance, much like Sebastian had with Lynnea. 

The end was great, and Michael’s love for Glorianna, as well as Sebastian’s love for her,  is what saves her, and that was emotional.  I thought overall the book was fun, exciting, with great writing.  Bishops worlds are totally mind-boggling, and at times confusing. I loved almost all of the characters in the book.

I find it totally amazing how Anne Bishop can create such strange and different worlds and pull you totally in.  Bishop is an excellent writer, she creates these complex worlds, and has the ability to give us the wonderful characters that she creates.  At the end of Belladonna, we can see things left open for the next book.  The eater of the world was still locked in the landscape, but near the end, he found a tiny ‘hearts hope’ plant, so he can conceivably find a way out.  Lee is part of the threesome, and he was conspicuously absent near the end.  Glorianna wasn’t totally right yet, and her and Michael needed more closure.  I can see all of this coming to play in Bridge of Dreams.

Reviewed by Barb