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| Belladonna (Ephemera, Book 2) | 
 enlarge | Author: Anne Bishop
Publisher: Roc
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $2.08
You Save: $5.91 (74%)
Buy New/Used from $2.08
Avg. Customer Rating:  (34 reviews)
Sales Rank: 128249
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0451461541
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780451461544
ASIN: 0451461541
Publication Date: March 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 a beautiful romantic story April 27, 2008
This is the first book of Anne Bishop's that I read, so I had no points of comparison to her earlier work. I thought this was a beautifully written love story set in an interesting fantasy world. Her writing style shows a wonderful restraint and simplicity, and what is left unsaid is just as important as the words on the page. I found this refreshing compared to fantasy writers that feel compelled to describe too many irrelevant details or preach a philosophy and lecture the reader ad nauseum. I thought there was definitely enough information given to understand how Ephemera worked (I thought Sebastian, which I subsequently read, was actually more confusing). This is a book where I found myself re-reading sections and getting even more out of it. Read and enjoy a story of love, courage, hope and acceptance.
 Belladonna, not the typical Anne Bishop writing April 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
From other reviews you can easily get the basic concept of the plot so I'm not going to repeat the plot summary here. Anne Bishop is one of my favorite authors and, in my opinion, one of her greatest strengths is making her characters 'real'. The heroes have flaws that only make the characters more believable.
Unfortunately the Ephemera duology does not live up to Ms. Bishop's usual standard. The banter between family members was often too immature for their ages. I have to admit to similar banter, but we grew out of it well before we reached the ages of the main characters in Belladonna. It was initially somewhat amusing, but quickly became a bit annoying. This seemed to sum up many aspects of 'Belladonna'. A good concepts were either never fully developed or fell flat.
So how do I rate a book like 'Belladonna'? I had to think - if this was not an 'Anne Bishop' book would I have liked it? Yes, I think I would have. The universe was interesting and although it seems to have confused some, I didn't have this particular problem. If this book had been from another author, I would have suggested improvement and felt that reading other books by the same author would be well worth my time. I would have wanted to see a book of short stories to tie up some of the loose ends that weren't covered in the main plot. As a book by Anne Bishop, I was disappointed because she is not a new author and I expected better. I would have rated this book as a 3.5 given more freedom. It was better than average - but not much.
 Just Say No March 5, 2008
2 out of 23 found this review helpful
I am warning everybody because authors shouldn't do this. Do not support authors who ban fanfiction. Fanfiction is a mark to show you made it in the writing industry. It shows readers like your book so much that they would like to make their own stories. I understand the problems that could arise with fanfiction but for an author to ban it is basically telling their fans that they only want things a certain way and that they don't welcome people with individual ideas at all. This kind of thing is just unacceptable therefore I don't read those types of authors.
I am in fact writing my own novel and I intend to allow fanfiction. So if your a big supporter of fanfiction please do not read Anne Bishop's books to show you don't support those who don't support us fanfic-ers.
If you do read her books and don't support fanfiction this is fine. Just be aware of it. Perhaps we can all change this author's mind who knows?
Thank you
Belladonna November 8, 2007
The conclussion to the Ephemera series. She describes the world so that you feel for the characters and the world. If you like Anne Bishop's Black Jewel series you will enjoy the one.
 Disappointing August 22, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Sad to say, this book was a bit of a disappointment to me. The first book, _Sebastian_, set up a somewhat interesting world that had been broken into bits in order to contain a creature that threatens all with destruction. The characters of Sebastian, finding his strength and battling his past, and Belladonna, the powerful magic user who is thought a dangerous renegade, were engaging. Here, we have the sequel... but the characters seem flat, their story, un-involving, and the battle against the nasty Eater of the World is anti-climatic.
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