As I noted in the review for Mélusine, The Virtu and it were apparently originally intended as one book rather than two separate volumes. And, as I also noted, this does show. The Virtu picks up pretty might right where Mélusine ended, with Felix’s sanity and his powers restored. Half the journey has been completed, and what remains now for him and Mildmay is to return home to Mélusine so that Felix may attempt to mend the Virtu, broken with his powers but not by him in the first book.

The main problem with The Virtu is that it feels a little too short. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I would have enjoyed one large volume containing both Mélusine and it even more. That would have been one large, completely satisfying multi-course meal perfect for one long sitting. Now we got a very nice dinner first but then the dessert meant to go with it came in much later. Additionally, reading them too far apart may lead to you forget little things from the first book that end up coming to the forefront towards the end of this first arc in the story of Felix and Mildmay. Such as the brief introduction in Mélusine. There’s also the issue of story balance to consider, and while I originally thought that there was too much of mad Felix in Mélusine, I can now see how that part would takes up a much more reasonable amount of space when one considers Mélusine and The Virtu as one story.

Sometimes, it is difficult to say what is harder to deal with: who you are, or who you aren’t. Imriel nó Montrève de la Courcel, son of Terre d’Ange’s most infamous traitor, the deadly beauty Melisande Shahrizai, and foster-son of its most famous heroine, Phèdre nó Delaunay de Montrève, finds himself in such a situation. He despises his real mother and idolizes his foster-mother and her consort, Joscelin. But he cannot escape Melisande’s legacy, which makes him suspicious in the eyes of some and a worthy heir to the throne in the eyes of others, any more than he can hope to be a great hero, chosen by the gods to save all of Terre d’Ange. Instead, he must try to find his own path in life.

That, however, is easier said than done. The terrible ordeals suffered by Imriel at the hands of the Mahrkagir have scarred him deeply, and paired with the often dark and disturbing legacy he has inherited as a true scion of Kushiel, he is left very conflicted indeed. With his mother in mind, he wants to try his best to be good, but he soon finds out that this isn’t always so easy. In fact, sometimes it is hard to say what is good and what isn’t. Imriel finds himself greatly troubled by some of the things he learns about Phèdre’s past, not the least because he himself struggles with the dark desires that are part of his inheritance as a Kushelite.

Since stopping Melisande’s plot to overthrow Queen Ysandre, Phèdre has had ten years of peace together with Joscelin. However, all that time the shadow of Hyacinthe has still hung above her, and she has never stopped trying to find a way to release him from the task he took upon himself. Other concerns have nagged at her mind too, such as the whereabouts of Melisande’s hidden son, third in line for the throne of Terre d’Ange. These two matters then become inseparably linked as Melisande sends for Phèdre, and reveals to her that Imriel, her son, has gone truly missing. Now she wants Phèdre to try to find him, and as payment for this service she is offering something that may be the only thing that can help find a way to free Hyacinthe.

Even though Phèdre has strong misgivings about where this choice might lead her, and even though Joscelin is strongly against the idea, she cannot refuse to do what Melisande asks of her. Thus she finds herself set on a path that will take her places darker and more terrifying than anything she has previously faced, and almost at once she feels that this time too much may be asked of her. For the first time in her life, she truly questions her role as Kushiel’s Chosen, and she begins to wish that she no longer had to carry the burden of being an anguisette.

In the second book of Kushiel’s Legacy, the story of Phèdre is given a worthy continuation, though in many ways it is a very different book from the first one. This was to some extent unavoidable, however, given that Kushiel’s Dart was focused around Phèdre’s coming-of-age. Here, however, we meet a more mature heroine. Following the events of the first book, Phèdre is living a relatively quiet life in the countryside, something that probably would have started to wear thin sooner or later, save perhaps for the distraction offered by her continued attempts to search for a way to free her friend Hyacinthe. However, it turns out she has no reason to be worried about growing bored, as she finds that she must once again take up her duties as a Servant of Naamah in order to uncover what the elusive Melisande—escaped by the help of a traitor in their midst—now plans to do.

The story that evolves from this premise combines the sometimes headache-inducing intrigues of the first half of Kushiel’s Dart with the fast-paced action of its latter half, as Phèdre finds herself taken on yet another adventurous journey—once again courtesy of the deadly intrigues of Melisande Shahrizai—outside of Terre d’Ange.  In the course of this, she also finds herself on a journey to discover more about her true nature as an anguisette, while Joscelin finds himself on an altogether different path, which may very well spell the end for their in some respects very fragile relationship. The book also explores some of the cracks in the façade when it comes to the sometimes almost too-perfect seeming society in Terre d’Ange, showing the flaws within the system and that the standing in which the Night Court is held has been gradually faltering. It also reveals—perhaps as a warning example of where Terre d’Ange could be heading—how very different matters of love and sex are viewed even in neighbouring countries such as La Serenissima.

In the third and final book of the Black Jewels, the struggling factions of the previous two books will finally clash for the final time. Though Jaenelle knows that she is too powerful to unleash her full strength, as it would destroy most of the Blood, she can no longer avoid a confrontation with the two women who have made Terrielle into the twisted perversion of Blood society that it now is: Hekatha, the demon-dead Dark Priestess who once was the wife of Saetan SaDiablo, and Dorothea SaDiablo, the woman who has taken control over all of Terrielle. The pair now seeks to extend their influence into Kaeleer, to corrupt the realm of Shadow in the same way that they have corrupted the realm of Light, and the only possible outcome seems to be a war between the two realms. But the last one devastated them both, and even though Kaeleer was stronger then as it is stronger now, it still suffered grievous losses.

But before that final, fateful confrontation, Jaenelle must also deal with the running of her own court. Following her Offering to the Darkness, the territories in Kaeleer held by her childhood friends unexpectedly placed themselves under the direct authority—and direct protection—of her own territory, Ebon Askavi. Fortunately, she has the help of her adoptive father, Saetan SaDiablo, and his half-Eyrien son, Lucivar Yaslana, who have taken up the roles of Steward and First Escort within her court. But she still lacks a Consort, and even when Saetan’s other son, Daemon SaDiablo, finally finds his way out of the Twisted Kingdom and into Kaeleer, that matter is not as easily settled as the rest of her court might have thought.  However, without him at her side there is no way that Jaenelle can succeed.