Title: Written in Red
Author: Anne Bishop
Published: 5th March 2013
Hello my fellow Bookworms and page turners,
It’s been a while but im still here! Honest!…
Today we are looking at another urban fantasy book, something nice an easy to easy myself back into the reviewing and reading as it was all getting a bit much with running three blogs, a full-time job, decorating, among other things!
First things first.. don’t be put off by the prologue its a bit of a mess, but I promise it does make sense with context! and its not a real reflection on what the actual book reads like!
This is honestly one of the best urban fantasy books that I have read this year. The world itself is very unique, and I don’t believe there was a single character that wasn’t believable or un-memorable in the story, and that’s pretty impressive for book one.
That’s right, Written in Red is the first book in The Others series by Anne Bishop. The story is set on an alternate Earth where the world is populated by ‘terra indigene‘, the earth natives, the Others, who consider humans to be their prey.
Within this world our protagonist Meg is on the run.
Meg, is a cassandra sangue, a blood prophet, which is a person who can see the future when her skin is cut. This is a talent so rare and powerful its often viewed as a curse. And now that Meg has fled the facility where she was being kept by her ‘Controller’ she is desperate to find somewhere to lay low for a while.
Meg then stumbles upon a sign at the Lakeside Courtyard for a job as Human Liaison, Meg decides that maybe hiding in plain sight with the Others is the safest place she can be for a few days. This is where she meets the suspicious shapeshifter Simon Wolfgard who strongly suspects that there’s something different about Meg as she doesn’t smell right. But reluctantly gives her the job anyway, this will also buy him time to solve what ever it is she’s hiding. Besides, the Courtyard really does need someone who can interact with the humans in the area, even if its only for a few days…
The plot is a very slow burn, it is a toe dip into the rich ‘world-pools’ that Bishop has created, and it mainly focuses on getting us to engage with the world and our main character as she adjusts to the day to day of her new job, and new surroundings without giving herself away to a number of very interesting characters.
Meg herself is not your typical heroine either, as she has had such a sheltered up bringing, she lacks common sense and somehow despite the bleakness she has suffered at the hands of the controller she still retains an almost childlike innocence. In some ways her lack of a typical upbringing is a benefit as it gives her a completely different perspective of the world and the Others, allowing her think of solutions to her unique situation that most people likely wouldn’t have making this a very interesting and at times amusing read..
This series so far also has NO ROMANCE! Which has become increasingly uncommon for this genre in my experience, but I see this as a positive and not a negative thus far.
Bishop has created a wonderful and complex world with an intriguing story full of possibilities. I’m glad I picked up Written in Red, and I have already bought book 2 Murder of Crows, and I am hoping for some more of the same!
Until next time, read more books!
Between|the|Blurb 