Thursday, July 3, 2014

Anne Bishop: Written in Red

Anne Bishop is known for her Black Jewels series (which I have not read and in her new series there are the Others and the Humans and lets just say one sees the other as meat:

Meg Corbyn is a blood profit, she can see the future or answer questions of the future, by cutting her skin. The longer the length of the cut the more she is able to see. Due to the fact that knowing the future is a benefit, Meg's ability is a precious gift that is worth a lot of money to the people who own her, her controller. But Meg always thought there was more to life and when she saw a chance to escape she took it. She now is in a world she has never known, as she has been in a pampered prison her entire life, and she finds herself outside of one of the terra indigene (The Others) territories. What better place to hide than a place where no human laws apply. Meg has a long road ahead of her and trying to make a life for herself all the while trying hide what she is as well as from the controller, but nothing is ever easy in the terra indigene world especially when humans start to invade their territory.

Absolutely Loved This Book. This is the second book this year that has been on my TBR list for a wahile and I wished I would have picked it up sooner. This is the first book I have read by Bishop and it blew me away. This book is well written, with unique ideas, great and interesting characters, and after the preface of the book, you will be drawn in. I wouldn't be surprised if you read it in one sitting. I know I wanted to, but alas real life caught up with me.

I appreciated that Bishop decided to have a preface in the book that contained an explanation about how the world within this book was different from ours. It made it easy to fall right into the book and not have to have a learning curve as to the world this book is set in. I loved that the terra indigene see there human form as not their true for, that their animal self is their true self. It shows the adaptation that they have gone through in order to survive.

I really appreciated bishop's originality within this book. Although there are shifters and a version of vampires (which have very cool powers and a different way to draw blood out of humans, creepy and awesome all at the same time) with this book they are so much more within the terra indigene. There are Elementals, as well as ponies who can do some damage. It was also interesting the choice of shifters that Bishop chose to use within the book, while the wolf is very common  throughout the UF/PN genres and even a few bears, I do not think that I have read a book with Hawks or Crows being an animal of choice to shift into. It was also interesting to see the personality of the animals come out in their human forms, like how all the crows like things that are shiny or would be used to build a nest. I wonder what other creatures Bishop has in store for her readers in the future books and I personally cannot wait to find out.

I found Meg to be a very interesting character, and really you can tell how lost she feels throughout the book. She has never lived her life for herself and is just trying to discover how to do so in both the human and terra indigene worlds. She is brave as it took a lot for her to run away from her captive situation into a world that she only really knows about through pictures. Her power is both scary and amazing at the same time and I think there are hints within the book that portray what will become of her power in the future. While some may find Meg as very Mary-Sue, I find her more of an adaptive individual who it trying to figure out how to survive, does she do this with kindness, yes, but who better than be kind to than the terra indigene as they can kick some human butt and human rules do not apply in their territories. Is she afraid of them, yes, but wouldn't you be when they consider you meat. I think there is more to Meg's character than the Mary-Sue that many people have called her and I think more people will discover it in future books in this series

I know this book has been criticized for not having any action or fight scenes in it until the end if the book and normally I would agree with them but the story of Meg and her trying to make is in the world in general is what drew me into this book. There are a few scuffles in the book but it is not until the end that the big action scene is going to happen. This book is mainly about Meg trying to find herself and place within this world that is foreign to her, so if you are looking for a lot or constant fight scenes this book will not be for you, but if you can invest in Meg's story you will really enjoy this book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the paranormal or urban fantasy genres and really in my personal opinion it is a must read. I'm so happy the next book in this series is already out so I can get my hands on it. So if this one is on your TBR shelf go over to it and pick it up. This is one that needs to be read (I mean right now).

Enjoy!!!!
If You Like This,
Check These Out Too:
http://j9books.blogspot.ca/2011/02/dianne-sylvan-queen-of-shadows.html  http://j9books.blogspot.ca/2010/10/donna-boyd-passion.html  http://j9books.blogspot.ca/2014/05/kevin-hearne-hounded.html

No comments:

Post a Comment