Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop – a Review

Murder of Crows
The Others series – Book #2
by Anne Bishop
Release Date: March 4, 2014
Links to order Murder of Crows:
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / The Book Depository

Description:
After winning the trust of the terra indigene residing in the Lakeside Courtyard, Meg Corbyn has had trouble figuring out what it means to live among them. As a human, Meg should be barely tolerated prey, but her abilities as a cassandra sangue make her something more.

The appearance of two addictive drugs has sparked violence between the humans and the Others, resulting in the murders of both species in nearby cities. So when Meg has a dream about blood and black feathers in the snow, Simon Wolfgard—Lakeside’s shape-shifting leader—wonders whether their blood prophet dreamed of a past attack or of a future threat.

As the urge to speak prophecies strikes Meg more frequently, trouble finds its way inside the Courtyard. Now the Others and the handful of humans residing there must work together to stop the man bent on reclaiming their blood prophet—and stop the danger that threatens to destroy them all.

Review:

Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop is the 2^nd book in her The Others series.  I love all of Anne’s books, and this series is not any different.  The Others is a different and fascinating story about the terra indigene (non humans, such as wolves, crows, vampires, elementals, grizzlies, etc) who control most of the world, and the humans, good and bad who live in lands The Others allow humans to live on.  The main storyline is a young woman, who is a blood prophet and lives among the terra indigene.  In case you have not read my review of the first book (Written In Red), a blood prophet is someone who must cut themselves to see the future. Written in Red introduces us to Meg and her arrival in the Lakeside courtyard where humans were minimal, as we discovered more about her, and how the others learned to care very much for this human, and how far they would go to protect her as one of their own.  Murder of Crows continues with these fabulous people we have become invested in.  Meg, Simon, Nathan, Tess, Vlad, Winter, Monty, Merri, and so many more wonderful and new characters that Anne has created in this fantastic world.

Though this is not a romance, Simon finds himself caring more and more about Meg, whom he cannot seem to stay away from;  but it concerns him, since he is non human, and should not care about any human.  They are just friends at this point, perhaps in the next book, this friendship will change.   But in Murder of Crows the story is two fold.  An evil group is killing crows or any other non human. The Others are determined to protect Meg, as well as stop the attacks; they concentrate on using Meg’s prophecies or clues to find the Enemy. The story is tense at times, with all the threats and unrest.

I cannot tell too much, since I do not want to give spoilers.  Only to say I loved this book, and the entire series. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book, which is a year away.  Just watching the others is fun, as you see them caring so much about “our Meg”; as well as learning some new and confusing things that humans do, which may or may not help them to understand humans better. This is so well done.  Simple things like flavored cookies for animals (wolves, etc) or humans taking notes is pretty funny.  It also helps the others form a workable relationship with some of the human police force to help find the enemies.

Murder of Crows is a fascinating world, deeply complex, with a fabulous cast of characters.  The story has everything, from fun, exciting, mysterious, tension and a wild climax.  But it does have an ending to this storyline, that also addicts us to want to continue into the lives of Meg and The Others.  Again I have to say I love everything about Anne Bishop’s writing, and Murder of Crows was great.  I would suggest you to start with Written in Red, if you haven’t started this series yet, and do not wait.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Author