Written by Anne Bishop, this is another book in the world of The Others, a universe where humans rent land from the terrifying creatures who rule; and happily eat humans. They only keep them around for the useful things they make. In this installment, Vickie runs The Jumble, a vacation location she got in her divorce settlement. And it wasn’t a good marriage, folks. Now, a dead man has been found on her property and she has learned that her only lodger is a Crow.
- This novel is written very differently from the rest of the series. And I think that is a good thing. It give it a very unique feel that I appreciated and made the story distinct.
- This is a stand alone novel. Given the ending, I don’t think there will be a sequel. These characters could be in more books, but I think as supporting characters.
- Vickie is definitely a real person. She has problems. She has panic attacks. She isn’t the pretties or the smallest and she knows it. And people like her for herself, and how hard she works.
I really liked this book. No Wolves, sadly, but an excellent cast of characters. I really like that everyone in this book, the narrators, thought in more traditional “human” meters. It didn’t feel so foreign when reading.
The romance in this novel is MUCH more read between the lines than most, even more so than the first five novels in this series. That was greatly appreciated and refreshing.
Every character was unique. Sincerely unique. Even the bad guys were all different, even if they treated people differently.
One negative: if you have read the other books, you could figure out where this one was going. When you read it, you will understand. Because that is too much of a spoiler, please see below for more information.
Who should read this book? Most people would like this. Big into romance? Maybe skip this, if you like the mushy/explicit stuff. Otherwise, I think most would appreciate this. There is a lot of world building, a good mystery, and strong characters.
SPOILERS
Okay, so I finished this novel a few days ago (I HAD TO READ BURN BRIGHT, OKAY?), so I will do this paragraph by paragraph and go by my notes to guide me. By that, each paragraph should be a different subject.
Damaged main character – this seems to be a theme in The Others series. Normally, this kind of bothers me. But in these novels, it does make sense. And Bishop has her characters still able to function, for the most part. And in this instance, the woman’s fear of men makes a lot of sense. And I am very glad that, I think clearly, in the end her and Julian, two damaged people in very different ways, ended up together. I also like that Vickie got a good looking guy who loves her and is protective. Sincerely, adore that.
I like that this is a standalone book. Or at least seems to be, given the ending that went a ways into the future.
This book took place a while after the 5th, and in a lot of ways I wish we could have had more Simon. I love Simon. He is my favorite character.
The Chief is interesting, and I am glad they didn’t give him a romantic lead. He was well done, deep, though, other than learning to trust and work with others, I like that his character didn’t change much.
There was no focus on romantic relationships, there there were hints at people trying to get Julian and Vickie together, though Julian wouldn’t let them push her, and that I really appreciated. Sometimes I want that in a book, sometimes I don’t.
This book was so predictable for this universe. Stupid humans underestimate The Others. Seriously, they just went through a period of time called The Predation, and they are still dealing with this? So, that was a little predictable. Even had another group that was against them.
There, done. Read this book in one day.
