Review: Written In Red

WRITTEN IN RED
The Others #1
Anne Bishop
Urban Fantasy
433 pages
ROC
Available Now
Source: Bought

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut—a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg’s Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard—a business district operated by the Others.

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she’s keeping a secret, and second, she doesn’t smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she’s wanted by the government, he’ll have to decide if she’s worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow.

MY THOUGHTS

This review is going to be a little less formal than my standard reviews (I can't help the formality usually, writing reviews brings me back to all my essay-writing classes in school!), mostly because I'm enormously late to The Others party and I kind of want to punch myself in the face a little for it.

For the past year I've been in a pretty impressive reading slump. I've picked up a few winners here and there, but by and large the desire to stay up late and give myself a book hangover has been missing. Written in Red broke me out of my slump in spectacular fashion, reminding me what it's like to invent reasons for taking a break from work throughout the day so I can sneak a chapter or two in, and keeping me up all hours of night just so I can find out what happens next.

While plot-wise this first book is largely Meg's day to day life in the Courtyard as she finds a place for herself among the others, there's absolutely nothing slow or boring about it thanks to a brilliant cast of characters from Ms. Bishop. The Others themselves fit their label to a T, their human skin exactly that – a thin veneer hiding something else entirely underneath. From the Crows obsessed with all things shiny to the sugar-obsessed Ponies to the Elementals with city-annihilating tempers, the inhabitants of this utterly refreshing paranormal world are a joy with whom to spend time.

Meg's relationship with Wolf and Courtyard leader Simon is just one of the many fascinating friendships established in this first installment, the potential for romance between them there but buried beneath layers and layers of things they both need to learn about one another as well as themselves. Watching as they attempt to figure one another is out is surely going to be a highlight of this series overall, and I can't wait to start book two (already loaded on my Kindle) and see how Meg's connections to all the extraordinary Others in the Courtyard continue to strengthen and grow.

Rating: 5/5

Find Anne:

Website • Goodreads • Amazon