Written in Red - Anne Bishop [The Others]

Written in Red - Anne Bishop [The Others]
Source: Kindle
Originally Reviewed on Goodreads: January 6, 2016
Rating: ★★★★☆

Umm... wow.

I've been a fan of Bishop's for years. I was introduced to her Black Jewels Trilogy back in 2002, and was hooked on that from page one. After I finished her first round, I went on immediately to The Pillars of the World of the Tir Alainn Trilogy, and following those, absolutely inhaled Sebastian of the Ephemera trilogy.

To say I'm a fan of Bishop's by this juncture would be a bit of an understatement. She has a distinct style that's apparent through all her books, and yet each series she produces is unique. She has either done quite a bit of research on all things Fantasy, or she's just an amazing genius.

Then again, some of the things she manages to tie together absolutely baffle me in their brilliance.

Take Meg, for instance. We quickly learn that she's got some seriously powerful blood. The kind that can make or break businesses - which is why she's running away from someone we eventually get to know as the Controller. What I wouldn't give to get behind that name and find out who our antagonist really was! But alas, he appears to be little more than a plot device. So sad.

Then we get into the fact that humans are considered little more than "meat" - at best, "monkeys." Yet somehow, this Meg manages to weasel her way into a very secretive, close community of Others. Even before they find out about her special blood, and the fact that she is very, very different from other humans. So, there's a lot to Meg. She kind of reminds me of Jarod, from The Pretender back in the day. Used and abused for her special abilities, and then used those special abilities to escape and forge a life for herself elsewhere, with a chosen family of people that would destroy everything they had built with the humans without a second thought, in order to keep her safe.

Aside from the Controller, there really didn't seem to be a clear antagonist. It's obvious that Meg is being hunted, that she has been bred/raised to cut to produce prophecy. She fought back against a system that treated her like a commodity, something to be sold. In fact, the true antagonist in this series doesn't really start to become clear until A Murder of Crows, and even then, it's very ephemeral, and you kind of have to read between the lines to get it.

I'm a picky reader. I read a lot, yes, but 90% of the books I start reading go unfinished (thank the gods for Amazon.com's sample feature!) Plus, Bishop set the bar pretty damned high with her the BJT. Her world and character building skills are second to none, and she skates the edge of the dark like one wrong step is the difference between the razor cutting and passing harmlessly over skin.

Not to Criticize, but...
Her world building in this group of books... lacking. Considering what she did years ago with the BJT, and Tir Alainn and Ephemera? It absolutely does not hold up to the intricate and delicate back and forth developed in the lands of those books. I get that this may have been simple creative license to help us focus more on the characters and events of the story - but after reading the second book, I just don't buy it. There simply wasn't nearly enough time invested in creating a world to support the story she wrote.

So far, the story seems fragmented. We do eventually start to understand the fierce protectiveness the Others feel for Meg, but it's glossed over by the characters almost as an afterthought. I mean, they're so secluded, so anti-human, and the fact that they would destroy an entire city of humans to keep her - another human - safe, doesn't seem to strike them as odd enough to give serious thought to. Very... "eh, it is what it is."


The culmination of Written in Red... what can I say? It vibrated. It resonated with something in me so hard my heart literally fluttered for a solid minute.

True of Blood - Bonnie Lamer [Witch Fairy]

True of Blood - Bonnie Lamer [Witch Fairy]
Source: Don't Remember
Originally Reviewed: April 11, 2015
Rating: ★★★☆☆

What happens when you have ghosts for parents, a full-blood fae for a boyfriend, two half-human fae trying to kill you and a completely human little brother? You have Xandra Smith’s life.

Oh, let’s not forget the fact that her mom is a witch – daughter of the king of the witches, as a matter of fact, and her real father is king of the fae. Which makes her half witch, half fae, with all the magic that goes along with that!

Of course, most of these weren’t relevant until she turned 17, and out of nowhere, her life is changed – permanently.

Before: two ghost parents, little brother Zach, Aunt Barb. Homeschooled in the Colorado mountains. Typical 16-year-old girl with the exception her social life is limited by the fact she lives in the middle of nowhere.

After: One parent is a witch, her dad isn’t her dad, her real dad is fae, two of his followers want to kidnap her, and an opposing fae is committed to saving her, at the risk of his own life.

Yeah, things have certainly changed.

For the first time in her life, Xandra has to leave her home and her parents behind, for both her safety and to protect her family. She has to learn things that, as she hears over and over again, she should have been raised learning. After causing both a rock slide and a full avalanche, things start to change.

Kallen, the full-blood fae who has taken a blood oath to protect her with his life, has transformed himself from a prickly, arrogant, adolescent fae to a more caring, invested and understanding boyfriend. What he was expecting to find in Xandra is not what he found.

While the book ends neatly, all wrapped up in a nice little package, ready to be opened again with the next one, it’s not so easy to wrap up my review.

True of Blood isn’t what’s popular right now. It’s not full of sex, in-your-face rebellious, heroic teenagers, or absentee parents (am I the only one noticing parents in books about teenagers are largely MIA these days?) What True of Blood is, is a brilliant mix of the real and the fantastic. It has all of the elements that would make this a potentially stunning coming of age story, even without the fantasy elements.

With all of the amazing writing going on these days, it’ll likely be a while before I make it on to the next one – it’s just not high on my list of priorities. If I happen across it, however, I will not be adverse to continuing the series.

He's a Magic Man - Susan Squires [Children of Merlin]

He's a Magic Man - Susan Squires [Children of Merlin]
Source: Goodreads Giveaway
Originally Reviewed: January 13, 2014
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I got this as a Goodreads Firstreads win, so I'm going to summarize a few points here while the book is still fresh in my mind since I don't have time for a fully involved review:

1. Felt like it took too long to read.
Why? I'm a fast reader. I can get through the early books of the Wheel of Time in 3-5 days. This one, at (less than) half that, took me to the far end of that scale. The first half of the book kept my interest nice and fast, but the more I read, the less I started caring about what happened to the people, or in general.

2. Been there, done that.
The descendants of Merlin, and people who get their power from Morgan La Fey. Athurian-era artifacts. Anybody remember Stargate SG-1/Atlantis?

3. The raging alcoholic.
Okay, score for throwing this in as a twist, and giving Drew the balls to do what she did. However... we're talking, what, a week? Alcoholism doesn't just go away in a week, no matter how thoroughly detoxed. Sure, throw the magic in and everything's hunky-dory, but there is such a thing as relying TOO MUCH on the magic.

4. Drew's got a pair.
This is one ballsy woman. After what we see her face early on in the book, she seems to have this bottomless pit of determination, while still maintaining a healthy dose of "what if"? (Not like she lets that stop her. Like I said, she's got a pair.) I was cheering her on through the entire detox. That gave a REAL nice balance to the whiny high schooler she became any time her gift/power was involved (No, I'm not putting that bit down - considering her familial status and everything else, it almost makes more sense than just about anything else in the book).

All in all, it felt like the first half of the book is where Squires really took her time and thought out what she was writing. Maybe even first 2/3 - then its almost as if a reminder popped up on the calender and it became, "Oh, crap! Deadline!"

I do plan on reading other books in this series, so I can get a better feel for Squires as an author.