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Book Reviews of Murder of Crows (Others, Bk 2)

Murder of Crows (Others, Bk 2)
Murder of Crows - Others, Bk 2
Author: Anne Bishop
ISBN-13: 9780451465269
ISBN-10: 0451465261
Publication Date: 3/4/2014
Pages: 448
Rating:
  • Currently 4.4/5 Stars.
 31

4.4 stars, based on 31 ratings
Publisher: Roc
Book Type: Hardcover
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

5 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

ophelia99 avatar reviewed Murder of Crows (Others, Bk 2) on + 2527 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
This was the second book in The Others series by Bishop. This was a wonderful addition to The Others series. It is an awesome world with fabulous characters and an interesting plot. This is one of my favorite paranormal/urban fantasy type series out there right now.

Meg is settling into her new role as human liaison for the terra indigene of the Lakeside Courtyard. Things are going well until Meg has a vision of blood and black feathers in the snow. When Simon Wolfgard finds out about her visions he is worried about an upcoming attack. It seems that there are two new and very addictive drugs on the street, their presence is causing a lot of tension between humans and the terra indigene. As Megs urge to tell prophecy grows more and more urgent she cant help but wonder what sort trouble is going to hit the Lakeside region.

I love this series. I love all of the crazy different types of terra indigene, I love the world in general and the interesting alternate history that is shown here.

The book is set in the Midwest region of the US. However the terra indigene lived here long before humanity did, the terra indigene allow the humans to live in small communities and have trade agreements set up with them. The Lakeside Courtyard is one of the few communities of terra indigene that is trying to work with humans and integrate humans into their community.

Meg is still struggling with her abilities as a cassandra sangue or blood prophet. She needs to occasionally cut herself and give prophecies or the visions will drive her insane. Given her background, Meg has never really been allowed to live her own life as a human. She is still learning a lot about what is normal for a human and what is not. It is interesting to watch her try to determine what is a normal human reaction when she is living in the midst of a bunch of non-humans. These leads to a lot of hilarious situations throughout the book.

Simon Wolfgard is the other main lead in the book. He leads the Lakeside Courtyard terra indigene. Simon is an excellent friend to Meg, but he has trouble understanding humans as well. It is very fun to watch him and Meg try to figure out how to interact and be normal with each other.

We learn a lot more background on the cassandra sangue in this book. We also learn a lot more about the terra indigene and get to meet some of the broader terra indigene community.

There is an excellent plot here, once the police and the terra indigene figure out that some of the unsettling recent events were caused because of an addictive drug they need to figure out both where the drug is coming from and how to stop its distribution. Driving the plot forward is the fact that if these drug distribution is not stopped the terra indigene as a whole have threatened to destroy the Midwest. And they can do it too.if you have elementals on your side and other forces of nature there isnt anything you cant destroy.

The writing is excellently done and flows so well. This is one of those books where you just keep reading and reading and dont realize how fast time has passed. The book is incredibly well balanced; there is excellent world-building, wonderfully engaging characters, and a very well done plot. I just loved everything about this book. It takes a genre that is pretty full (urban fantasy/paranormal) and twists it on its head making it something special and new and interesting.

Overall I just loved everything about this book. I highly recommend it to fans of urban fantasy/paranormal books. The world is fantastic, the characters are engaging, and it is just such a fascinating story to read. I cant wait to read the next book in this series.
KellitaJ avatar reviewed Murder of Crows (Others, Bk 2) on + 550 more book reviews
I really like this series which is a unique story about a different kind of planet Earth with some similar names but a lot of magic and magical characters and creative development of the characters. I was grateful that there are three books out so far in this series in a fourth is upcoming
KellitaJ avatar reviewed Murder of Crows (Others, Bk 2) on + 550 more book reviews
This is a wonderful series about magic different kinds of werewolves and other magical creatures on a different kind of planet Earth. The storyline is well developed and I'm enjoying the characters and the prophets.
miz-firefly avatar reviewed Murder of Crows (Others, Bk 2) on + 112 more book reviews
This series confounds me, but I am absolutely hooked on these books.

From a story perspective It shouldn't work. The Others are so ready to dispose of people who disturb them. They have the right to deal with humans who cause trouble in any way they see fit, and can easily decimate any community they choose to. They may occasionally look human or a reasonable facsimile thereof, but they aren't.

They allow humans to occupy some of their land because humans provide things they like to have. They tolerate people because it is momentarily convenient. But they have the upper hand, and don't give two hoots about humanity.

I would expect beings like that to smash first and not ask questions later. And yet when problems arise Simon's response is usually logical, reasoned, well thought out and geared toward maintaining calm relations with 'the Monkeys'. And the other leaders of the terra indigene - groups who have less contact with humans and who are having much more serious trouble with them are taking their cues from him. WTF? These fearsome creatures who can smash, tear or otherwise rend their way through any resistance keep encountering more and more difficulties with humans, and instead of running with their instincts are behaving LIKE HUMANS. More so than most of the actual humans. When characters don't follow their...for lack of a better word I'll say primary programing it usually interferes with my enjoyment of the story.

And that is my conundrum. Ordinarily inconsistencies like that would drive me right up a tree. But I'm enjoying the so story so much I don't care.
reviewed Murder of Crows (Others, Bk 2) on + 276 more book reviews
Wonderful addition to the series.