ABOUT THE BOOK
Author: Anne Bishop
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Format: eBook
Published March 5th 2013 by Roc
No one creates realms like "New York Times "bestselling author Anne Bishop. Now in a thrilling new fantasy series, enter a world inhabited by the Others, unearthly entities--vampires and shape-shifters among them--who rule the Earth and whose prey are humans.
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.
BOOK REVIEWBefore I start this review, I would like to say thank you to Anne Bishop for not taking an Urban Fantasy template, rearranging some of its elements and calling it a day! I could just give you a big, fat, wet kiss right now for not wasting my time.
When they said that no one creates realms like Anne Bishop, they were not lying. I was very impressed with her world-building skills, from simple details like renaming the days of the week to creating a spectacularly dark and twisted history of mankind and otherkind, she had put the capital E in Effort. Though her map-drawing skills kind of sucked, it was ultimately forgiven.
As the book blurb stated, this novel is about a blood prophet and human-eating shifters and vampires. Meg Corbyn is a human blood prophet who would rather die than return to her escaped prison/institution. And when you spend your free time trying not to kill yourself by excessive cutting, that is saying a lot. After she stumbled into theclutcheslife of broody and will-seriously-ripped-off-your-throat-and-some-other-bits-when-pissed Simon Wolfgard, he became confused on whether to eat her or shampoo her stinky hair.
Simon is the Lakeside Courtyard leader and reluctantly hired Meg as the new Human Liaison. Being a Human Liaison is a fairly easy job, so easy that previous liaisons were either lazy bums or rule breakers. No one held the position for a long time and since Meg was neither lazy nor stupid, she became an indispensable employee. Not to mention that she was well-liked by the monsters.
After they're done with you, the butcher's shop will have special meat for sale. *shudders
And speaking of monsters, these are the Earth Natives: weres, vampires and other nasty beings that ruled the whole continent of Thasia (North America). As a short comparison, Earth Natives are like the Native Americans and Humans, the European Colony, except that the Earth Natives were not colonized (duh?!) and they leased the land to the humans with a huge string attached. I will not elaborate on the political aspect of the continent, you just have to read the history included in the book.
I liked how the villains were depicted in the story and strangely, all of them were humans. They were so crazy and evil that they had me rooting for Meg and her band of monsters the entire time. Leave the man-eating monsters alone!!!
If I have to describe this novel in one word it would be dark. The kind of you-don't-want-read-this-while-eating-something dark and so-the-plot-thickens dark. I have a very tough stomach for gore but there were some parts of this novel that made me a little bit squeamish and I loved it. The only thing that I could possibly complain about this book is that Meg is too likable that it's a bit questionable.
And so, I will abruptly end this review with the note: Come to the dark side, we havedoggybiscuits and comfy beds!
I loved this book! Great review!
ReplyDeleteHi Maggie! Thanks for stopping by. This is actually the first time I read a work from this author, I'm so glad that I did not regret it.
DeleteI've wanted to get my hands on this for a long, long time. I'm going to have to give it up and buy it at some point.
ReplyDeleteThou shall stop resisting! Lol. Go for it, Lyn! You have my support.
DeleteOh my gosh I LOVED this book. It is seriously now among my new favorite urban fantasy series. and "will-seriously-ripped-off-your-throat-and-some-other-bits-when-pissed " YES! isn't he amazing. I can't wait til you read the next one! Its even darker!
ReplyDeleteAs for this author's other books I hear they are COMPLETELY different. two people I know fell into "i must read more by this author right now" and were shocked at the difference. So if you end up going that way also fair warning.
I love Simon and his confusion with Meg. I'm actually reading book 2, just couldn't finish it because I'm BUSY not because I don't like it. Totally agree that it's way darker than book 1. So many murders, the deranged girl in me loved it. Hehe. Ok, creepy mode off.
DeleteThanks for the warning! I heard her first series is more high fantasy with disturbing sex stuff. I'm not sure I'm ready for that... yet. Lol