I just finished racing, I mean reading, Anne Bishop’s the Others 5 book series (see photos for individual novel titles). I could not stop reading it! The story just clicked and I needed to see what would happen to everyone. I will admit, I am one of those that might hop onto Goodreads to see if there is an end to a series or if there will be more books… no spoilers though. I have to draw the line somewhere. When I saw that there was an actual end (not counting the spin off series, Wahoo!) I knew I was happily in trouble, and sleep would be in peril. It helps that this series is best read as one long, continuous “book”, rather than a book here and a book there. The horror will enthrall you and you embrace why it needs to be there. The lives of the characters will peak your interest to see how they can, or if they can, live together peacefully. You’ll ponder if the Others will finally eradicate all the humans or what?! Ultimately, the Others rule this fantasy world, however, the humans have somehow forgotten it. Gulp…
Anne Bishop creates a world where humans and Others (Elementals, shifters and Tera Indigna) try to live in an everyday world together. There are strict boundaries, rules and expectations. Defiance, mostly by humans, will be punished with swift and violent justice by the shifters and Sanguinetti. Humans are only meat after all.
The series unfolds with the author introducing Meg, a cassandra sangue, or sweet blood, who has escaped captivity from her controller. She is a blood prophet. She needs to hide and she wants to survive. She finds herself following visions to the Lakeside settlement, controlled by the various forms of shifters, and is beyond reach of human law. Meg is the butterfly whose wings cause unknown changes that will forever affect the world as the characters know and understand it. Meg is both feared and coveted for her abilities but fragile because even a paper cut can cause a vision of the future, all at great cost to her and the safety of the Others.
The language is descriptive and visceral. You can feel yourself in the midst of everything, visualizing it, smelling it, watching it as the crows flying above it all might see the world, while rooting for various sides and characters. To be honest, I just wanted the Others to win the wars. You’re amused at the shifters trying to figure out Meg and how to help her. She’s not meat like most humans. You love that the characters are drawn to the wonderful kooky person Meg is. They want to protect her, help her, and be around this innocent strong woman. You meet vampires, shifters, elementals and their amazing ponies that command specific natural disasters, the keepers of the earth, amazing humans, and awful humans.
For the romantics our there- There is a romance sewn into the story but it’s only tugged here and there. I would describe it as you would watching two best friends, who people assume are together but aren’t romantically together…yet. You secretly wish they would try dating and kiss, becoming more, but fear what would happen if it failed. They are so in sync it would be unfathomable to not see them together as one whole. Myself, I really wanted the romance to happen, to show promise quicker but that’s not true to the world the Others and humans live in. However, there is love and it does bloom.
This series has intense moments, charming moments, side stories you hope don’t last long as you try to get back to the main story. Yes, I admit to impatience. The author creates a pace I had to force myself to stop reading rather than what my brain kept whispering, “Just one more section, one more chapter.” What is going to happen next?! How are they going to figure out what will really occur and what will the future really look like! I was on the fake edge of my seat, cuddled in my bed, devouring these books to see what would happen. I would definitely recommend this series for readers of fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal, light romance readers wanting to expand their bookshelves, and fans of Patricia Briggs or other Anne Bishop novels.
