Have you ever read a book, and the world the author created was so mesmerizing that you wish you could visit? A few books have sparked my imagination like no other, and made me wish I could visit the world’s the authors’s C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowlings, JRR Tolkien and Ann Bishop have created. Bishop’s world in ‘The Others’ Series is enthralling, unique as it is riveting in it’s uniqueness; but also easy for the reader to understand, so that the story flows naturally; despite the foreign land the reader is thrust into. Bishop’s writing is brilliant and her urban fantasy world building is imaginative and fascinates me. Her world construct is multifaceted and the characters that inhabit the world are prismatic, with so many layers and nuances. It is easy to set down with one of her ‘Others’ books and get lost in time and space. As I swore I would only read one more chapter, and found myself hours later still lost in Vision in Silver. (Yes I have recommended it to readers and in the middle of the night they have texted me saying they are still awake reading Bishop)
Her third book in the series is Vision in Silver, and the plot picks up right where book two A Murder of Crows leaves off. War is on the horizon. The question that is up in the air is can the inhabitants of the Lakeside Courtyard change the tide that is coming. The fate of the humans of Thasia could very well depend on how the Lakeside Courtyard, handles it’s community. For those of you who haven’t read the prior books below is a simple primer.
Easiest way to explain the world that Bishop has created is to use points that the readers are familiar with in our collective history. So Thasia is the land of Bishop’s world, humans crossed the Atlantik to a new world, they had already spread out in Cel-Romano (kinda Europe) and had learned that earth natives (indigenes inhabitants) pretty much owned the world and the humans were the ‘new kids’ on the block. Upon arrival in Thasia humans were eventually allowed to stay, after some humans unfortunately became snacks to the earth natives. The earth natives let them stay and lease land and human settlements grew. The earth natives who deal with humans are called terra indigene; they can take on human shape; but they are not human. It is made clear in these books that they have never been human, they can wear the skin of a human; but they will always be earth natives. They are at heart animals, wolves, bears, crows, owls, etc. But even these are not their original shapes as they have learned to adapt, to what is around them. So humans aren’t the dominate predator in the world. Makes for a very interesting novel and series.
The world of the ‘Others’ is represented by the Courtyard in Lakeside, in the Eastern part of Thasia. I won’t tell the reader where this is, because the fun of these books is the world building, and spoiling would be wrong. Meg Corbyn is still struggling to learn how to live, as a blood prophet, outside of the confines of the institutionalized prison where she was raised. She is no longer the only blood prophet in the outside world. Meg and the other blood prophets struggle in the world that is too loud, too busy and with too much stimulation; which only make the girls want to cut. Their struggles are not easy to read, and what humans have done to these girls was horrendous. How the ‘Others’ who are seen by many as animals react is what makes the divide between humans and ‘others’ so stark. As an other would never ever hurt or not care for their young; their very future. The events in this book are at sometimes hard to read, as mans inhumanity of man is great; and seeing humans through the ‘Others’ eyes is frightening. As I read the book, I got a sense of those characters that really do see the ‘Others’ as uniqued and valued and those humans who are just giving lip service to what the ‘Others’ want. The ‘Others’ aren’t used to people talking out both sides of their mouths, or stabbing someone in the back. It is not the nature of the ‘Others’ to speak falsely. They are straight forward being. The humans of Thasia, who want more and more, without the ‘Others’ interference are making themselves known.
No one can write a story like Ms. Bishop or encompass a reader’s imagination in such a uniquely structured world. The depth in the characters relationships with each other is powerful, as every character in and about the courtyard is fleshed out and complete, no characters background story is lacking. Meg one of the main, is experiencing more stressors in this book, which makes her want to cut to escape. She is going to have to learn to live in the bigger world or she will end up making one cut too many. It demonstrated that Meg was not that far removed from the other cassandra sangue ‘blood prophets’, that she was still struggling. Simon Wolfgard is coming to terms with what Meg means to him and the other inhabitants in the courtyard. Meg’s influence on the Lakeside Courtyard residence and some of the humans who work there has been profound. The ‘Others’ and Simon in particular, are struggling with their instincts versus human social mores; when interacting with humans, and in Simon’s case be with Meg? Simon even wonders if he can become human enough for Meg? As these are creatures that have adapted throughout time, it isn’t a jump for their next adaptation to be to human. Can what is happening in the Lakeside Courtyard, influence the rest of Thasia. Yes, war is coming; and the Lakeside Courtyard and Meg Corbyn along with Simon Wolfgard are at ground zero.
This book and serious is phenomenal and is book a like crowing about.
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Um. About 20 pages are misprinted and basically unreadable?
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