Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Marked in Flesh
The Others #4
Anne Bishop

ROC
February 7, 2017 / ISBN 9780451474483
Fantasy

Reviewed by Jan Fields

 

In the world of this series, life is very different. Humans and Others live in an uneasy and fragile truce where trust is hard to come by. The Others believe humans are a threat to the planet. Humans believe the Others are dangerous to their existence. That delicate world is threated by the Human First and Last Movement, a violent hate group that believe the Others can be exterminated. As a timely commentary on hate crime, greed, and the fragility of the planet, the book was compelling. It was also sometimes funny, and sometimes more than a little frightening. I liked how the author left much of the horror of the Elders to our imaginations; I know my imagination can be pretty scary. I loved the Wolves and their attempts to understand humans. And I found the blood prophets to be an interesting balance of endearing innocence and creepiness. The book bounced between different places and different groups, giving the reader a lot of characters to follow. This could sometimes be confusing. Though it is an accessible novel even when it's your introduction to the series (as it was with me), I suspect I could sort out the different kinds of Others better if I'd been following the books all along. Still, this seems like it would be a pivotal book in the series, as the world at the end is considerably changed from its state at the beginning. That does make me look forward to the next book and my chance to see where Bishop goes with these characters.

Reviewed 2017
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