Book Jacket:
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.
You can read an excerpt here.
Review:
If you’re a fan of Urban Fantasy, at some point you’ve probably trolled bookstore and library shelves, fingers trailing over the endless covers of black-leather-wearing-chicks, wishing you could find a new series to get excited about, a series that wasn’t just more of the same. Well, look no further ladies and gents, because this book is it. I haven’t enjoyed the debut of an Urban Fantasy series this much since I picked up Ilona Andrews’ Magic Bites.
Having never read Anne Bishop before, I literally had no idea what to expect when I picked this book up – but I downright loved what I found. First and foremost, I LOVED how Meg wasn’t your typical, ridiculously-lethal-badass UF heroine. So often in Urban Fantasy there’s some trick of magic or heritage, some short-cut (or as I think of it, cheat) that enables the leading lady to suddenly be able to wrestle vampires with one arm tied behind her back, or flatten them like pancakes with her magic. And honestly, that set-up always irks me to no end because, having grown up on a steady diet of Tamora Pierce, to believe in a heroine’s bad-assery I need to see the marks of sweat, blood, and tears, the sacrifices she’s made to be able to slay those dragons (which is why I love Kate Daniels). But while Meg may not be lethal, or imposing in any way in the physical sense, don’t for one second think she’s not a fighter. Even after being deliberately raised in such a way as to make her helpless in the real world, Meg still has the courage to escape, the determination to dare live among monsters to protect herself, and the will to try and figure out how to manage a type of magic that could easily kill her, a magic that carries a heavy price of pain and weakness. And I just loved everything about it – I LOVED that there were no free handouts in this story when it came to magic or ability, and that Bishop chose to showcase inner strength over the physical. And watching Meg set out to dismantle her own ignorance and face down the terrifying unknown armed only with sheer stubbornness made me absolutely love her.
And as for the scary monsters Meg finds herself living among, they are one and all fantastic. The usual suspects are all here – vampires, werewolves, shapechangers, and more besides – but what Bishop does so brilliantly is underscore just how Other they truly are. These Terra Indigene can take the form of humans, but that does not make them human – and Bishop shows us how differently they process the world, and how quickly they consider killing and eating the humans that irritate them. Which makes it all the more wonderful when Meg stumbles into their lives and, just by being her pesky human self, sets them all on their ears. And watching that dance, as Meg tries to figure out how to navigate this sea of monsters and the monsters try to figure out what to do with her, is very, very entertaining.
In the end, the heart and soul of this story is the wonderful cast of characters we get to spend time with – though the threat against Meg makes for a solid arc and finale, plus there’s also an interesting larger question established for the series going forward. But still, this is definitely a getting-to-know-you, new-girl-in-a-small-town kind of story, and I just utterly fell in love with it. And now I can’t wait to get back to the Courtyard.
Byrt Grade: A
As Levar Burton used to say – you don’t have to take my word for it…
Kirkus Reviews (starred review) says:
…a stunningly original yarn, deeply imagined, beautifully articulated and set forth in clean, limpid, sensual prose. A must for fans desperate to move beyond boilerplate urban fantasy.
…great world-building, humorous dialogue, and genuinely touching moments here and there. I also liked that the book didn’t fall into predictable PNR/UF patterns of relationship behavior…All in all, a strong start to a great series.
All of the myriad characters in this tale, whether protagonists or minor players, are mesmerizing and beg for further exploration. At times brutally realistic, there is also an air of sweetness in this novel that focuses on a young woman’s fight for freedom. Awe-inspiring and absolutely not to be missed!
now i really want to read this. i need a new good uf series.