Murder of Crows - Book Review

Murder of Crows (The Others #2)
by Anne Bishop

What is it about:
After winning the trust of the terra indigene residing in the Lakeside Courtyard, Meg Corbyn has had trouble figuring out what it means to live among them. As a human, Meg should be barely tolerated prey, but her abilities as a cassandra sangue make her something more.

The appearance of two addictive drugs has sparked violence between the humans and the Others, resulting in the murders of both species in nearby cities. So when Meg has a dream about blood and black feathers in the snow, Simon Wolfgard—Lakeside's shape-shifting leader—wonders whether their blood prophet dreamed of a past attack or of a future threat.

As the urge to speak prophecies strikes Meg more frequently, trouble finds its way inside the Courtyard. Now the Others and the handful of humans residing there must work together to stop the man bent on reclaiming their blood prophet—and stop the danger that threatens to destroy them all.

What did I think of it:
I really liked the first book in this series, but not enough to pay 18 Euro for this book. So I was all set to wait until the release of the paperback next year, when I got the hard cover as a present from a friend.

And this is another cool read.

I will confess i have a few reservations about this book though.

I do find the behavior of the Others towards humans... disturbing at times. They punish a whole town for the actions of a few of its inhabitants for example. If this behavior was displayed by humans towards a supernatural race, or humans towards a human minority I think everybody would agree it is clear who the bad guys are. But because it's the otherworldly Others it is implied it's just how they are and instead of the Others being the bad guys, they are painted as the good guys and the humans as the misbehaving monkeys.

Now I will have to say that a large part of the story is about the Others working towards understanding humans better, but still these incidents where they punish those who haven't done anything wrong are never mentioned as anything that shouldn't have happened. Well... It's mentioned that the humans shouldn't have acted like they did...

Ok. Now that I've got that grumble out of the way, let's talk about the good stuff.

Just as in the first book the world building is really intriguing and cool. Apart from their holier than humans attitude the Others are really cool as well. I really liked reading about all the different kinds of supernaturals.

I must say I liked Mary Sue Meg a lot more in this book than in the last one. She's starting to become more relatable. Simon was much more likable in this book as well, and I enjoyed seeing their relationship develop.

All in all I think this is a really cool series, even with the grumbles I have about some things, and I will certainly get my trotters on book three. Although I won't be buying the Hard cover, so unless I'm lucky once more, it will be a long wait.

Why should you read it:
It's a cool Urban Fantasy read.