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Friday 11 July 2014

Review: Written in Red by Anne Bishop

Written in Red (The Others #1) by Anne Bishop
Narrated by: Alexandra Harris
Publisher: Penguin Audio/NAL
Length: 18 Hours 32 Minutes
Audiobook Publication date: March 5th 2013
My rating: 5 stars 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91378.Speak_No_Evil

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.



My Thoughts:
I’ve been eager to pick up Written in Red for some time after hearing so much praise for the story, and now I’m sorry I didn’t make time sooner because it was amazing!

This story is set in a world where there are humans and the Others: shapeshifters, vampires, elementals and unknown otherworldly creatures who view humans as “clever meat”.  Their relationship is tenuous at best, but also symbiotic since each group has come to rely on the other for goods and supplies. By far, though, the Others have the upper hand in this world.

As a blood prophet or cassandra sangue, Meg Corbyn has lived a life imprisoned, enslaved and viewed as property. The prophecies Meg sees are highly profitable to a man called The Controller, so when she escapes Meg must find a safe place to avoid recapture.   She stumbles into the Lakeside Courtyard, an Others settlement, and acquires the job of Human Liaison and it seemed as though she was jumping from the frying pan into the fire, but Meg weaves her way into the Others’ hearts regardless of the fact that she’s a human. She wins them over with her efforts to do a good job as the Liaison, truly caring for others whether they are human or the Others, and in the process she becomes special to the Others.

Even Simon, Lakeside’s leader and wolf shifter softens towards Meg in spite of their rocky start. Her friendship and influence on Sam, a little traumatized wolf shifter and Simon’s nephew, plays a big role in his softening. Her friendship and interactions with Sam, her little “adventure buddy” made my heart swell!

There isn’t a romance yet but there are hints and groundwork laid in this installment for one. Watching it take shape was satisfying and of course, I hopefully scrutinized every interaction!  

The constant threat of The Controller and his efforts to reacquire Meg provided suspense, danger, and action that had me anxiously turning the pages! The Others provided her with protection he didn’t count on, but that didn’t stop me from being very afraid for Meg, especially as more of her life in the Controller’s compound was revealed.  Evil man!

I just LOVED this story soooo much, and I doubt I’m doing it justice with my review but I highly recommend it! I couldn’t get enough. I bought both the e-copy and audible version and switched back and forth.  Even when I finished the e-copy at home, I listened to the remaining hours on the audio version because the story is that good. I will definitely re-read Written in Red and Murder of Crows (which I read immediately after) before the next book is released, not because I’ll need a refresher, but because I want to relive the stories again! 

Alexandra Harris' narration was low key and perfect! I loved are her wolf howl arroooohs!
  


 

19 comments:

  1. Wheeee, Rachel! This review is giving me the warm fuzzies. I always get happy when I find someone read WRITTEN IN RED for the first time and end up loving it to bits. This one is my favorite Paranormal book of all time, and rightly so, because you are right and I agree with you on all accounts that you mentioned here. I'm so excited since this series is going to be stretched until Book 5. WHEEEEEEEE!!!!

    Faye at The Social Potato

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  2. Wow, Rachel! Your review makes me yearn to read this book! I used to read Paranormal and Urban Fantasy books all the time before I drown myself in YA haha. x) This book sounds like a total goodness! <3 The worldbuilding seems very well-built. :) I hope this book is a page-turning for me as well! :)

    Fabulous review, hun! :)

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    1. I hope you read this, Hilda! I can't wait to see what you think! :)

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  3. Ooh, yet another 5 star review for this novel! I am most definitely reading this book sometime--hopefully by the end of next year. I love the sound of this series and I like how there isn't a romance but one that could develop into one in the first instalment.

    Lovely review, Rach! <33

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  4. I seriously need to get to this one. I have heard such amazing things about it and I know it is amazing. I can see it from your review so yeah I'm going to read it soon. I'm so glad you enjoyed it too. Great review, Rachel :)

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  5. Rachel, I've been hearing so many great things about this book and now you come in and write this gorgeous review. I bought the first book and I'm thinking I need to read it soonish. Also, I already think I'm going to adore Sam and Meg's relationship. It sounds too cute!
    I'm excited to meet Simon. I'm glad to hear that the romance is very slow. I think I'm going to like that very much.
    Gorgeous review, Rachel. :)

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    1. Thank you, Nick. I think you'd like this even if you're not a big fantasy/UF fan. It's such awesome story! :)

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  6. I absolutely loved this one too, Rachel! I think there's something about tales with heroines who don't seem all that strong but grow to display so much inner strength that works for me. Plus, I love when a heroine moves into a community and manages to change the environment around her by fitting into it and forging such lovely friendships. It's such a heart-warming journey and the slow-burn romance only added to the beauty of this book. Fantastic review, dear--can't wait to see what you make of the sequel!

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  7. This has been on my wish list for such a long time too. I'm glad that you finally got to read it and found it to be awesome!! Makes me even more excited!! Love that the romance is building up slow.

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  8. Lovely review, Rachel. I know Written in Red is good but your review just made me want to run to our local bookstore and grab a copy of this one. I really appreciated that the romance aspect is slow-burning and carefully laid out in this installment. And Meg sounds like a protagonist I could really care for. Awesome!

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  9. Humm... so many mixed reviews for this ones! But it has a great average rating on GR and I trust your reviews so yeah, why not? Just the lack of romance that makes me hesitate but guess I'll dive myself as much as I can into some swoony romance before picking this up. What do you think, huh, Rachel? LOL. Fantastic review!

    Lola@Seeing Night Reviews

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    1. I'm a total romance junkie, Lola, so I understand your reluctance on hearing that, but trust, this is sooo good. And there is a romance in the works. As a reader you see it from a mile away and the prospect and developing friendship makes the story! Hope you love it like I did. :)

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  10. Yay! I'm so in love with this series so I'm very happy to see that you also had a wonderful time with it. You'll see book 2 is amazing as well!

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  11. Oh, yay! So happy you loved it. Almost everyone does :) Haha. I'd love to meet this Sam ;) The Controller sounds like.. lol, well, a control freak :D Sounds like the making of a great villain, if you ask me though. So happy you enjoyed the audio as well :)

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  12. I really think I haven't read one bad review for this series yet! Now I KNOW I need to read it asap because you loved it so much. Gosh, I need to catch up!

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  13. I've only heard great things about this series, I have it on my wishlist for ages. After your review I want to read it even more.

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  14. The suspense and danger as well as having the groundwork for more romance are great elements and wonderful to hear you enjoyed this one.

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  15. YAYYYYYY. I need to audio these. I just love how rich this series is. And the sloooowwww burn between Simon and Meg is just beautiful. It gets even better in the next story, because they have no idea what is happening but they're so drawn to each other. Plus all of the world building is strong and I've fallen in love with so many characters. Meg's interactions with Sam were some of my favorite moments in this book. I will be rereading this before book 3 too! Great review <3

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  16. Now that you mentioned the audio version, I'll have to check it out! I read this one and its sequel a while back and I just adored the characters! Sam is so adorable and I love Meg's personality. Can't wait to see what you think of book two. :)

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