Reviews

Wild Country by Anne Bishop

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hellobookbird's review against another edition

4.0

HE HAS TEETH. SHE HAS A GUN. THEY ARE THE LAW.

There are ghost towns in the world—places where the humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the shape-shifting Others.

One of those places is Bennett, a town at the northern end of the Elder Hills—a town surrounded by the wild country. Now efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live and work together. A young female police officer has been hired as the deputy to a Wolfgard sheriff. A deadly type of Other wants to run a human-style saloon. And a couple with four foster children—one of whom is a blood prophet—hope to find acceptance.

But as they reopen the stores and the professional offices and start to make lives for themselves, the town of Bennett attracts the attention of other humans looking for profit.

we Lerned from yu.

Bishop has taken out all of the similarities I disliked about [b:Lake Silence|35463752|Lake Silence (The World of the Others, #1; The Others, #6)|Anne Bishop|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1497821052l/35463752._SY75_.jpg|53651626] and left all of the good things. I am so happy she did.

He could tear out Jana Paniccia’s throat before she could blink, but she still filled a room with attitude: I might be smaller, but I can take you. If that wasn’t a wolverine, what was?

Jana Paniccia: unlike Meg or Vicki, Jana is not to be messed with...she isn't nicknamed "Wolverine" by her partner for giggles. She's a mere mortal and throws attitude at an Elder. Like, grrrrrrl! Regardless, I'm most enamored by her sense of duty. She fought through the entire Academy where no one thought a woman had a place. Rewiring herself to fit in with Bennett was hard and we struggled with her as she learned about pack dynamics and how her ethics fit within that hierarchy. Also, can I just say how much I identified with having a girlish dream of being a mounted police officer and being tickled at her getting to do so in Bennett?

Virgil: crotchety werewolf that hates humans because of the mass murder of his pack in prior books makes the most fluffiest grumpy dad ever to a puppy:

"Why did you lock Cowboy Bob in the Me Time cell?"

"He gave the puppy an unauthorized treat." He said that with a straight face, so she looked him in the eyes and said, "Huh."

Like...how can you not??? And I really liked that nothing romantically developed between him and Jana, despite him accepting her in as a pack sister. It really warms my heart that they've made up a unit and helped him. After battles are some of the most touching scenes.

Joshua Painter: holy freaking cow! Raised by pantherguard, Josh may be more Panther than he is human...but that's not all! HO NO. He's the male offspring of the blood prophets. While still mostly a mystery, we do see little hints that Josh has the gift of prophecy and is sensitive...but not really enough to know how it really all works with him. And he has a glove with claws. Bishop, you better give me more of him in future iterations so help me.

Madame Scythe: A Harvester that wants to run an old fashioned frontier saloon with cards, drinks, dancing girls (nothing risque), and called Madame Scythe? Just too perfect.

"Tobias Walker might want to kiss your furless ass, but if you challenge me again, I will discipline you like any other member of the pack and you will feel my teeth. Understand?"

Jesse Walker: Our main Intuit, I like that she's also a strong female character and she's well respected by the leadership of Bennett. Doesn't hurt that her son Tobias is sweet on Jana, either...

Tolya Sanguinati: OH. MY. STARS. A friends with benefits relationship with an intuit and Sanguinati??? I cannot wait to see how far this goes.

The Blackstone Clan: I really liked being able to see what would happen if intuits used their gifts towards the wrong. Thus far, all intuits that have been seen in the Other universe have kept to themselves, ostracized from general society. This time, we get to see a veritable mafia that was created because of those gifts and it was handled extremely well.

Evan Hua and Kenneth Stone: This family slayed me. Evan and Kenneth have a very mixed family and love them enough to move to Bennett in the hopes of their children learning what they can't provide. Charlie Hawkgard, Mason Wolfguard, Zane Coyoteguard, and Maddie. Four children in need, adopted by these two sweet cinnamon Hufflepuffs. I just can't. Oh, my heart.

I absolutely cannot wait to see where Bishop takes us now. Let's hope that she isn't done with Bennett yet.

We are different but we protect our families, whether they are families by blood or by heart. We are different but we are not alone. Never alone. We are here.

Recommended for dark fantasy fans and existing fans of the Others universe.

notruse's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

wibberly's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

yodamom's review against another edition

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5.0

This spin off from The Others places us in a recovering town. One the Elders are watching, and judging to see if there is any reason to cleanse their lands. This is dark side, after the great tearing, ripping and cleansing. There is distrust, dislike and hate, around every edge in this world, building a new community will be harder. They learned.
I think I have a thing for cranky werewolves. I loved Simon in The Others and now Virgil, both cranky, possessive, protective alpha males. While they have that in common they are very different wolves. Virgil is the head of the law in this new town and Jane is his unwanted human deputy. The rest of the town is made up of various Other's and surrounded by Elders. When a request to take in more humans comes, not all the humans are good ones.
If you enjoyed the first series you will love this one.

brendalovesbooks's review

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5.0

I really loved this. It actually took me about 200 pages to get into it, but once I did, it was hard to put down. I haven't liked a book in the Others series this much since book 3.

kzimm2024's review

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4.0

I just really like these books and this world. This one was better than Lake Silence (for me), it felt like old home week. I do agree with other reviews about the violent ending maybe playing out differently but maybe the author is setting it up for a new direction? I sure hope there are more!

This is about Prairie Gold and Bennett, the Intuits with lots of feelings and needing to sort out the rabble. I did not like Abigail, even though we heard her story through her voice, and several others were not characters I enjoyed. Jana and Vigil and Tobias, wonderful. Toyla and Jesse getting it on??? Totally took me by surprise. Where are we going with THAT story, huh.

I still fantasize about how I would fit in to the town of Bennett, what would I do if I needed to stay there? I see myself working with Toyla, helping organize the new people and the logistics of reviving a town decimated by predators. Sign me up!!

What would you do in Bennett??