Reviews

Crowbones by Anne Bishop

ceridwenanne's review

mysterious slow-paced

1.5

Bishop is one of those writers who occasionally hits some serious hind brain stuff. Written in Red, for example, takes a stock Bishop character -- the gormless ingenue whose helplessness inspires devotion -- and makes her work so well you don't even notice how fucking annoying that kind of character is. Furthermore, the world of The Others (which both Written in Red and Crowbones take place in) is the kind of alternate present that I groove on: recognizably modern, but with a large scale disordering element, like the introduction of magic or something similar. (Sunshine by Robin McKinley is a good example.) 

But sometimes Bishop's bad habits and writing tics overwhelm everything, and you end up with Crowbones, a novel in which everyone's motivations are so stupid it's insulting. She's got it out so hard for academics it makes me wonder if a PhD candidate killed her dog or something. I would normally chuck something like this pretty quickly, but I kept hoping it would improve like the previous Others book, which also started out stupid, but then improved drastically as it went on. Alas. 

smgossett77's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

wibberly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

notruse's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

loranmar000's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

smartflutist661's review against another edition

3.0

Kind of disappointing. Vicki remains not my favorite main character, and the rest of the cast doesn't make up for it in this one. Also I feel like hardly anyone got eaten.

lulu_canread's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

yodamom's review against another edition

4.0

Loved revisiting with this world, I miss Lakeside. I know them better and have more time invested in them. I wish they'd mingle a bit more. I loved all parts of this book but felt like it dragged a bit here and there. It could have been me I've been working long hours. When it ended (audiobook) I checked to make sure my batteries didn't die, "no that can't be the end" sadly it was. I hope there will be more

brendalovesbooks's review against another edition

1.0

I really didn't like this. It was so boring and slow moving. I loved the first few books in The Others series, but since then the books have really been hit or miss.

twirlygirl's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

3.0