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A review by serru
Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop
4.0
This was another enjoyable volume of The Others, although I didn't love it as much as the first one. The book picks up right where the previous one left off, dealing with the origin of the drugs "gone over wolf" and "feel good". At the same time, tension is increasing between humans and the terra indigene due to multiple planned attacks on the Crowgard. Still, the overall story moves at a slow, plodding pace and focuses more of each character's day to day routine, much like in the first book. I find it enjoyable enough to read, but it means the overall story can be lacking in tension and conflict. The "big fight"/climax of the story also happened super quickly and was wrapped up in a couple short chapters, almost as if it was an afterthought.
Meg even takes a more passive role in the story, essentially staying back at the homefront while Simon and the others go out to deal with the murders of the Crows, interact with the policemen, and generally are much more engaged with the world outside of the Courtyard. She wasn't even involved in the climax of the story, which was disappointing. Since she's the main character, I wanted to see her take a more active role in the story, and grow as a person. However, we do learn a lot more about blood prophets, and how the cutting and prophecies affect Meg, and the resolution of this book seems to promise that Meg will play a more important role later on in the series.
Some of Meg's interactions with the Others also seemed downright silly at times, such as when she buys dog beds and dog cookies from a pet supplies store for the Wolves. I guess it's meant to be cute and funny, but it feels a bit jarring and out of place with the darker aspects of the series. Which worked for me in the first volume, but since this is the second in a series, I was hoping for a little more than just a repeat of the previous book. That said, I still really liked this book and am interested in seeing how Meg and Simon's friendship/relationship develops. I had originally thought Meg seemed too naive and young for Simon, but this book makes it clear that Simon really has no clue about human interactions, so he's equally as immature as Meg in this respect and thus it gives their dynamic more balance. It also helps to further establish just how not human the Others are.
Meg even takes a more passive role in the story, essentially staying back at the homefront while Simon and the others go out to deal with the murders of the Crows, interact with the policemen, and generally are much more engaged with the world outside of the Courtyard. She wasn't even involved in the climax of the story, which was disappointing. Since she's the main character, I wanted to see her take a more active role in the story, and grow as a person. However, we do learn a lot more about blood prophets, and how the cutting and prophecies affect Meg, and the resolution of this book seems to promise that Meg will play a more important role later on in the series.
Some of Meg's interactions with the Others also seemed downright silly at times, such as when she buys dog beds and dog cookies from a pet supplies store for the Wolves. I guess it's meant to be cute and funny, but it feels a bit jarring and out of place with the darker aspects of the series. Which worked for me in the first volume, but since this is the second in a series, I was hoping for a little more than just a repeat of the previous book. That said, I still really liked this book and am interested in seeing how Meg and Simon's friendship/relationship develops. I had originally thought Meg seemed too naive and young for Simon, but this book makes it clear that Simon really has no clue about human interactions, so he's equally as immature as Meg in this respect and thus it gives their dynamic more balance. It also helps to further establish just how not human the Others are.