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A review by ljcarey011
Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop
3.0
While I loved the first book, something changed for me in this book. Maybe it's because the last book focused more on Meg and the "bad people" who she'd been dealing with, while the human/Other conflict kept the background busy and interesting. In this book the conflict was more at the forefront, or I just noticed it more and I wasn't fond of it.
Here is where my problem lies:
The bad guys as they are presented to us are the humans. They are invaders from a foreign continent. Of course, even on their home continent they are trapped on managed areas of land and live at the behest of the Others, who aren't exactly benevolent dictators. So, yes, they form groups like Humans First and Last, because they are persecuted and threatened for breaking arbitrary rules that are defined by an outside culture/race/species. So, bad guys? Of course, within that core are bad people who are using and abusing the prophets, but your average individual doesn't even know who they are, and the Others don't even know the prophets are being used like this so they don't even have that as an excuse for their actions. Then, you have the good guy Others who at a slight to one of their kind will wipe out all the humans with impudence. In fact, they control every resource the humans have access to and invest only in what they like. Of course the humans here are admittedly invaders to a non-native continent, but the ones back home "where they belong" are getting treated just as badly. So, the books are written in such a way that everyone works with the Others to keep the killing from happening primarily by getting done whatever the Others like, and the Others pretty much put up with them because one little individual is "special" to them and the rest can die in fire and flood and they really don't care, because they are lesser beings to be put up with.
There are literally no good guys here, just a lot of innocent humans who are oppressed and angry, some bad humans who are fighting back, and abusive to humans and Others alike, and the Others, who almost as a whole put up with us like livestock they can euthanize whenever they would like, except for a few pets they really enjoy and find amusing. When I could ignore this and root for Meg, one of the only true innocents and the Others who are protecting her it was great, but the constant reminder that the Others would wipe out even innocents to protect the few innocents they like they are less nature spirits and more human than is comfortable, even as the author tries to convince you this is "nature" and not "human nature". Hardly. Nature kills simply because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Elementals kill everyone because the only human they like was injured by a few bad people. Then the argument is made people need to see the Others as one of them and also defer to everything they want or else die. Gee, I wonder why the humans hate Others and the people seen supporting the Others?
I almost feel bad for liking this book, but in the end I am attached to Meg, and I love the elemental ponies, so I want the next book but I hope the Others continue the softer face and realize even outside scared humans shouldn't be eaten and maybe given a little freedom to actually survive outside of water taxes and gasoline tickets.
Here is where my problem lies:
The bad guys as they are presented to us are the humans. They are invaders from a foreign continent. Of course, even on their home continent they are trapped on managed areas of land and live at the behest of the Others, who aren't exactly benevolent dictators. So, yes, they form groups like Humans First and Last, because they are persecuted and threatened for breaking arbitrary rules that are defined by an outside culture/race/species. So, bad guys? Of course, within that core are bad people who are using and abusing the prophets, but your average individual doesn't even know who they are, and the Others don't even know the prophets are being used like this so they don't even have that as an excuse for their actions. Then, you have the good guy Others who at a slight to one of their kind will wipe out all the humans with impudence. In fact, they control every resource the humans have access to and invest only in what they like. Of course the humans here are admittedly invaders to a non-native continent, but the ones back home "where they belong" are getting treated just as badly. So, the books are written in such a way that everyone works with the Others to keep the killing from happening primarily by getting done whatever the Others like, and the Others pretty much put up with them because one little individual is "special" to them and the rest can die in fire and flood and they really don't care, because they are lesser beings to be put up with.
There are literally no good guys here, just a lot of innocent humans who are oppressed and angry, some bad humans who are fighting back, and abusive to humans and Others alike, and the Others, who almost as a whole put up with us like livestock they can euthanize whenever they would like, except for a few pets they really enjoy and find amusing. When I could ignore this and root for Meg, one of the only true innocents and the Others who are protecting her it was great, but the constant reminder that the Others would wipe out even innocents to protect the few innocents they like they are less nature spirits and more human than is comfortable, even as the author tries to convince you this is "nature" and not "human nature". Hardly. Nature kills simply because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Elementals kill everyone because the only human they like was injured by a few bad people. Then the argument is made people need to see the Others as one of them and also defer to everything they want or else die. Gee, I wonder why the humans hate Others and the people seen supporting the Others?
I almost feel bad for liking this book, but in the end I am attached to Meg, and I love the elemental ponies, so I want the next book but I hope the Others continue the softer face and realize even outside scared humans shouldn't be eaten and maybe given a little freedom to actually survive outside of water taxes and gasoline tickets.