Written in Red by Anne Bishop – Review

Published: March 5, 2013

Publisher: Roc

Series: The Others #1

Genre: Fantasy, Urban

Pages: 433 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 3.75 Stars

Synopsis:
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.

---

So, I’ve been craving urban fantasy romance a la the early 2010’s and The Others totally fit that bill. Little did I know, I would end up binge reading this (audiobook, so technically listening) and I would be thinking about it like two weeks later! Why did I love this so much, especially because my initial impressions were not good??

We are first introduced to Meg Corbyn as she stumbles through a blizzard toward the Lakeside courtyard, home of the area’s supernatural population. She’s a blood prophet and as such, has been held in “protective custody” so that her owners can use her ability for their own gain. Simon Wolfguard, leader of the Lakeside courtyard gives her a job and a place to live that’s generally safe from humans, but the Others are even more deadly. The story is a slow paced one, where we follow Meg as she integrates into courtyard life and makes friends, experiencing the world outside of captivity. It’s honestly delightful. The two other POVs are Simon Wolfguard and Asia Crane, a woman who wants to be an actress but has ended up as somewhat of a corporate spy.

The best part of this is without a doubt the characters. There’s a ton of secondary characters outside of the three main POVs, but I particularly loved Sam and Tess, who are both quite dear to Meg. It was fun to learn about all the different supernatural beings in the courtyard, from the various shifters, to the sanguinati (vampires), and elementals. I didn’t care for some of the more extended worldbuilding. The information given was done with rather inelegant infodumps about this strange, alternate North America. Some of the names were utterly terrible, like they were intended to be placeholders. For instance, their alternate Hollywood is called Sparkletown – that’s like Christmas elf nomenclature! I wanted more information about the wider world, but this book was already somewhat bloated with minutiae. 

Overall, I actually really enjoyed this book and loved the character development even though it was a little cheesy sometimes. There were some genuinely really sweet moments interspersed with some slightly more terrifying moments. The author does a good job of capturing the “otherness” of the supernatural beings, though Simon Wolfguard and many of the other wolves just come off as assholes rather than being particularly “other”. I’m looking forward to checking out the next book soon!