Book Review: Murder of Crows

Murder of Crows (The Others #2)  
By Anne Bishop
****

“Are there weapons in a bookstore?'
'It's a store full of books, which are objects that can be thrown as well as read,' Monty replied blandly.
The Crows cocked his head. 'I had no idea you humans lived with so much danger.”
― Anne Bishop, Murder of Crows

I am finding myself completely involved in this series. In this sequel (to Written in Red), Meg is a little more settled in the Courtyard, and the terra indigene (the Others) welcome her as their own, but where the conflict began in the first book, we now take the next step.

In most stories, I find myself rooting for the underdog; I think most people do. In this series, the terra indigene, though they can die, are far stronger than the humans (and elementals are off-the-charts BAMFs - do not tick off an elemental or their ponies!). The terra indigene had the "Americas" first - they just let humans rent space. And the humans are expected to follow certain rules (like don't pollute the water) or else they won't receive the natural resources they need OR they'll be evicted off the land OR they'll be eaten. 

In this world, even though the terra indigene are clearly NOT the underdogs, I'm still totally rooting for them. While not all humans are bad, and in fact, many are doing good things to pave the way for a more balanced relationship with the Others, there are some nasty pieces of work among the human element. These particular humans do some truly heinous things that were a little difficult to read - the text didn't get particularly graphic, but it only takes a few words to get a horrible mental image of what they're doing. So I was definitely cheering on the Wolves and Others as they tried to figure out who and where these problem people were. I love me some comeuppance, and the Others can certainly dish it out.

In addition to this main story arc, we are introduced to a new people group, the Intuits, and we get a little more detail into the Humans First and Last movement. We also see a relationship developing between Meg and Simon, though neither of them have any idea about how relationships work in general, so that was fun to read - it added a little lightness to some of the darker elements of the story.

Highly recommended.