It Gets Real in Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop

Marked in Flesh

The Others #4

Anne Bishop

Publication Date: March 8, 2016

Genre: Urban Fantasy

For centuries, the Others and humans have lived side by side in uneasy peace. But when humankind oversteps its bounds, the Others will have to decide how much humanity they’re willing to tolerate—both within themselves and within their community...

Since the Others allied themselves with the cassandra sangue, the fragile yet powerful human blood prophets who were being exploited by their own kind, the delicate dynamic between humans and Others changed. Some, like Simon Wolfgard, wolf shifter and leader of the Lakeside Courtyard, and blood prophet Meg Corbyn, see the new, closer companionship as beneficial—both personally and practically.

But not everyone is convinced. A group of radical humans is seeking to usurp land through a series of violent attacks on the Others. What they don’t realize is that there are older and more dangerous forces than shifters and vampires protecting the land that belongs to the Others—and those forces are willing to do whatever is necessary to protect what is theirs…

Review copy provided by publisher thru NetGalley

What more can I say about The Others series that I haven't said in an earlier review? The fourth book, Marked in Flesh, continues the excellent writing, plot development and character exposition that has been done in the previous books. Here, all the threads that were unraveled are being woven together and the seeds sown are beginning to take fruit - Marked in Flesh is the deep breath before the fifth (if the fifth book will be the last), where things will come to a head and learn the fate of all things.

1) I have always had the sense that The Others series is kind of a message from the author. What if Mother Nature fought back? What if she had this preternatural beings who are the teeth and claws of Namid? What if humans were not the dominant species?

2) IT. IS. HAPPENING. It has been happening since the first book but in a kind of slow burn that fascinates the hell out of the Courtyard inhabitants and all the other terra indigene and frustrated the heck out of me. Simon and Meg. It is happening. Their relationship has been unfolding subtly and beautifully, a natural progression of things. And when Simon finally thought those thoughts and he had that conversation with Vlad, I hugged the sails of my ship and sounded the fog horn.

3) It takes a certain skill to establish a world, lay bare the facts of that world, expose the characters to the realities of that world and effortlessly let chips fall where they may in accordance with how those characters, in complete compliance with their natures, interact with the elements.

Notes during reading:

Shit gets real.

It couldn't any more real than finishing the book two hours before dawn the next day.

*HFL vs. terra indigene
*HFL vs. people who like to work wtih terra indigene
*The Elders come out to play
*If our own Mother Nature have teeth and claws this effective, where will we be?
*Humans will be gone in a blink.
*The eff??? Why Joe Wolfgard?
*Simon and Meg. It exists. It's subtle. It just slides in. No one bats an eye.
*If XXX is gone, what happens next?