by Terrance McArthur

Details at the end of this post on how to win a copy of this book, along with a link to purchase it where a portion goes to help support KRL and indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy.

The series of The Others books was my first experience with Anne Bishop. I was impressed by Written in Red, went crazy over Murder of Crows, and now the third book, Vision in Silver, keeps her series in my top-tier picks list.

The idea of Cassandra sangue, blood prophets who see images of the future when their skin is cut, was a unique concept. It started with Meg, escaping from a prophecy-for-hire facility, wandering into a compound of shape shifters, elementals, and life-force vampires who are actually the dominant life forms, allowing humans to exist for the sake of the inventions and goods they create. That was another big alternate-reality concept that made it more science fiction than urban fantasy. Meg met Simon Wolfgard, a leader of the Lakeside Compound, and he soon found it hard to think of her as a person and not a food source. As their relationship has become more complicated, the series has gradually broadened its focus, adding more characters and themes.

With Meg’s visions to help the police and the Others, blood prophets have been freed, but there are problems with adapting to their non-institutionalized lives; unlimited stimuli overwhelm them. The police unit and the employees that have learned to work with the Others find themselves targeted by a growing “Humans First, Humans Last” movement, shunned and attacked.

Meg and Simon are still major focuses in the story, and their not-quite-courtship delights in its tentative uncertainty. She is still recovering from a life as valuable property, and she continues to battle the urge to cut herself for the rush it gives her and the anxiety that builds when she doesn’t. Simon doesn’t know what to think of “the Meg,” who doesn’t treat the Compound dwellers with the distrust they receive from most humans. The additional sympathetic human characters in the book begin their own Packs, almost in emulation of the Others.

The themes addressed in this series are seldom addressed in urban fantasy: addiction and recovery (How many cuts before it kills you?), native rights (Whose Land Is It, Anyway?), and mixed relationships (Guess What’s Coming to Dinner). Can I wait until March ‘16 for the fourth Others book, Marked in Flesh? I guess I’ll have to. At least I have the comfort of knowing that a fifth book is in the works.

To enter to win a copy of Vision In Silver, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “Vision,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen May 9, 2015. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address.

Check out more fantasy book reviews in our fantasy and fangs section.

Use this link to purchase this book & a portion goes to help support KRL & it supports an indie bookstore:

Vision in Silver: A Novel of the Others

Terrance V. Mc Arthur is a Community Librarian for the WoW! (WithOut Walls) Division of the Fresno County Public Library, roaming the Valley to meet the public’s information needs.