Crowbonesby Anne Bishop
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780593337332
Series: The World of the Others #3
Publication Date: March 8, 2022
Pages: 368
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace
Note: While this is book 3 in the series called The World of the Others, it’s a direct sequel to book 1, Lake Silence. Book 2, Wild Country, is set in a different location in the same world.
4 stars is the lowest I’ve rated any of the books in Bishop’s Others or World of the Others series. Crowbones was good – really good – but not as nearly as compelling as most of the titles.
In part, this might have been because I’d read the jacket flap, which has never been an issue before. But this time it left me with the impression that this story was going to have a locked-room mystery vibe to it, and it didn’t, at all. That’s not a bad thing, and there are murders to be solved, but it jarred with my expectations for the first third of the book. I’d have been better off reading it blind, so to speak.
This book also felt more human-centric in focus than any of the previous books. I can’t actually say it was, I’m just not left with the usual feeling I get from these books: that I’ve visited another reality where humans are only bit players with big ambitions. The others didn’t seem to exude their usual air of menace and, hardly ever had to fight the urge not to eat the annoying humans. I don’t know a thing about Anne Bishop – I’m not the type to research my authors, or visit fan sites, but I get an impression that the MC, Vicki, has a touch of the autobiographical about her. I have less than nothing to base that on; she just reads as though she comes from a very personal place. Whether that’s good or bad depends on your perspective, I guess. I liked that she had no problem laughing at herself, and that she recognised where her anxiety stemmed from, but she also made me roll my eyes more than a few times.
Neither of those things are complaints, really, although I’d have liked to see more large-scale smackdowns. Given that I’ve re-read every one of the other books in both series and every time found something more to like, it may be that once I re-read this one I’ll pick up different nuances I missed this time. Whether I do or not, I really enjoyed Crowbones and my brief holiday in the world of the Others. Call me crazy, but this is a world I’d happily live in.