debwendler's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
reginasage's review against another edition
4.0
Well-written, funny, charming. There were several scary bits. Bishop built tension to the finale very nicely, and surprised me with a happy ending. No more romance than the first, but I still have hopes it will unfold!
Things I really liked: Character! If you've been following my reviews, you know character depth/development is important to me. Meg, as a character, is kind of bland, she's pretty perfect and doesn't do much wrong... But she still somehow captivates me. Maybe because she's trying to find herself but isn't being a whiny child about it? Simon is your typical alpha dude, but he's so confused and it is absolutely delightful. Vlad is mysterious and kind. Basically, most of the characters are only good, they try to improve themselves, try to have good communication skills, and everything bad that happens to mess up their relationships are accidents or bigger world events that people can't fix. It is a refreshing way to handle the book's coming-of-age and chosen-one tropes, imho.
Things I didn't care much about: the world history. The inclusion of the history blurb at the front of each book makes sense of the rest of the details, but I feel like Bishop was forced to include this by someone else, like an editor. I think readers could have figured it out, and I think Bishop is skilled enough that they could have written it so readers figured it out along the way. It just seemed like a forced explanation that really wasn't needed as much.
Bonus thing I loved: the notes under the maps. From one geographically challenged author to another: I feel you!
Things I really liked: Character! If you've been following my reviews, you know character depth/development is important to me. Meg, as a character, is kind of bland, she's pretty perfect and doesn't do much wrong... But she still somehow captivates me. Maybe because she's trying to find herself but isn't being a whiny child about it? Simon is your typical alpha dude, but he's so confused and it is absolutely delightful. Vlad is mysterious and kind. Basically, most of the characters are only good, they try to improve themselves, try to have good communication skills, and everything bad that happens to mess up their relationships are accidents or bigger world events that people can't fix. It is a refreshing way to handle the book's coming-of-age and chosen-one tropes, imho.
Things I didn't care much about: the world history. The inclusion of the history blurb at the front of each book makes sense of the rest of the details, but I feel like Bishop was forced to include this by someone else, like an editor. I think readers could have figured it out, and I think Bishop is skilled enough that they could have written it so readers figured it out along the way. It just seemed like a forced explanation that really wasn't needed as much.
Bonus thing I loved: the notes under the maps. From one geographically challenged author to another: I feel you!
crasscasualty's review against another edition
3.0
Still really like the world, but Meg pretty much did nothing but sit in the background and let other people save her. Not really great characteristics for a protagonist.
rebeccazh's review against another edition
Reread this, Written in Red and Vision of Silver.
I really liked Written in Red because of the interactions between Meg and Sam. Was disappointed to realize that Sam doesn't make much of an appearance in the second nor third books. Meg's kindness and guilelessness is really sweet. My favourite parts of the book was where she chose to be generous and kind, unknowingly winning others over. The arc focused on her coaxing Sam out of his shell is wonderful. Really great to read. I love stories about healing.
Unfortunately, the subsequent books are very heavy on the narrative about gender and romance and all that that the story felt bogged down by it. Should've expected that since this is primarily a series about romance.
Also couldn't ignore the parts that I really didn't like - I have some major problems with this series so far. It's intensely gendered. I've read Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series and I see the similarities. Intensely heteronormative, lots of gender stereotypes (men are protective, dominant, strong, aggressive, dangerous, etcetc; women are precious, need to be looked after, sweet, etcetc), all the men in the series are focused on a single woman who is Immensely Important, characters are referred to by their gender more often than not as though gender predominates everything. Left me with a faintly icky feeling. It also causes the characters to be quite indistinguishable from each other - all the men are similar to each other, and all the women are similar to each other.
Soo. First book was good. Second and third, not so good at all.
I really liked Written in Red because of the interactions between Meg and Sam. Was disappointed to realize that Sam doesn't make much of an appearance in the second nor third books. Meg's kindness and guilelessness is really sweet. My favourite parts of the book was where she chose to be generous and kind, unknowingly winning others over. The arc focused on her coaxing Sam out of his shell is wonderful. Really great to read. I love stories about healing.
Unfortunately, the subsequent books are very heavy on the narrative about gender and romance and all that that the story felt bogged down by it. Should've expected that since this is primarily a series about romance.
Also couldn't ignore the parts that I really didn't like - I have some major problems with this series so far. It's intensely gendered. I've read Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series and I see the similarities. Intensely heteronormative, lots of gender stereotypes (men are protective, dominant, strong, aggressive, dangerous, etcetc; women are precious, need to be looked after, sweet, etcetc), all the men in the series are focused on a single woman who is Immensely Important, characters are referred to by their gender more often than not as though gender predominates everything. Left me with a faintly icky feeling. It also causes the characters to be quite indistinguishable from each other - all the men are similar to each other, and all the women are similar to each other.
Soo. First book was good. Second and third, not so good at all.
paradoxically's review against another edition
4.0
I do so enjoy these books. Murder of Crows takes mention of the special drugs in the previous book and highlights it in this one. It's a bit less about Meg (but only a little bit, you could argue that everything started because she ran away) and more about the Others and the relationship they have with humans as a whole (and it's not a good one), which I actually rather enjoyed. Meg is still at the forefront, what with her prophecies and her way of making everyone adore her (still think this is hilarious and great all at the same time), but you spend a good amount of time in the heads of the police officers, including Captain Burke, who I like a great deal. It's still mostly in Meg and Simon's heads though, even if the book skips around to highlight a few new characters and a few old ones as well.
I am a bit disappointed with the thought of Simon becoming just a teensy bit more human, because I like the Simon who bites people and then eats them. Go figure. Sometimes a few of his interactions with Meg seem more dog than wolf, which makes me wrinkle my nose, mostly because it seems to be made for humor than anything else. Still, even with all of that, I am enjoying his and Meg's slowly evolving relationship that makes them both rather baffled even though it's quite clear what's happening.
I just love the Others. I love super mysterious ultra powerful supernatural creatures that can probably blow their breath on you and knock you over. It's quite clear in the books that the Others just barely tolerate humans and that if the wind blows wrong then they'd feel perfectly justified with slaughtering the lot of them, but hey, they're never the antagonists at least. That said, it really baffles me that humans think they can somehow fight back, as if they can fight back against their entire city being thrown underwater or something. I mean, really? I kind of get it because the Others aren't immortal (or at least... not the main characters, I'm not quite sure about the elementals and a few others) and humans have the most interactions with the more agreeable of the species (not that they are, agreeable, as a whole), but. Baffled. Entire cities disappearing should count for something, though I suppose if you aren't next to them every day...
Still. History and all.
Anyway, Meg is pretty passive in this book. She's mostly settled in Lakeside Courtyard, but then people start killing crows and the tingling feeling she gets that come with prophecies start flaring up. Then there's her old Controller who's vaguely manipulating things in the background (not that we spend much time with that). That said, the ending was a bit underwhelming (and somehow great at the same time, but that might be the dismembered bodies, I dunno), and things are taken care of rather too neatly and easily.
But I still like these books. I do have to say I enjoyed the first one more, but I feel as if Meg did a little more in the first book than in this one. And I think I just enjoy everyone fussing over Meg (though they do that plenty in this book as well). 4 stars.
I am a bit disappointed with the thought of Simon becoming just a teensy bit more human, because I like the Simon who bites people and then eats them. Go figure. Sometimes a few of his interactions with Meg seem more dog than wolf, which makes me wrinkle my nose, mostly because it seems to be made for humor than anything else. Still, even with all of that, I am enjoying his and Meg's slowly evolving relationship that makes them both rather baffled even though it's quite clear what's happening.
I just love the Others. I love super mysterious ultra powerful supernatural creatures that can probably blow their breath on you and knock you over. It's quite clear in the books that the Others just barely tolerate humans and that if the wind blows wrong then they'd feel perfectly justified with slaughtering the lot of them, but hey, they're never the antagonists at least. That said, it really baffles me that humans think they can somehow fight back, as if they can fight back against their entire city being thrown underwater or something. I mean, really? I kind of get it because the Others aren't immortal (or at least... not the main characters, I'm not quite sure about the elementals and a few others) and humans have the most interactions with the more agreeable of the species (not that they are, agreeable, as a whole), but. Baffled. Entire cities disappearing should count for something, though I suppose if you aren't next to them every day...
Still. History and all.
Anyway, Meg is pretty passive in this book. She's mostly settled in Lakeside Courtyard, but then people start killing crows and the tingling feeling she gets that come with prophecies start flaring up. Then there's her old Controller who's vaguely manipulating things in the background (not that we spend much time with that). That said, the ending was a bit underwhelming (and somehow great at the same time, but that might be the dismembered bodies, I dunno), and things are taken care of rather too neatly and easily.
But I still like these books. I do have to say I enjoyed the first one more, but I feel as if Meg did a little more in the first book than in this one. And I think I just enjoy everyone fussing over Meg (though they do that plenty in this book as well). 4 stars.
icedpinecones's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 rounded!
These books aren't world changing, sobbing at twists and brutal character deaths BUT I appriciate the coziness of a good urban fantasy! Bishop has the characters be a more scary (and logical) alteration of vampires or shifters etc! I enjoy how different it is to other series and I'm blasting through the 400ish pages of each book without feeling like it is 400!
These books aren't world changing, sobbing at twists and brutal character deaths BUT I appriciate the coziness of a good urban fantasy! Bishop has the characters be a more scary (and logical) alteration of vampires or shifters etc! I enjoy how different it is to other series and I'm blasting through the 400ish pages of each book without feeling like it is 400!
aaliyahjn's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
lindaunconventionalbookworms's review against another edition
5.0
Murder of Crows was just as good as Written in Red. The character development continued to both surprise me and make sense at the same time.
The whole world building is fantastic! It feels new and original, but still also like something I already know.
Meg is learning more about herself and the Others, just as Simon and the Others are learning more about Meg - and themselves.
The whole world building is fantastic! It feels new and original, but still also like something I already know.
Meg is learning more about herself and the Others, just as Simon and the Others are learning more about Meg - and themselves.