Free Downloads Marked In Flesh: A Novel Of The Others, Book 4
Fourth in the "flawless" (The Reading Café) New York Times best-selling series from the author of Vision in Silver. 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....
Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 15 hours and 21 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Audible.com Release Date: March 8, 2016
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English
ASIN: B01AIVUM26
Best Sellers Rank: #23 in Books > Audible Audiobooks > Romance > Fantasy #55 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical > Alternate History #75 in Books > Audible Audiobooks > Fantasy > Contemporary
This is the weakest of the series so far, in my opinion. It wasn't terrible, but it felt like it lacked the heart and fun of the earlier books. It was darker overall, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but it felt less balanced than the previous books.I didn't mind the new characters. Some book series suffer from feeling they can never stray from the main characters first introduced. I really love Hope and Jackson. But sadly very few others of these new characters got developed enough to care much about them. It felt like they were just filling up space to make the book long enough until we got back to Meg and co. Other characters that had been developed didn't get as much page time, and I missed them. The Crows, for example, barely got a mention and no dialogue.Certain things were repeated to the point that I got very frustrated with it. Characters talked or thought about the same things over and over with no new information or perspective; such as the whole 'how much human is too human to be' for Simon, and the worries about the Elders attack.Meg and Simon's relationship development felt put on hold for this entire book. It felt as it that was being saved for the last book. I like 'slow burn' relationships and it makes sense for these characters. But done to this extreme it felt forced.The entire book really felt as if they decided they wanted this series to be 5 books long, when maybe it would have been better more tightly written as 3 or 4. Bishop's Black Jewels series also suffered, imo, when there was demand for her to continue after she'd thought she was done.
I am a FAN of Bishop and this series is by far my favorite series. I have read the books many times but Book 4 was frustrating, after waiting for a year for Book 4 I would have liked a decent length book where Author spent time with main characters. At Book 4 you are expecting to make progress and not have 100 new characters introduced and story jumping from one set of character to other. It felt more like Bishop was busy setting new characters to write about rather than pay attention to what needs to happen to characters that are already in play.
I try to never steal lines from other reviewers but this line was too good and too on-the-spot to not repeat "So good I needed a cigarette when I finished". Yeah, it WAS that good.I hate trying to review books like this when all you want to do is write a page of "AWESOME' "EXCEPTIONAL" well you get the idea. This book, in fact this whole series, is so out there in a league of its own you don't know what to write but here goes.The Others have put up with the Humans First and Last (HFL) for a good while now and these idiots have no clue what they are going to find at the end of this road but that does NOT mean they are not dangerous.The Lakeside Courtyard is trying to help the humans that have been friends with them but their resources are limited. We also get a glimpse into some of the other settlements and maybe that is where some of the new stories are going to come from because this really read like a end of series book (which I am pretty certain is NOT the case) and so at the end in addition to weeping that the book has ended you have to wonder "Where does Anne Bishop go from here" but I have been fooled before so I will moan and complain for another year until the next one.You might notice I am not saying a lot about the story because a lot of things turn into spoilers and so just know that Armageddon is coming.Bottom Line: When you read books like this, you hate for them to end, you just kind of sit back and for a day or two you don't really want to read anything else, you just want to roll around in the memory of this great story. Anything more I could say about this novel would just be redundant so 5 Stars only because that is all they allow, there ought to be an "elite" category for books like this.
In this story, Humans First and Last think that they are ready to take over lands held by the terra indigene - the Others - and find that they have bitten off much more than they can chew from someone who is more that capable of biting back.The story begins with Simon receiving a message from the Elders that he will have to decide how much human to keep. Naturally, he goes to Meg to help him decide. Meg is also busy trying to find a way to deal with prophecies without having to cut herself. The cutting is an addiction that creates a euphoria that she craves. She is experimenting with a variety of fortune telling cards. She is doing this not only for herself but for the other cassandra sangue who are living in various parts of Thaisia and who are looking to Meg for guidance.Meanwhile, HFL policies and sabotages are growing more common and more frequent. The human pack inside the Courtyard is growing as those who are branded "wolf lovers" are taking refuge there. This is a worry to Simon who fears that there won't be enough resources to take care of all of them. But saying no to Meg when she wants to offer protection to someone else is not something Simon can do.It is interesting watching those in the know try to figure out what they have to have if society ceases to exist and each place is on its own and in danger from the Elders. It was also fascinating to see some of those previously unseen Elders and see that the terra indigene, who are so frightening to humans, have things that frighten them too.I love the growing relationship between Meg and Simon. But I think what I like best about this series is the portrayal of the Others which is so different than most paranormal series. These are humans who can sometimes put on a wolf suit. These are wolves who clearly think differently than humans do. I can't wait for ETCHED IN BONE coming in 2017.
Marked in Flesh: A Novel of the Others, Book 4 Flesh and Blood Low Price CD: A Scarpetta Novel Flesh and Blood CD: A Scarpetta Novel (Kay Scarpetta Series) Marked: Servants of Fate, Book 1 Marked in Ink: A Tattoo Coloring Book My Little Pony: Daring Do and the Marked Thief of Marapore (The Daring Do Adventure Collection) The Hindenburg in Flames: How a Photograph Marked the End of the Airship (Captured World History) Marked House of Night, Books 1-4 (Marked / Betrayed / Chosen / Untamed) Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration Flesh and Blood: Alex Delaware, Book 15 The Flesh of War: Warsworn, Book 1 As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980 Zen Flesh Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings (Unabridged Selections) Flesh of Images, The: Merleau-Ponty between Painting and Cinema (SUNY series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy) A Pound of Flesh: Monetary Sanctions as Punishment for the Poor (Amer Sociological Association's Rose Ser) From Marble to Flesh. The Biography of Michelangelo's David The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide Butkus: Flesh and Blood
