Review--Etched in Bone by Anne Bishop

New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop returns to her world of the Others, as humans struggle to survive in the shadow of shapeshifters and vampires far more powerful than themselves…

After a human uprising was brutally put down by the Elders—a primitive and lethal form of the Others—the few cities left under human control are far-flung. And the people within them now know to fear the no-man’s-land beyond their borders—and the darkness…

As some communities struggle to rebuild, Lakeside Courtyard has emerged relatively unscathed, though Simon Wolfgard, its wolf shifter leader, and blood prophet Meg Corbyn must work with the human pack to maintain the fragile peace. But all their efforts are threatened when Lieutenant Montgomery’s shady brother arrives, looking for a free ride and easy pickings.

With the humans on guard against one of their own, tensions rise, drawing the attention of the Elders, who are curious about the effect such an insignificant predator can have on a pack. But Meg knows the dangers, for she has seen in the cards how it will all end—with her standing beside a grave.

I finally finally finished the first series of Anne Bishop's The Others! I feel like this new continuation is a new series, yet still familiar and all. At least that's how I am going with it! Lol! Etched in Bone brings Meg and Simon's story to a conclusion. I feel like this was always their story even though we still got to see a lot of the characters' points of view.

The Others are rebuilding their Courtyards, since Lakeside went mostly unscathed, they are helping the other Courtyards that did suffer in helping them to find new employees for the most necessary positions. Life at Lakeside struggles to get back to normal, or as normal as things can be. Meg continues to use her prophecy cards more than cutting and when she inquires about the future of Lakeside she receives an unsettling answer and not long after, a new visitor comes to the Courtyard.

Since we change point of views quite frequently, we've pretty much been prepared for Monty's infamous brother, Jimmy, to come to Lakeside looking for a free ride since the rest of his family resides there. Jimmy was definitely one of the most nefarious characters I've ever met! He's top rated selfish and lazy and is always looking to see how he can make a quick buck without trouble on his part. He's so skeevy that I couldn't stand to read his parts. He uses his wife and children, it's sickening.

You might wonder then, why does Simon and the rest allow him and his family to stay? Well, the Elders are quite curious when it comes to humans and what makes them bad or good, good like Meg and her female pack and the other humans that the Others have taken into their home. Without any other choice, Simon allows Jimmy's family to stay, though they are all very vigilant in keeping a close eye on him regardless of Monty's warnings to do just that.

The Others do everything they can to keep Jimmy as far from Meg as possible, for if he got word that she was a cassandra sangue...well, they don't want to know the lengths he will go to, to get a hold of her. A large part of the story revolves around Jimmy's schemes and his trying to cheat the Others, I'm actually rather surprised they didn't bite his head off despite the Elders' warnings.  But soon, not even the Elders will be able to stop Simon and the other members of Lakeside when Meg's life is threaten very much indeed.

This book was just so much wow! It was intense as Jimmy and pretty much his entire family are despicable people. Reading from villainous people for so long can really take a toll on you. It's no wonder the Others have sneered at humans before Meg if Jimmy was their prime example of society. He is one of the worst villains I've encountered to date, which is saying something!

The ending was everything I was hoping for! For so long we've held our breaths waiting for this moment...! While I do believe this ends Meg and Simon's story, there are still more stories to be had with The Others, as the world series will continue with a new cast of characters. I'm really looking forward to the new adventure and new characters that will come from the same world. And of course, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for perhaps a mention of old friends!

If you haven't read this series yet, I will once again recommend it! It's unlike any other paranormal series I've read where humans and paranormals interact. Except in this world, the paranormal people are the ones who run the world and we humans just live there!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars