REVIEW: Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop
B+ Reviews / Recommended ReadsContemporary / Shifters / Urban-Fantasy12 Comments
Dear Ms. Bishop:
I tried to resist reading this series for a long time. So many other readers, readers who I trust, loved the first two books. But how you ended the Dark Trilogy series still bothers me and so I told myself I would not go down that rabbit hole.
And for a year, I was able to resist but Vision in Silver found its way to my doorstep. I opened the book and glanced at the first page. Soon it was thirty minutes later and I was many many pages in–too many to turn away. And after I was done with Vision in Silver, I immediately went and bought the previous two and devoured those books over the next day and a half. Now I am well and truly caught. I fear for the end but I can’t stop reading.
Meg Corbyn is a cassandra sangue, a female with a peculiar gift. When she cuts herself, she sees visions. Certain humans learned of the existence of blood prophets and began hiding them away in private compounds. They would tell the families of these young girls that without supervision, a blood prophet eventually goes mad and not only kills herself but may seriously wound others in the process. Meg escaped from one of these sanitariums with the help of another prophet in book one and found her way to Simon Wolfgard, a shifter leader of the Others.
Simon and those around him help to protect Meg from outside dangers and from herself. The saddest thing about blood prophets is that they are mentally and emotionally driven to cut themselves but they can only survive so many cuts before they die. It’s an addiction from which she supposedly can never recover. When Meg arrived at the Lakeside Courtyard in Thaisia, she already had hundreds of cuts.
A thousand cuts. Someone had figured out that was all a cassandra sangue had before the cut that would kill her.
He refused to count Meg’s scars.
Book three’s conflict is an escalation of the divide between humans and Others. In some respects, this conflict may seem familiar to fans of Urban Fantasy. There’s the terra indigene with varying levels of power, a group called Humans First and Last that foment fear against the Others in hopes to eradicate them, and then greater, mysterious super powers that will wipe out all the humans if they don’t wise up. (Wise up humans! Stop being so anti Others!)
HFL ratchets up its attacks against those who sympathize with the Others and the trade begins to break down. Food that is delivered is rotted. Shop owners are attacked. Humans who work at the Courtyard are being targeted. And more cassandra sangue’s are discovered and in need of serious help.
The romance here is low key but still present. Meg and Simon are falling in love with each other but they are so unfamiliar with the emotion that they don’t know it. They only know that the other person is vital to their happiness. They wonder where the other is; they act in selfless ways to protect each other. They are already a couple even if they don’t recognize it. They live together, watch movies together, and long to be with each other when the other is gone. They have to learn what love is, what friendship is, from the humans around them and it is adorable.
I love how Simon’s reactions are always in character.
Meg sprang out of the chair and was in his face so fast, he jerked back . . . and then whimpered because the move hurt, hurt, hurt.
“You do not have to stay in human form,” she yelled. “You do not have to talk to any humans until you’re better. You need to be a wolfy Wolf! And if you get stupid about this, I’ll . . . I’ll paint your tail orange!”
He thought of pointing out that he wouldn’t have a tail if he stayed in human form, but Jane nodded and said, “That’s a good threat. Come on, Meg. Let’s step out so Simon can shift and the human doctor can look at Nathan.”
After giving him an “I whack bad Wolves” look, Meg limped out of the examination room.
“Let me give you a hand down,” Lorenzo said, bracing a hand under Simon’s elbow. “I won’t offer a painkiller because I don’t know how a terra indigene would react.”
Simon didn’t know how he would react to human painkillers either, but he thought giving Meg a couple of licks would make him feel better. He always felt comforted when he gave her hand a couple of licks while they watched a movie.
The world building is wonderful. There’s lots of conflict between the HFL, the crumbling relations between humans and the Others, and the ticking time bomb of Meg’s addiction. New characters are introduced that keep the reader intrigued about the next books. Simon and Meg’s innocent but loving relationship is wonderful. There’s enough backstory to jump into the series at this point (after all, that’s what I did). The only problem is the outcome of Meg’s life…Please, I’m begging you Ms. Bishop. Allow them a happy ever after. B+
Best regards,
Jane
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What did Bishop do in the black jewell books? I read the first 4 about 10 000 years ago and enjoyed them. You’ve made this comment a few times in podcasts and blog entries and I am all agog to know. I then tried her subsequent books and they weren’t much good so I lost interest until this series came along and I am completely ensnared.
If any other series had such a low key romance in to the 3rd book I would be complaining but here its wonderful. It really does fit the characters and the situation.
@Des Livres:
Buried Comment (Reason: spoiler) Show
Thanks Jane.
I think this series is absolutely masterful. It left me with a book hangover that lasted a couple of days it was so good.
@Jane:
So grateful I never got around to finishing that series . Crossing my fingers that isn’t what happen with Meg and Simon
I was lucky enough to attend one of the sessions of Anne Bishop/Patricia Briggs book tour that is currently taking place. When pressed about the direction of the Others Series, Ms. Bishop stated that there are currently 5 books planned in the series with book #4 (Marked in Flesh) in the hands of her editor right now. What was ominous was her statement of ” . . . we’ll just have to see who’s left standing after book 5″ when asked if we could expect any more stories about the characters. Yikes!
Also interesting that there is some very current political commentary in this book, too, with an APN being appointed to care for all the cassandra sangue as the doctor from previous books will be too busy with administrative tasks to oversee their care.
I was on the fence about this series but went all in and I’m glad I did.
I like an author who’s brave enough to go against a HEA – and convention. But that being said I think it was clumsy – contradicionay to the world. If she can change her jewel… why not the rest. It doesn’t make sense.
I was thoroughly spoilered on the last antology and I’ve choosen not to read the last book. That way the series ends like I wan’t it to. (if I don’t read it – it doesn’t happen….)
I didn’t love the second book as much so I’m hoping Visions of Silver is awesome. I loved Written In Red!
I have to say that I was very leery of reading another series by Anne Bishop, but loved, loved, loved Written in Red. Bishop does a great job in her world building, character development, and relationships feel organic in WIR. Book 2 was a letdown because instead of expanding the world building, we get focus on a the larger story arc and we see very little interaction of Meg and the rest of the courtyard, instead its more Meg as the lynchpin to bigger mystery/story. So I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about Book 3 and I’m still processing it with my 2nd read-through. I went back and re-read book 1-3 back to back. Book 2 isn’t as big of a disappointment if read right before book 3, as if they were one book. With the promise of Book 4-5, I know the story is about to get messy – like the last 3rd of Book 3 of Black Jewel Trilogy, but hopefully, this series has a more satisfying ending than the bitter aftertaste of Black Jewel.
Just finished it- I love love love this series. Simon and Meg are so frickin’ cute- I love their romance. But yeah, they better get an HEA.
I got sucked in because of your description in the DBSA podcast. I love this series so far. I’m surprised by how domestic it feels and how much I love that. So much of it is about learning to deal with life on a day-by-day basis. I have a long history of social awkwardness, so that really spoke to me, I guess.
But the part about the 1,000 cuts? “They say” the thousandth cut will kill. You know how often “they” are wrong? (Not that I want the Meg or any of the other prophets to keep cutting, but I wonder if that bit is more legend than fact.)
Looking forward to the next book!