Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed on 2/21/2015 + 2527 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

This is the third book in The Others series by Bishop. I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley. To be honest this book was probably the weakest of The Others series so far. However, I am having a hard time pinpointing why I had so much trouble engaging in this book.

The Others freed the cassandra sangue but they didnt realize the full implications of their actions. The cassandra sangue are having trouble surviving outside of their captivity and it is up to Meg to help figure out the best way to help them cope. In addition to that the Humans First and Last leader, Nicholas Scratch, is stirring up trouble and blaming the others for the suicides and deaths of the cassandra sangue. To make matters worse Humans First and Last (HFL) is gaining momentum and those humans who associate with the Others are being targeted. Everyone is on edge and, with a food shortage adding to the other issues, it looks like war could be brewing between the Others and HFL.

The first half or so of this book is pretty boring, a lot of small things happen but the story is a bit scattered and we don't actually read from Meg's point of view much. The second half of the book is much better as things start to come together. I also really like Simon and Meg as characters and we hear a lot more from them in the second half of the book.

This book was told from way too many points of view and a lot of the points of view are from characters I don't really care for all that much (the various police officers and such). I actually almost stopped reading this book 40% of the way through because I was having such a hard time engaging with the story. I have really loved all the books in this series so I am not sure why I had so much trouble getting engaged in this one. I think the main reason is that you dont get to spend a ton of time with Meg and Simon and they are kind of the highlight of this series for me.

However, I really loved the first two books in this series so I decided to finish it and I am glad I did. The last part of the book was amazing. We get to see a lot more of the elementals. I also liked how the humans and the Others are really entwining their societies together more in an effort to stand up against HFL. I kept shaking my head at the mentality of HFL, dont they realize that the Others control the elements? How stupid would you have to be to think you can beat the Earth, the Air, and Fire?

I still have really been enjoying the Others and their efforts to understand humans and interact with humans. There are a number of humorous scenes throughout with Simon and/or Meg as they both struggle to figure out who to be normal humans. Simon in particular can be pretty funny. I also really enjoy the comprehensive world-building in this series, it is very well done.

Overall although I think this was the weakest book in the series, I will still read future book in this series. Hopefully future books will be more focused, don't jump around so much, and actually have more of the story from Meg's perspective. I would recommend this series to fans of urban fantasy.

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