Review: Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop

Marked in Flesh
(The Others #4)
by Anne Bishop
Publisher: Roc
Publication date: March 8, 2016
Genre: Fantasy

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…

 

 

 

I just. I can’t right now. This installment of The Others was amazing. I know I’ve been talking about the darkness of the terra indigene’s (others) nature and how they handle things. There’s always limbs flying in these books and I love it! Marked in Flesh kicks it up to a whole new level. Why is that? Because we get to see the Elders! We get to go into the mind of the Elders. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, the Elders are the biggest, baddest, deadliest of all terra indigene. They make the sharks, wolves, even the Elemental’s look like absolute bunnies compared to their nature. I mean, these are not beings you want to trifle with and with the Human Lives First movement sweeping through the area, the Elders have been whispering, and it’s nothing good for humans. Seriously, I loved that we got to see the Elders. I got chills the first encounter we got from them. Not to mention… they like Wolf cookies! I tell you, those Wolf cookies are the best darn thing this author has written into the storyline. I love that the Wolves go nuts over it but to have a terra indigene that’s so deadly and ferocious being in love with these dog cookies!?! I just can’t. The Elders were awesome!

Plus, we got to meet some Elemental’s that we haven’t crossed paths with. Everyone has heard of Meg the Trailblazer and they’re all interested in her. She saves Elemental steeds from peril, risks her life for the terra indigene, and apparently howls like a wolf… which is something the Elder’s found quite amusing. However, I also really liked that we got to meet new humans, new packs, new terra indigene because it brought some freshness into the story. It wasn’t just the same people over and over again. We got a change of scenery between towns, perspectives, and it really made you care for the other characters who weren’t at Lakeside.

I could go on and on about this one. It had everything that I loved from the previous books and yet it still managed to kick it up a notch. There wasn’t really a dull moment here. I mean, this big fight between humans and the terra indigene have been building since the get-go. So, there’s a lot of action, planning and plotting, suspense, and a lot of death. I can’t even tell you how many time my mouth dropped open while reading this. This may be my favorite installment yet. Given everything that takes place in this book, I’m not overly sure what is in store for everyone next.

 

Favorite quote…

“Something came close to the glass door. Something on two legs that towered over Burke, who was a large human. Couldn’t really see shape–it seemed clothed in the fog–but the claws that suddenly raked the glass, scoring it, were clear enough.”

 

 

 


Marked In Flesh was tough for me to get through.  I would put the book down for days with no desire to pick it back up.  A lot of this book jumps around Namid and shares the lives of the people or Others living there.  This bored me I think because none of the main characters from Lakeside were overly involved.  Now when the story would go back to Lakeside, I wouldn’t put the book down.  I guess for me, the jumping around just dragged on too long and could’ve been summed up a lot quicker.  Yes, I saw the importance of why we needed to know about the other areas, but just wish we could’ve got there sooner.  Having said that, I never wanted to give up on the series, I need to know what happens next.

With each book you see the Others in Lakeside become more and more tolerant to certain humans.  Whether it’s calling the police when a human trespasses causing trouble rather then just eating them or allowing a Human Pack to live in the courtyard.  One day they showed even more trust when they allowed the Human Pack to a restricted area of the courtyard to go swimming.  It was funny, it was a hot & humid day, the Wolves and human males jumped right in while the human females stayed on land.  So the Wolves climbed out and shook water all over them which caused the girls to hop all around, making noises and saying, “it’s cold, it’s cold, it’s cold.”  Later in the book this became known as “The Squeaky Dance.”

Fast forward several chapters to when a series of violent attacks take place, things so heinous and wide spread that it catches the attention of the Elders, Namid’s “teeth and claws”.  They are never seen but their presence is so strong, you know they are there…watching.  When they come into the story, I was hooked all over again and would read until I fell asleep with book in hand.  Even though you have no real visual of them, no real description, you just don’t need it to fear them.

So after the Elders retaliated in the same manor that the humans attacked the Wolves, they come out from the wild country all over Namid in search for the radical group who started it all.  This was pretty cool but also creepy…cool because they showed no mercy, put simply “an eye for an eye”, creepy just to think and know these creatures watched that much to where they could kill the bad and leave the innocent in any area.  When they were checking out Lakeside, in the courtyard Meg, Sam and some others were in the Pony Barn hiding when the Elders could be heard outside.  Meg starts to howl (Sam, who is a Wolf, joined in) to say, “we are here, keeping watch, we are here”, something the Wolves would do to let the Elders know they were in the area.  The Elders found this very amusing, a not wolf howl and became curious of Meg.  They ended up looking all around (inside & out) the Liaison’s office, found and ate all the Wolf cookies.  I guess even the tough guys go crazy for the cookies.

We also got a small glimpse of the Elemental Ocean and the Sharkgard.  Again, I am a total shark nerd and would LOVE a Sharkgard spin off series, I think that would be amazing!

Now that the Elders are more involved, rules have become much stricter and fully enforced.  Travel has limits, communication (phone and email) almost nonexistent and it’s no longer safe in the dark.  I so can not wait to dive into Etched In Bone!

 

 

Favorite part…

A conversation between a shark and vampire.
<Do you know what the Sharkgard call humans on a ship?>
<No, what?>
<Meat in a can>

 

 

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18 Thoughts on “Review: Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop

  1. I have to say that this series lost some of it’s charm for me after book 3. I always loved The Others but so much detail bored me and I couldn’t care less about the humans lol

    For What It’s Worth

  2. I am sad it is over :/

  3. Yay! I enjoyed this one too

  4. Oh I cannot wait to continue this series. I’m a bit behind but now I’m so curious about the Elders! Brilly dual reviews!

  5. It can be really refreshing to read a story that doesn’t have any dull moments. I would like to read these books one day, I just need to be in the right mood.

    • I won’t lie, they are a bit hard to pick up, even when you are in the middle of the series. They’re just so big and they contain so much world building. In the end though, I felt more connected with the characters because of it all. I hope you get the chance to read these and enjoy them.

  6. I love seeing two perspectives of the same book and I couldn’t help but laugh half the time. Enjoyed the great reviews.
    sherry @ fundinmental

  7. I’ve been meaning to start this series for quite a while now, so you are actually pushing the right buttons, hehe Really happy to hear you love it so much 🙂

  8. I absolutely adore this series and am so sad it is over but I’m so looking forward to the spin off. I’m hoping like heck we will still see glimpses of Vlad, Meg, Simon and the whole group.

  9. I do, too. I honestly don’t know if I will read the spin-off unless the Lakeside group is in there. I’ve just invested too much time with them.

  10. I skimmed your review because I really want to read this series this winter, it looks so good <3

  11. Ee! I do need to start this series for sure.

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