Ok, anyone who thinks Anne Bishop can write a fictionalized account of the phonebook/restaurant menu/[insert a boring item here] and make it absolutely fascinating and engrossing, please raise your hand.
I won't lie...when I saw this book on the shelves, I was concerned. There's a lot of crappy Urban Paranormal books out there...and seeing as Anne Bishop is one of my favorite authors, I just couldn't understand why she left the Black Jewels world to enter into the trendy world of Urban Paranormal. Turns out I was worrying for nothing. This book was just awesome.
Awesome. Rad. Totally cool, dude. Tubular. I pity the foo' who doesn't read this book.
I don't really know what other '80s catchphrases I can say about it.
In a spoiler-free nutshell, Meg Corbyn is a "cassandra sangue" - meaning when she is cut and blood is drawn she can see prophecies. As a "blood prophet", she is a highly valuable commodity that people pay large sums of money to utilize. Escaping her captors, Meg finds herself as the Human Liaison for the Others - the original and dominant species in the world. While many humans find the Others dangerous, Meg makes a home among them and relishes in her new found freedom. Her captors, however, are not cowed by the Others' reputations and will do anything they can in order to recover their money making blood prophet.
What I liked about this book was that it was a-typical...it wasn't your typical urban paranormal story. It wasn't your typical lead female character. It was a unique plot that was well developed and engrossing. The characters were vibrant and the world building was phenomenal. One thing I like about all of Anne Bishop's books is that she can develop such amazing worlds and characters that I find myself desperately wanting them to be real. Bishop also sets up the next book subtly...rather than leave critical things out of the first book in order to lure you on to the next, Bishop crafts a full story leaving threads connecting the first book to the second. I guess what I'm getting at is that I didn't feel like this first book was merely a means of getting to the second book in the series.
In a genre that can be stereotypical and cliche, Written in Red is such a refreshing and fascinating read!