★★★★☆ Humans, the Others, and Meg, and winter in Buffalo

Written in Red

Anne Bishop

Written in Red is the first book in Anne Bishop's the Others series. There are two kinds of people in the world of Namid: Humans and terra indigene, whom humans call the Others. Humans live in their cities and settlements, and the Others live in the Wild Places. The continent of Thaisia was once entirely one of those wild places. The first wave of human settlers to cross the Atlantik Ocean to Thaisia was wiped out by the Others, as was the second wave. To the Others, humans are meat. Eventually, however, a fragile détente was established. Humans live in a small number of cities on Thaisia and farm some lands. They provide the Others with agricultural products and technology that the Others value. Thus they are tolerated -- barely. Each human city on Thaisia has a small area called the Courtyard set aside for the Others. In the Courtyard there are signs reading "H.L.D.N.A." -- Human Law Does not Apply. Within a Courtyard murder is legal, or at least it is not illegal.

Meg Corbyn shows up at Lakeside Courtyard on the run from her controller. Although superficially human, it is obvious from the start that Meg has some special sauce. I will say no more about this, since the gradual revelation of Meg's nature is a major plot point. Lakeside Courtyard is perhaps the most progressive of Thaisian Courtyards in promoting business relations between its Others and human inhabitants of the city. Meg sees a posting for the job of Human Liaison and applies, thinking that a job in the Courtyard will shelter her from those hunting her. Thus she comes to know Simon Wolfgard (a werewolf, though that word is not used), Vladimir Sanguinati (a vampire), and other shapeshifters and even more dangerous terra indigene. But Meg's hunters are determined and dangerous and not apt to be deterred by the routine dangers of a Courtyard.

It's a good setup, and a great story, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I will certainly continue with the series.

I particularly enjoyed Written in Red's sense of place, because I recognize it. Bishop is deliberately vague about the geography of Namid. However, it is, as far as I can tell, identical with the geography of Earth, except for the human parts. Names are different and the cities are different, but Thaisia is what North America was before humans arrived here. Lakeside is so named because it is located on the shores of Lake Etu, one of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes are Superior, Tala, Honon, Etu, and Tahki -- if those are listed in the usual upstream to downstream order, they would correspond to Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. Bishop describes the town of Talulah Falls as "up the road a piece" -- that clearly corresponds to Niagara Falls. She also mentions the nearby "Finger Lakes". Lakeside's location thus matches that of Buffalo, New York, although Lakeside is a smaller city than Buffalo. In fact, Bishop lives in upstate New York.

The action of Written in Red takes place over the course of a few weeks during a single winter. Bishop knows and vividly portrays the savagery of a Buffalo winter. Indeed, Winter is a character in the novel.

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